Abstract:

In accordance with the objectives of the Lisbon declaration (2000) and with the affirmation of the European Commission that there is a need to promote more widely inquiry based science education methodologies in primary and secondary schools and to support teachers’ networks (2007), European Schoolnet (EUN) has recently launched Scientix, a new web-based information platform for science education in Europe whose aim is to ensure the regular dissemination and sharing of progress, know-how, and best practices in the field of science education and providing a feedback mechanism.
Scientix is a three year project run by EUN since December 2009 on behalf of the European Commission Directorate General Research and is funded under the 7th Framework Programme.
The portal (http://scientix.eu), available in six European languages and whose main target are teachers, offers a resource repository containing hundreds of teaching materials from European projects, but also research reports and policy-making documents; a translation on demand service for the teaching materials towards any of the 23 languages of the European Union; a community including a forum and chat rooms; an online news service featuring international science education topics and a calendar of forthcoming events and training opportunities; and also a newsletter sent once a month to registered users.
Part of the added value of this new platform consists of its philosophy which entails a shift between a central portal where information is disseminated to end users towards a more dynamic and user-centered platform.
Besides the website, several events and workshops will be organized during the three years of the project, the main event will be the Scientix conference (Brussels, 6-8 May 2011) which will promote networking among the science and education community and provide feedback on the services offered online. Workshops to inform science teachers, give them tools to use the Scientix platform in class effectively and meet other science teachers in Europe will be organized from 2010 to 2012 and will take place in several European countries.

Keywords:

Scientix, DG Research, European Schoolnet, science education, teaching materials, project reports, community for science education in Europe, resources.