Science education outside the classroom

The available knowledge on science education outside the classroom and its impact on citizens (including students of all ages from school children to college students) need to be analysed, taking into account possible gender and geographical differences. The proposed action shall specify if this type of learning complements the classroom or succeeds where classrooms might have failed. Consideration should be given to the impact that can be achieved in science education outside schools and how this form of informal schooling might be accredited and whether there is a way of assessing the quality of the educational contents.

The Commission considers that proposals requesting a contribution between EUR 1.30 million and EUR 1.70 million would allow this specific challenge to be addressed appropriately. Nonetheless, this does not preclude submission and selection of proposals requesting other amounts.

Much analysis has been carried out on the importance of science education both in schools and in higher education. However, science education outside the classroom, which refers to informal science education, and the science education effects of non-educational activities, are not well explored in terms of their nature and effects. Acquiring knowledge, and in particular, evaluating knowledge, often with the help of the Internet, is happening in reality frequently, and should be recognised for what it contributes in terms of more sophisticated consumers and scientific citizenship. Consideration of what is available and what is being learnt would be useful to understand how science education outside the classroom influences today's citizens.

In the short term, the proposed action should identify good practices outside the classroom. It should consider what impact this information might have on formal and informal science education for students and citizens. In the medium term, the results of the present action will help the EU to better understand the effects of science education outside the regular education institutions and will increase the range of innovative products in science education that reflect societal needs. In the long term the results of the research should contribute to considerations on accrediting the available information.