At the heart of the MOST project is the implementation of School Community Projects (SCPs) in schools. In an SCP, students and their teachers collaborate with members of the community: Families, science education providers, citizens, businesses, etc. They join together to work on an environmentally relevant issue that directly affects their community. For the duration of the project, the overarching themes are waste (2011) and energy (2022).

The aim of these projects is for students and citizens to work together scientifically in order to develop regionally feasible solution approaches. The acquired knowledge will then be delivered to the community. The sharing of results can be accomplished via short video clips, pictures, posters, flyers, newspaper articles, etc.

An example:

An eight grade joins forces with a vendor of the local organically sourced store, an employee in regional waste management, an environmental consultant and a freelance journalist to investigate, as part of their math curriculum, how to reduce waste in private households of their town. After a shared brainstorming exercise small groups are working on different tasks: One group would for example analyse the inhabitants needs and interview passers-by on their shopping behaviour. Another group would collect the house waste over a set period and compare their measurements with the amount of waste produced by consciously shopping over the same time period at the same scale. The vendor will offer them valuable insights. The result will be extrapolated for the entire town. As the final step, the students will create a list of instructions on how to minimize waste in their town, as well as which impact these will produce. The results are then prepared for an exhibition in the school and the local mall, where the local press will report.

Co-creation is an innovative and participatory process, which aims to create shared ownership of all people involved and to support participants in building new knowledge and create values for all concerned. The purpose of the SCPs is to create learning spaces, which are accessible for all citizens to join, and to let society learn from, about and with each other. Furthermore, the introduction of an SCP in the classroom brings real-life relevance to science education in participating schools.

SCPs can be carried out in all grade levels (primary and secondary school). Currently, SCPs are initiated in all of the MOST partner countries. Check out the national websites for further information on site!

The open schooling approach leads to a sustainable networking system between schools and their communities. The aim of the MOST project is to work together with private individuals, companies and associations on strategies to overcome current environmental and social problems. The collaborative work leads to a broader understanding of scientific processes and is intended to promote the scientific knowledge and transversal skills of society in the long term.

INCREASE -5-steps to success

The MOST open schooling approach covers a 5-step process aiming to engage stakeholders in co-creation activities and to design and implement joint projects. In order to be able to follow the process successfully, we recommend orienting yourself to the 5 phases of a project.

INVITE

The project team has already invited a large number of interested stakeholders. As a teacher, you can invite other community members or people relevant to your projects. At a later point in time, after a topic has emerged, your students can also look for other participants. Here are a few tips:

• Search for possible partners in the region
• Invitations should be explicit and short, make phone calls, to get into a conversation
• Invite community members from different areas

CO-CREATE

• Co-creation enables specialists and experts to cooperate with other groups with whom an exchange normally does not take place.
• Co-creation processes help to find a topic, and similar interests of the participants become visible, from which project groups can be derived.
• A selection of methodological approaches to facilitate the process can be found in the Co-creation Navigator of the WAAG society ccn.waag.org

ACT

• Define the goals – which objects should be achieved with the implementation of the project?
• Share responsibilities by assigning individual members of the project team a role that suits them
• Keep in touch – regular project meetings support the exchange
• Set a timeline – a list of milestones helps the students to orientate themselves in the project
• Develop a hygiene and safety plan – due to the pandemic situation, talk about hygiene and protection in class.

SHARE

Since this is a school community project, it is advisable to present the completed projects to the community. Various channels can be used for this:

• presentation via poster(s) in school
• presentation on congregation evenings
• use the billboard in the school and the community
• project/school website
• short video formats
• local newspaper or radio station

EVALUATE

It is advisable to carry out an evaluation for the class and the school itself to determine to what extend a school-community-project was successful. Each SCP should be evaluated as an individual in order to learn what should be done differently or improved in future projects with a similar approach. Further, Evaluation needs to be seen as a part of any scientific process, so it should be included in the SCPs, to give students a understanding of how scientific processes work out.

The INCREASE-Trail Map is a step-by-step guide that is intended to serve as an orientation for the SCP leaders. The entire step-by-step manual will provide operational steps schools will need to follow when they wish to run a SCP and will be available for download here later this year. Subscribe to our newsletter to stay up to date!

The document “Pedagogical Guidelines and exemplary science materials” introduces co-creation processes and collaborative working methods, as well as provide information on pedagogical concepts we recommend applying, especially for involving girls. It provides pedagogical and scientific materials that can be used as educational basis to run School-Community-Projects. The main target group of this document are SCP leaders in their capacity as pedagogical leaders, although the SCP participants can also benefit from it.

The main pedagogical basis for SCPs stem from Project-Based Learning (PBL), a model that organizes students’ learning around projects. PBL is often associated with Inquiry-Based Learning (IBL), Inquiry-Based Science Teaching (IBST) or scientific practices. The common denominator among these approaches is the student-centredness, in which students are actively engaged in tackling problem-solving processes like raising questions to investigate, planning investigations, selecting methods, collecting data, evaluating and communicating results. In the MOST project, the scope of PBL/IBL has to be enlarged to include the community members, school director or stakeholders as participants, with the topic/theme covering authentic environment related issues (e.g. waste and energy) and promoting girls’ participation.

In the first part of this guidelines the SCP leaders will get insight into research-based pedagogical aspects relevant to SCPs in terms of:

• Valued Outcomes
• Features of SCP problems
• Features of SCP ways of working
• SCP leaders as pedagogical leaders

The second part of this document gives an example of a SCP that can be used as help and inspiration when SCPs are to be planned and performed.

• Download Pedagogical Guidelines (draft version)
  
• Download list of examples of waste issues that could be addressed in an SCP
  
• Download an example of a project roadmap

The final version of the pedagogical guidelines will present best practice examples of materials from partners across Europe and will be available for download here in the course of the project. Subscribe to our newsletter to stay up to date!

MOST fairs are connecting participating schools of a region, their School-Community-Project (SCP) partners and further community members as well as stakeholders from business and policy in order to intensify exchange and cooperation at the regional level. Schools will have the chance to present experiences and project results. In an award ceremony, the school with the best SCP will receive an award for their efforts.  Students will realize the meaningful impact their efforts and actions can have on their region and society in general. Schools will also be able to extend their cooperation with other institutions, organisations and interested community members in order to build significant and lasting partnerships.

The MOST conference will connect School-Community-Projects (SCPs) and their partners on an European level, augmenting the projects results and achievements on the international stage. Best practices, SCP award winners and experiences will be presented, policy makers and other high-level stakeholders invited to connect all levels of Open Schooling – students and teachers, higher education providers such as universities, citizens, companies and policy makers. This will function as a unique opportunity to foster expertise and to engage in networking and the sharing of research findings from the SCPs to efficiently promote Open Schooling all around Europe.