Science and Social Studies Rethought in Schools

The intial idea of the project born through frustration of our current educational system, which separates different elements of our world in different subjects, while we believe that they could and should be reconciled: the "scientific" way of understanding the world (through analysis, experiments, observation, etc.) and the "humanistic" mode (such as experiencing, intuition, feelings and reflection). We believed both these ways are important and valid, but we often saw alienation between representatives of the two different fields (eg. humanistic teachers being "afraid of numbers", while science teachers being "afraid of emotions") - we suggested a way of teaching where noone needs to be afraid of another subject. Also, teachers are nowadays expected prepare students for "the real world", while they are in a system that doesn't reflect the real world with all its complexities. We wanted to help them in a way that is not an extra burden, but something they can build in their existing practice. On the other hand, students need engaing experiences to stay motivated for learning, and by showing connections between different fields, we can help them discover all the wonders of the world, while reflecting on themselves.

The main objective of our project was to bridge the gap between the two distinct mode of understanding the world ("scientific" and "social"), suggesting a way where knowledge is interdisciplinary. We wanted to achieve this by several different routes, such as providing a theoretical background, developing practical pedagogical tools for teachers to use in their cassrooms, offering training opportunities for practicioners and organizing programs to maximize impact. By these we wanted to reach teachers and students as well, shaping their attitudes towards the interdisciplinary approach (which includes demistification of sciences for certain people, and demonstrating the importance of soft skills for others), and supporting the development of key competences, mainly scientific and interpersonal skills, with a focus on creativity. Thinking in the longterm, we hoped that this approach could enhance future development of our educational systems.

We had five work packages in this project: Project Management, Generic framework, Folk tale boxes, Supporting materials and Implementation and impact. Project management activities were constant: national-level and international coordination, time management, financial management, website-maintenance, etc.. Under Generic framework, we have done a literature review / desk research, conducted focus group interviews, and an impact survey, and based on the results we created an eBook. Within the Folk tale boxes WP we have selected and developed 3 sets of folk tale boxes, which include 1-1 tale from each country, a set of cards that follow a story and offer space for self-reflection, a guide on how to use them (including workshop scenarios) and videos for each tales. As Supporting materials, we created a Toolbox including several lesson plans, handouts, etc. for teachers to use in their practice, as well as a Training plan for having ideas put into practice. During implementation, we organized meetings between students and scientists, piloted our materials, organized multiplying workshops, including an international conference in Finland (paralelly with ongoing dissemination) and accredited the training course in Hungary.

The concrete results of the project are: 1) An 86-paged, research-based (focus groups, surveys, literature review) eBook in three languages, that provides a theroretical background (a framework) for combining sciences and humanities in education. It presents the need analysis of different target groups, provides examples of good practices, and have recommendations for all respetive countries. 2) 3 sets of folk tale boxes in four languages, being a method to work directly with students 3) A set of ready-to-use tools for teachers, such as lesson plans, handouts, question-collections and homework examples. Furthermore, we offered ideas for further elaboration, aka interesting topics that could be developed into further lesson plans. 4) A training plan for teacher trainers, that can be the program of a five-day long training session (or used in different timeschedule, as it is a modular program). It offers space for elaboration in different modes of knowledge, and for practicing using our materials and creating new ones - bringing theory into practice.