Citizen Science at School Erasmus Project

Project Title

Citizen Science at School

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for Schools Only

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2017

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Key Competences (incl. mathematics and literacy) – basic skills; Natural sciences

Project Summary

The Citizen Science at School (CSS) project is formed by the association of four secondary schools highly relevant in their respective regions and from different European countries (Spain, Belgium, France and the Czech Republic). Teachers have noted in their students a low motivation towards the study of the subjects of Sciences Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), what has been translated in an alarming decrease in the scientific vocations. In each center the project is led by a specialist teacher in innovative pedagogies who, aware of the need to motivate students towards the study of science and to promote scientific vocations, has been involved in several European projects on an individual basis, whose main objective were to validate and disseminate innovative pedagogies.

After the success of the project Teaching Innovate Practices at School (TIPS!), in which the centers exchanged their knowledge of successful educational practices and generated educational resources in European languages, with this project we have added a new tool to our teaching practice. Citizen science is a concept that involves students in real research on curricular topics of high interest and has been shown to greatly increase the motivation of students to study science by contextualizing its learning. The Citizen Science at School project has opened the partners to external agents (universities, research centers, national and international experts, etc.) generating networks that produce greater impact and sustainability and are the foundation for future collaborations.

The associated centers have intended with this project to achieve the following objectives:

OBJECTIVE 1 (O1): To train the participating teachers in Citizen Science and incorporate this concept into their teaching practice through the implementation of pilot experiences in each center.
OBJECTIVE 2 (O2): To increase students’ motivation to study science as well as scientific vocations through their participation in European Citizen Science projects and by taking part in workshops at each partner center that contextualise science learning.
OBJECTIVE 3 (O3): To increase the European dimension of the educational community of partner schools, promoting the creation of a network of centers, universities and research organizations with common interests that establish synergies to further develop projects in the future, in particular a KA201 project.
OBJECTIVE 4 (O4): To achieve a European eTwinning quality label by fulfilling the 6 criteria (pedagogical innovation, curricular integration, communication and information exchange, collaboration between centers, use of technology and results, impact and documentation) of the Spanish National eTwinning Support System. Get each partner school certified with the ETWINNING SCHOOL seal.

To achieve these objectives, four citizen science projects have been carried out quarterly (two per school year) programmed through didactic units written at transnational meetings. In each project, international groups of students researched on a relevant curricular theme and generated information and data allowing them to produce a final product during the mobility that closes the work of the unit and present it to the educational community of the host center. In addition, during the mobility workshops and activities were held to promote scientific vocations allowing students to interact with university experts.

The four didactic units are available, in english and another european language, online in the TwinSpace of the project, which acts as a repository, and have been given great dissemination through social media, webs and educational institutions. The main dissemination event has been a webinar in eTwinning that had the maximun participants allowed of 200 teachers from different european countries. These actions have generated trafic to the didactic units allowing them to be reused by STEM teachers at all levels from local/regional to national/european.

The partnership has aimed at maintaining the network of schools that have been working together since 2015, our common interests and desire to go on developping projects together has allowed us to present a new application for a KA229 project that has received funding for the 2019-2021 period, allowing for a greater susteinability of the results of the CSS project. The training received by the teachers directly involved in the project has enhanced their teaching practice, incorporating new tools and ideas that increase the competencies not only of the students that have taken part in the project but also of future generations of students in our schools.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 95780 Eur

Project Coordinator

COLEGIO CORAZÓN DE MARIA & Country: ES

Project Partners

• Gymnazium Boticska
• lycee Marguerite Yourcenar
• Sint-Donatusinstituut