Sofoklis Alexander Sotiriou

• PhD in High Energy Astrophysic
• Head of Department at Ellinogermaniki Agogi

This chapter examines the multifaceted aspects of the Whole School Approach (WSA) to Education for Sustainable Development. It meticulously deliberates on the defining characteristics of WSA, emphasising its comprehensive and holistic nature in fostering sustainable practices within educational institutions. It also expounds on teaching and learnin...

This chapter draws insights on Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) with a focus on the current state of sustainability education in Europe. It provides a comprehensive overview of the landscape of numerous practices, addressing key challenges and opportunities. The chapter delves into different initiatives, policies, and institutional strat...

This study explores the impact of science education projects focusing on educational seismology to enhance school openness and enrich students' civic responsibility and views on their science learning. The sample comprised 515 students from 33 different schools. The study involved specialised training for educators and administrators on integrating...

REINFORCE (Research Infrastructures FOR Citizens in Europe) is a Research & Innovation Project, supported by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 SwafS, ‘Science with and for Society’ work programme (GA872859). The project, which ran from December, 2019, to November, 2022, engaged the public in a variety of innovative ways. Four citizen-science demons...

The international Conference of the Learning from the Extremes Project (https://learningfromtheextremes.eu/) was organised on the 19th and 20th of January 2024. The conference was co-organised by the Institute of Educational Policy (https://www.iep.edu.gr/en/), Science View (https://www.scienceview.gr/) and Ellinogermaniki Agogi (http://www.ea.gr/)...

This paper presents the approach adopted by the Ellinogermaniki Agogi School Observatory in Greece to facilitate the shift to online education and outreach activities during the COVID-19 pandemic.

An analysis of students’ problem solving capabilities using the ISE assessment framework shall be presented. The data sample consists of 3 different ISE demonstrator runs with a group of students from age 13 to 17. The data were taken during the summer school ‘The Class of Physical Sciences at the School of tomorrow’ which took place from 17 to 21...

This document forms the policy roadmap for the institutionalisation of citizen science in large research infrastructures, developed within the REINFORCE project. It builds on results and evaluations from the demonstrator projects developed within REINFORCE, as well as on the engagement monitoring and assessment that has been undertaken. It examines...

Εισαγωγή: Η παιδική ηλικία αποτελεί κρίσιμη περίοδο για την υιοθέτηση συμπεριφορών, όπως η φυσική δραστηριότητα (ΦΔ), οι καθιστικές συμπεριφορές (ΚΣ) και ο ύπνος, οι οποίες συνδέονται τόσο με την άμεση όσο και με τη μελλοντική υγεία των παιδιών. Για αυτό, τα τελευταία χρόνια, χώρες, όπως ο Καναδάς και η Αυστραλία, έχουν εκδώσει 24ωρες οδηγίες σωματ...

Traditional assessments of cognitive skills (in general) and knowledge acquisition (in specific) are in place in most educational systems. Though not in line with innovative and multidisciplinary curricula as proposed by current reforms, they require in-depth understanding and authentic application. This divergence must be addressed if STEM educati...

Societal values are strongly formed by public models; this is also true for buildings. It is easier to gain people’s attention to the need for change, to significantly increase the quantity and quality of energy-efficient retrofits in Europe when public authorities and governments are adopting the appropriate approach. It is therefore important to...

This document describes and analyses the different pathways for the transformation of the schools into Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) Living Labs (LLs) through the Whole School Approach (WSA), providing a structured set of Scenarios of Plausible Futures for Nature-Based Solutions in Education that can act as a reference point for the project’s implem...

The integration of arts in science education (STEAM) aims to provide innovative activities to reach deeper learning levels and generally promote student engagement in (science) education. The European Horizon 2020 project CREATIONS with 16 partner institutions addresses this challenge with more than 100 initiatives over three years. All initiatives...

Despite the large progress of science in the frontiers of Physics and its impact to our lives, a gap between research and society is observed. In this article we discuss the potential of citizen science to help bridge this gap by both supporting scientific research and increasing society’s science literacy.

In 2015, the EU Educational Policy document “Science Education for Responsible Citizenship” introduced the concept of Open Schooling as a promising approach to transform schools into innovation hubs within their local communities. In an open school environment, external ideas need to challenge traditional internal views and, in turn, to benefit its...

With the increasing shift from STEM to STEAM education, arts-based approaches to science teaching and learning are considered promising for aligning school science curricula with the development of twenty-first century skills, including creativity. Yet the impact of STEAM practices on student creativity and specifically on how the latter is associa...

This chapter explores how the Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) principles, in combination with school community conceptual change, can promote a different perspective of knowledge. Our research question focused on how RRI principles can support teachers and students to change their cognitive frames through the concept of “learning science...

