ESTABLISH
- European Science and Technology in Action Building Links with Industry, Schools and Home

Ilka Parchmann, Wolfgang Gräber, Martin Lindner

ESTABLISH is a FP7 funded project in the area of „Science in Society“(FP7-SCIENCE-IN-SOCIETY-2009-1). The project with its 14 partner institutions from 11 european nations will run for four years: 01.01.2010 – 31.12.2013. The acronym ESTABLISH stands for European Science and Technology in Action Building Links with Industry, Schools and Home.

Objectives

The overall objective of this project is to facilitate and implement an inquiry-based approach to science education for second level students (age 12-18 years) on a widespread scale across Europe bringing together, within a collaborative environment, the stakeholders in science education. Such an innovative approach, through formal and informal educational actions, will result in, we believe:

• increased student’s intrinsic motivation in science and technology;
• improved scientific literacy and promotion of student involvement in experiential learning;
• greater implementation of IBSE methodologies by teachers;
• more informed science career choices by students.

Concept

Inquiry based teaching methodologies have been suggested as a way to encourage and engage students in science and mathematics by increasing their interest in science and also by stimulating teacher motivation. However, the widespread implementation of such a methodology will only occur with inclusion and participation of all partners in education, both formal and informal. This proposal addresses this issue by drawing together over 60 expert partners from across 11 European countries to work together on a 48 month multidisciplinary project to encourage and promote the more widespread use of inquiry-based science teaching techniques in second level schools through appropriate teacher education and to adopt and trial actions to bridge the gap between the science education research community, science teachers, students, parents, local industry as well as policy makers in order to facilitate the uptake of inquiry-based science teaching. The outcomes of this project will be identification of suitable models of teacher education, at both pre- and in-service, for inquiry based teaching and also identification of best practice in guiding change through all the stakeholders involved in science and science education.

The rationale for this project lies in creating authentic learning environments for science by bringing together and involving all stakeholders that make change possible. Teachers themselves are active partners in this project both as developers, researchers and agents for change. In this way, real change in classroom practice can be achieved.

Dissemination

The ESTABLISH project team is committed to sharing and disseminating best practice (PO6) in inquiry-based pedagogy for science education among teachers, science education researchers, teacher trainers, students, parents, policymakers/curricula developers and industry. This will include sharing teachers’ experiences with existing and future science teachers through European teacher networks, conferences and publications. It will also disseminate the effectiveness of the cultural adaptation of resources and the role of industry in communicating and promoting science and technology. The project will also disseminate findings on the impact of ESTABLISH on young people’s interest in science, including both girls and boys. This project will host a Science Teacher conference for representative teachers in each country to come together to share their experiences of IBSE in their classrooms. The conference aims at attracting approx 200 teachers to Dublin in 2012 to discuss all aspects of relevance to IBSE including specific subject aspects as well as general methodology issues. National stakeholders in each country will be invited to attend.