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MULTIPLIERS will support open schooling across Europe, promoting educational activities of enhanced authenticity to make science attractive and ‘cool’ (again)

Science is one of the pillars of modern society, and as such, is deeply interwoven with societal and environmental challenges such as climate change and biodiversity loss. In schools, however, it is often presented to students in an abstract way, lacking practical context. To make science more tangible and appealing, the MULTIPLIERS Horizon 2020 project is establishing novel Open Science Communities (OSCs), expanding opportunities for science learning in collaboration with schools, universities, informal education providers, museums, local associations, industry, civil society, policymakers and media across six European countries.

Initially, OSCs will be set up in Cyprus, Germany, Italy, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden. These communities will develop science projects with real-life challenges as starting points to be implemented in schools. Students will interact with a broad spectrum of science experts, jointly working on science-based solutions for societal and environmental issues. Via open community events and activities, they will then share their findings and experiences with their families and communities, acting as science multipliers.

Themes

• Air pollution - Considering how to improve cities’ air quality by collecting and analysing data.
• Biodiversity and ecosystem services - Studying different ecosystem services and their value for human health and societal well-being.
• Vaccination - Looking deeper into the examples of a series of vaccination programmes and discussing their benefits and consequences.
• Anti-microbial resistance - Learning how we can better deal with bacteria resistant to antibiotics.
• Forest use vs. forest protection - Exploring different economic, ecological, cultural, and social perspectives on forests.
• Clean water and sanitation - Engaging schools and communities to increase their scientific understanding of water management and sustainability.

What we do

• increase students’ interest in science by exploring societal and environmental challenges and making scientific findings relevant to their everyday lives
• make science more tangible by involving students in data collection and decision-making processes
• support students in developing analytical and critical thinking skills to ultimately make them knowledge multipliers
• help students evaluate the benefits and consequences of multi-faceted issues and foster interactions with science professionals
• actively involve families and wider communities in the project through our open-school science learning approach
• establish sustainable Open Science Communities (OSCs) by engaging different societal actors in science-learning processes
• influence school and curriculum development by providing educators and policymakers with guidelines and recommendations (the upcoming ‘MULTIPLIERS White Book’) for adopting open schoo