Good practices
| Science Picnic is the largest open-air event aimed at popularizing science in Europe. For 17 years science institutes, universities, student organizations and cultural institutions has been presenting their latest research, sharing knowledge and enthusiasm among the event participants. It is a cycl... |
| Ingrida Brizga, a teacher from Cesis Primary School Nr. 2, projects PowerPoint presentations and interactive whiteboard materials using Active Inspire programme, including animation, videos for students during the physics and mathematics lessons. Similarly, students prepare PowerPoint presentations,... |
| Teacher's experience: Aija Bruna from Dzerve Primary School sometimes uses the “student/teacher” method. She splits up students in pairs in which one is a teacher and the other is a student. For example, she teaches co-ordinates this way. While “the teacher” names the coordinates of a place, “the s... |
| There are many projects that offer students the opportunity to actively participate in the improvement of place they live in. Students participate in field research and plan it in cooperation with their teacher, classmates, fellow citizens, local enterprises, etc. They work together on the project a... |
| The specific learning material is organized in three stages which include Scenario, Inquiry and Decision-making. Stage 1: Scenario Article taken from the Newspaper "Eyes on the world" The eradication of the Muflon population could cause major consequences for the entire ecosystem. Since 1994, th... |
| This is a classroom practice from Vecumnieku Secondary School, teacher Anda Kuzma. Teacher lets students use smartphones to search for pictures of plants, lichens, insects etc. because students are accustomed to do this every day. She uses tablets for practical work in biology (particularly outside ... |
| With expansion of modern technologies also the number of schools that use tablets for teaching grows. „Despite all the demands and difficulties, we cannot imagine returning to the classic way of teaching with a blackboard. Education results clearly show that the influence of digital learning is posi... |
| The project aimed to give students more challenging and authentic learning experiences by creating a new experimental science laboratory and expanding the existing teaching resources. Main objectives of the COSMOS project were to develop a user-friendly online repository of both scientific and educa... |
Teaching materials
MASS project intends to identify, analyze, evaluate and disseminate practical tools and methods in teaching science which will effectively lead to arise students' motivation and acquire higher level of basic skills in science. We will explore what happens in science lessons at schools and increase the knowledge of good practice in teaching science in three research areas: Science for Digital Learners, Early Inquiry and Low achievers in Science (See more: Main topics).
Main project activities include:
1. Identification of the national examples of good practices
The initial phase of the project is to analyze the strengths, weaknesses and potential in the particular area of science education method in each partner country. It will include identification of good practices on raising students motivation for science on the national level. Examples identified will be collected in the online database.
See more: Good practices repository
2. Development of pilot teaching materials and testing phase
Findings from the research phase of the project will form the ground for development of the pilot version of educational materials in each Working Group.
Piloting stage of the project, with the involvement of target group, will raise the quality and exploitability of the products.
3. Development of the final version of teaching materials
Final version of educational products will be developed after summing up the piloting phase. They will be available in each partner language. The final project results will bring a change at the classroom level. Teachers will be aware of the key factor for motivation of their students to learn science. They will use a wide range of methods effectively and appropriately to the learning needs and preferences of their students. More teachers will be confident and successful in use such of methods. They will make teaching science more relevant and accessible to students.
Final products will be widely presented and disseminated during the Open Conference III in the middle of 2016.
Pilot materials
To help teachers to become empowered, skillful and self-confident, we work on:
- Study (recommendations)
- Examples of good practices
- Module of teacher training
- Hands-on lessons / tutorials
for Digital Learners, Early Inquiry and Low Achievers in Science.
If you want to help us to improve these materials by taking part in piloting, please contact leader of each Working Group:
Leonie de Vries (Digital Learners), e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Lenka Pachmanova (Early Inquiry), e mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Daiga Kalnina (Low Achievers), e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
or the MASS project partner in your country:
Czech Republic, TEREZA Educational Center
Lenka Pachmanova e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Cyprus, Cyprus Center for Environmental Research and Education (CY.C.E.R.E.)
Chrisis Kleovoulou, e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Estonia, Estonian Physical Society
Kaido Reivelt, e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Germany, University of Cologne Geographical Institute
Astrid Hensel, e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Greece, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens
Thalia Mavrakou, e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Latvia, Children's Environmental School
Inese Liepina, e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Netherlands, SME Advies
Bregje van den Brand, e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Poland, UNEP/GRID-Warsaw Centre
Elżbieta Wołoszyńska-Wiśniewska, e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.