Imagine schools that teach science that links children’s learning to the world outside. Schools that join hands with local businesses, NGOs or city services to make science education more meaningful for their students by showing how science is a real part of their lives. In these open schools, students learn to ask questions about socio-scientific issues that exist around them, create meaning through inquiry, and collectively find ways to engage in their societies as active citizens.
Schools like these have great potential to prepare students for the complexity of the contemporary world, for uncertain futures, for jobs that don’t yet exist, and for their role as democratic citizens who want to contribute to a sustainable future.
In the COSMOS project, we collaborate with primary and secondary schools to make this a reality. Together, we’re studying what is needed to become a school that is more open to its community and how the science curriculum can be a driving force to make this shift a reality.
Learn more about who we are, our project and approach, and reach out if you want to join us!
The final published article (the Version of Record) is now on Taylor & Francis Online and has been published in Open Access.
When socioscientific inquiry-based learning meets open schooling: the COSMOS approach to science education
The COSMOS project consortium is excited to welcome you at the final conference which is taking place on November 22, 2024 in Utrecht. The results of the three-year collaboration in the COSMOS project will be presented. Workshops and round table discussions are on the program for teachers, school leadership, educational researchers and policy makers. The conference presents a great opportunity to get to know: COSMOS’ pedagogy and framework for Open Schooling in Science Education and the school projects and their experiences with the COSMOS approach.
On 2 July, Christine Knippels (coordinator COSMOS) together with Laurence Simonneaux gave the opening lecture of the 14th edition of the ERIDOB conference. Every other year, this conference brings together 250 researchers in didactics of biology from all over Europe. The theme of this latest edition was 'Biology education: bridging the gap between science and society'.
From 22nd – 24th May Dr Andri Christodoulou with Sam Weston and Prof Marcus Grace from the Maths & Science Education Research Centre at the Southampton Education School had the pleasure of hosting the fourth consortium meeting for the H2020-funded COSMOS project. In total, we had 20 participants across 7 countries and 13 partner institutions attending and working together on important next steps for our open schooling through science education approach.
Teacher Professional Workshop meeting took place in Technology Center Prague, 15th & 16th November 2023.
Teacher Professional Workshop was organized as a part of Teacher Professional Development Programme developed in the COSMOS project and led by Beit Berl College from Israel. The almost 40 participating teachers from primary and secondary schools came from Belgium, the Netherlands, Portugal, Sweden and United Kingdom. Due to the international conflict in the Middle East was the participation of the Israeli team impossible.
COSMOS teachers learning in and as a community
Teachers who participated in COSMOS implementation already or are joining now, are invited to the professional workshop meeting in Prague, 15th and 16th November 2023. The aim of the event is to share experiences gained during the COSMOS approach implementation and create communities of practices based on socio-scientific inquiry based approach. Understanding, designing and learning are the key themes of the event which will by hosted by Technology Centre Prague.
The meeting took place in Lisbon on June 21st and 22nd, 2023, marked the third COSMOS consortium meeting, and the second one held face-to-face. All partner organizations were in attendance, including the external expert, Dr. Ralph Levinson. During the meeting, the first round of the Implementation stage was discussed, along with the deliverables expected by the end of this project phase. Partners engaged in discussions regarding the developed framework, the implementation of the project approach in schools, evaluation results, and other related topics. The insights gained from these discussions were instrumental in formulating plans for the upcoming Implementation stage 2, which is set to commence shortly.
The Horizon 2020 projects Make it Open and SALL, with the support of the OStogether network, are delighted to invite you to the forum: Innovating European Education: Open Schooling as a boost for Europe’s skills. Programme and more information about the conference are available here.
Throughout Europe, we are piloting our COSMOS approach to science education for open schooling. Teams from primary and secondary schools are designing and getting ready to implement their COSMOS projects. In Antwerp (Belgium), the teachers from the CLW Borgerhout and CLW Merksem visited KdG University College to learn about how socio-scientific inquiry based learning (SSIBL) can help them to connect their science education projects to communities around the school...
On 14-15 June 2022 the 2nd consortium meeting was held in Karlstad, Sweden. Here the participants discussed the COSMOS framework and terminology related to open schooling transformation, and finalized the preparation phase of the first six months of the project. After returning home, phase 2 (initiation and implementation, round 1) will start.
Kick off meeting of the COSMOS project was held online on 18th-19th of January 2022 due to Covid travel restrictions. More than 30 attendees took part in on-line meeting, including entire project consortium and external advisory board. Utrecht University, a project coordinator, provided COSMOS background, goals and project overview.