It can be difficult to share best practices and new information about STEM education in an easy way. We need motivated, properly trained, well-equipped science teachers to prepare and inspire the next generation of scientists.
Engineering and technology are growing industries so it is necessary to inspire and prepare young people to work in STEM industries or to help them discover their talents for these areas.
Scientix gives teachers an easy-to-use online portal, which has inputs from experts in specific subjects, so they can teach their students the most up-to-date ideas and work in their chosen field.
By showing students how the subjects they are studying can be applied in real life and the usefulness of what they are learning, it increases students' personal motivation and engagement in class. Access to real-world examples and science activities can help to achieve this.
In its first phase, the project built an online portal to collect and present European STEM education projects and their results, and organised several teacher workshops. The main networking event was the Scientix conference held in May 2011 in Brussels.
The second stage of the Scientix project expanded this community to a national level. Through a network of National Contact Points, Scientix reached out to teaching communities across Europe, and contributed to the development of national strategies for wider uptake of inquiry-based, and other innovative approaches, to science and mathematics education.
Since 2010, Scientix has shared the work of over 500 projects with educators across Europe. This includes thousands of teaching materials, research reports and training courses in STEM education.
Whilst initially, the work was limited to eight languages. It has recently been expanded to cover all 24 EU languages. Additionally, it offers now Translation on Demand of teaching materials into more than 30 European languages.
The work presented for Scientix has received funding from the European Union’s H2020 research and innovation programme – project Scientix 3 (Grant agreement N. 730009), coordinated by European Schoolnet (EUN). The content of the website is the sole responsibility of the organiser and it does not represent the opinion of the European Commission (EC), and the EC is not responsible for any use that might be made of information contained.