Science classrooms (even in the time of the pandemic) should provide more challenging, inquiry-based, authentic and higher-order learning experiences allowing students to participate in scientific practices and tasks. Rich scientific databases, e-Learning tools and digital educational resources can serve as a catalyst for science learning. They can...

This article proposes and describes an educational scenario for 4th, 7th and 10th grade school history. The main goal of this scenario is to help students understand the historical dimension of the phenomenon of the pandemic and to develop critical thinking towards it, in order to enhance their mental resilience. The main historical character of th...

REVIEWTechnology enhanced learning applications are used more and more in terms of curriculum in primary and secondary education as it has been shown that they have a positive impact to the learning outcome of youngsters. However, for tertiary education this is not the case, since more traditional methods of teaching are still dominant. Despite thi...

Considering the need for functional physical activity (PA) measures in PA settings, this study sought to determine the technical adequacy of the Physical Activity Questionnaire for Older Children (PAQ-C) and the Fitbit Flex-2, two instruments with promising features for wide use, using the Actigraph GT3X+ accelerometer as the criterion reference. A...

Large-scale implementations of effective inquiry-based learning are rare. A European-wide initiative gave teachers access to innovative e-learning tools (ranging from virtual labs, virtual games and simulations to augmented reality applications) for lesson planning and classroom implementation. We examined 668 such implementations across 453 school...

Computational Thinking has become an important concept for almost all age groups. It describes the purposeful utilization of Information and Communication Technologies for solving problems. The approach of Computational Thinking and Acting combines the computational thinking approach with physical computing, including physical activities to explore...

Background This study presents the development of three research tools of scientific creativity. Our aim is to evaluate the development of student creativity while students write digital stories. Three models are linked to create a new model, called Creative, Cognitive, Qualitative Model for Creativity (CCQ tool). Our research tool examines how cre...

Many current curricula, in going beyond traditional goals, increasingly foster creativity in science classrooms, declaring creativity a core skill of the 21st century. For enhancing creativity in science classrooms, the subject Arts is considered to offer a potential way from STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) to STEAM (STEM with...

For scholars and policy-makers alike, deeper learning has been a promising paradigm for fostering students’ interest in and mastery of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Deeper learning is assumed to result in a more thorough understanding of a subject that endures the test of time. To reach this level, a fascination with the...

Many current curricula, in going beyond traditional goals, increasingly foster creativity in science classrooms, declaring creativity a core skill of the 21st century. For enhancing creativity in science classrooms, the subject Arts is considered to offer a potential way from STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) to STEAM (STEM with...

A theoretically derived sixth-grade classroom module focusing on the evolution of birds contains the core of our study. Participants, assumed to be novices in evolutionary classroom issues when they completed matching hands-on experiments based on the inquiry-based vision, learned about the theoretical background and formulated explanations based o...

In this book, the authors have tried to include the results of their efforts for many years working with students and teachers of primary and secondary education levels. The main effort is to present the methods and the activities that teachers could implement within their classrooms in order to follow the Creative Inquiry Based Science Methodology...

Background: Creativity is often viewed as a fundamental educational capability. Science can play a role in nurturing creativity. Research suggests that creative pedagogy, including interdisciplinary teaching , can engage students with science. Previous studies into teachers’ attitudes to science and creativity have been largely situated within nati...

This paper responds to recent calls to explore the nuances of the interaction between the sciences, the arts and their inherent creativity to better understand their potential within teaching and learning. Building on previous arguments that the science-arts-creativity relationship is dialogic and relational, this research focuses on the question:...

The STORIES storytelling platform provides the means and the tools along with the necessary collaborative and personalization functionalities to introduce students and monitor their performance in extended episodes of deeper learning in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) combined with art-related activities (visual and perform...

Our empirical study monitored science teachers‟ motivation and technology interest within a Professional Development (PD) module in a science summer school. The first empirical measurement consisted of the Science Motivation Questionnaire (SMQ) and the second of the Technology Questionnaire (TQ). A pre-/post-measurement recorded very high motivatio...

The current document first presents a general compilation of behavioural data collected from virtual learning labs in the framework of the Go-Lab project and their analysis. The comprehensive analysis of the available data provided several deeper qualitative and quantitative understandings of the user behaviour, such as its development and evolutio...

The aim of this document is to present the initial requirements from a group of stakeholders (teachers, teacher trainers and school advisors) and to provide a definition of the types of educational scenarios that the authoring tool should support. Analysis of the stakeholders involved in virtual labs. An updated version of the educational scenarios...

This document consists an updated part of Deliverable D1.1 that presented the initial requirements from a group of stakeholders (teachers, teacher trainers and school advisors) and provided a definition of the types of educational scenarios that the ENVISAGE authoring tool should support. Based on the proposed framework the project team has selecte...

We present and discuss a pilot execution plan and evaluation methodology and protocol that will be followed to conduct a series of small-scale test implementations of virtual labs, accompanied by the authoring, analytics and visualization tools of ENVISAGE. The quantitative and qualitative feedback collection from users, both teachers and students,...

The current document is an update of D1.2 – Data structure and functional requirements and as such it has a similar scope and structure. It aims to present an updated compilation of requirements and prioritized recommendations in response to the first evaluations of the authoring tool, the analytics and visualization services, and the 3D virtual la...

The Roadmap proposes a concrete overview of the implementation of open schooling approaches, offering a clear description of the necessary steps that schools will need to take in order to become hubs of responsible innovation that bring together as many stakeholders as possible with an aim to produce ideas and solutions that address local issues an...

The key competence acquisition by every young person is one of the long-term objectives of the updated strategic framework for European cooperation. Most of the EU Member States are formulating and at least beginning to implement policies that move their school systems from being predominantly input-led and subject-oriented towards curricula which...

The fundamental pioneering ideas about student-centered, inquiry-based learning initiatives are differing in Europe and the US. The latter had initiated various top-down schemes that have led to well-defined standards, while in Europe, with its some 50 independent educational systems, a wide variety of approaches has been evolved. In this present p...

The 'Learning Science through theatre' approach enables students to promote and reflect on the interaction between all types of cognitive systems and accomplish the cognitive transfer from Science to Art, in other words the transition from STEM to STEAM (Science, Technologies, Engineering, ARTS or ALL SUBJECTS, and Mathematics). This way students a...

In this paper we study Language, Εmbodied Learning and other semiotic systems as an integral means through which students express emotions, reasoning and scientific meanings when they realize scientific theatrical performances. Four characteristics of Embodied Learning examined, those of gestures, whole body movements, emotional involvement and fac...

Taking into account the strongly decreased interest of young people in science and mathematics, this study aims to propose a new creative pedagogic approach in order for this tendency to be reversed, developed in the framework of EU project CREATIONS. The first implementation activities of this approach, addressing both students and teachers, have...

Online labs (OLs) constitute digital educational tools which can have a significant role in supporting science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) teachers in their daily teaching practice. Designing STEM lessons supported by specific OLs is a challenging task and thus, it is useful for STEM teachers to be able to share their lesson pla...

This paper presents the “Big Ideas of Science” set as an alternative means of organizing science educational content in an interdisciplinary way that goes beyond the traditional subject-based organizational structures. The “Big Ideas of Science” refers to a set of phrases which overarch all science subject domains and briefly describe our world; fr...

Η εξ αποστάσεως εκπαίδευση με τη χρήση των Τεχνολογιών της Πληροφορίας και των Επικοινωνιών (ΤΠΕ) διαδραματίζει σημαντικό ρόλο στην επιμόρφωση των εκπαιδευτικών, καθώς υπό προϋποθέσεις μπορεί να συμβάλει καθοριστικά στην άρση πολλών εμποδίων που αντιμετωπίζουν οι εκπαιδευτικοί, ως ενήλικοι εκπαιδευόμενοι, διασφαλίζοντας ευελιξία στον χώρο, τον χρόν...

Education reform initiatives tend to promise higher effectiveness in classrooms especially when emphasis is given to e-learning and digital resources. Practical changes in classroom realities or school organization, however, are lacking. A major European initiative entitled Open Discovery Space (ODS) examined the challenge of modernizing school edu...

Περίληψη The key competence acquisition (KCA) by every young person is one of the long term objectives of the updated strategic framework for European cooperation. Most of the EU Member States are formulating and at least beginning to implement policies that move their school systems from being predominantly input led and subject-oriented towards...

Recent EU recommendations and decisions about the future of educational systems, and recent research initiatives in pedagogical and educational issues, recommend that efforts should be dedicated to motivating the school community to use creative teaching and learning practices in their day-to-day activities. More specifically, creativity and innova...

The PATHWAY framework provides to teachers a concise methodology for designing, expressing and representing inquiry-based educational practices. This allows, first, monitoring the identified activities for teaching science by inquiry, that is, providing different scenarios which are identified as subject-domain independent “educational activities”...

Teachers’ knowledge and skills have a great impact on students’ learning outcomes. Teachers’ vocational training has been a research topic in technology-enhanced learning for years. The Go-Lab project aims to engage school students with STEM topics by bringing online laboratory experiments based on inquiry learning approach into the classroom. In G...

Education systems in Europe have not been able to address successfully the low achievement in the fields of Mathematics, Science and Technology. This failure increases social inequalities and reduces the number of students who select a career in Mathematics, Science and Technologydisciplines as well as it increases the student drop-out rate in the...

Digital Competence, as the set of knowledge, skills and attitudes that are required when using Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and digital media to perform everyday human activities, have started to be understood as “life skills”. Nevertheless, concerning the integration of innovative technology and approaches, many teachers do not p...

The ancient Eratosthenes experiment concerning the earth’s circumference offers the opportunity of an inquiry-basedrevival in today’s science classrooms: A multinational European science education initiative (acronym: OSR)introduced this experiment as a hands-on basis to extract the required variables and to exchange results withclassroom peers acr...

Taking into account the plethora of Remote and Virtual Labs (RVLs) that are currently available online, a key problem has emerged from the need of science teachers to be able to find and select them for their lesson plans, in an efficient and effective way. The most common way to facilitate this process using web technologies is to (a) characterize...

Open Educational Resources (OERs) are freely accessible, openly licensed multimedia documents or interactive tools that can be typically integrated in Learning Management Systems to support courses. With social media platforms becoming the central piece of the students' digital ecosystem, there is an emerging need to provide resources that can be i...

The Go-Lab federation of online labs opens up virtual laboratories (simulation), remote laboratories (real equipment accessible at distance) and data sets from physical laboratory experiments (together called “online labs”) for large-scale use in education. In this way, Go-Lab enables inquiry-based learning that promotes acquisition of deep concept...

Due to the increasing professional mobility of their parents, pupils often find themselves in new and unfamiliar learning scenarios in foreign contexts and countries. Besides having to leave their familiar environments, these pupils additionally may face language barriers, different curricula, and have to cope with foreign cultures. Printed textboo...

Virtual and remote laboratories provide access to state-of-the-art science experiments and are capable of providing students with innovative learning opportunities. Such environments can be highly effective in increasing students’ interest in science and their engagement in relevant learning activities. In order to increase the findability of avail...

During the past years, several open educational resources (OERs) initiatives around the world have been developed, which aim to create and share digital educational resources in the form of learning objects (LOs) that are openly licensed and available online for everyone to use. These initiatives have contributed in building and sustaining web-base...

The GEOTHNK project focuses on spatial thinking, a newly acknowledged ability with profound and rewarding effects on numerous aspects of everyday life and science-from giving and following directions and interpreting maps and diagrams, to achieving innovation in STEM disciplines. Spatial thinking constitutes a key competence for life and work in th...

Geospatial thinking is a newly acknowledged ability with profound and rewarding effects on numerous aspects of everyday life and science - from giving and following directions and interpreting maps and diagrams, to achieving innovation in STEM disciplines. The GEOTHNK approach aims at enhancing geospatial thinking skills and engaging users in meani...

Open Educational Resources (OER) – that is, teaching, learning and research materials that their owners make free to others to use, revise and share – offer a powerful means of expanding the reach and effectiveness of worldwide education. Those resources can be full courses, course materials, modules, textbooks, streaming videos, software, and othe...

The European Commission is funding a large-scale research project on federated online laboratories (Labs) for education in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) at School. The main educational focus is on inquiry learning and the main technological one is on personalized learning spaces. The learning spaces are offered through a...

The objective of the three-year European project (acronym: PATHWAY) with its 25 partner organizations is to set the pathway toward a standard-based approach to teaching science by inquiry. The project focuses on (i) supporting the adoption of inquiry teaching by demonstrating ways to reduce the constrains presented by teachers and school organizati...

Over the past years a large amount of digital science education resources became available for open access through web-based repositories. These resources have the potential to support technology-enhanced science education by enabling science teachers to improve their day-to-day science teaching. Nevertheless, it has been identified that science te...

Museums of natural history possess a wealth of digitized cultural heritage objects as a result of hard work from the museum staff. This content is usually exploited for scientific purposes and maybe exposed through online cultural portals. The present paper argues that this content is appropriate for learning as well and it presents an approach...

Introduction. The purpose of the present study was to explore the educational and cognitive aspects of an innovative approach to Internet use within an interdisciplinary, integrated framework for activities set up to enable students to acquire knowledge informally. These activities had the potential to provide real-world results through a model tha...

This paper investigates quality assurance mechanisms of social tagging of open educational resources in the contexts of formal and informal learning in science centers and museums. Based on the extensive literature review we derived twenty most important quality attributes of social tags. Those attributes were ranked according to their importance f...

Taking full advantage of the many opportunities offered by ICT requires a commitment to new conceptions of teaching and learning and large-scale implementations at the school level. The articles in this special issue have the potential to promote school change in new and useful ways so that the needs of all learners are met. The aim of this paper i...

Over the past years a large amount of digital science education resources became available worldwide through web-based repositories facilitating their sharing and re-use among science education communities. These resources bare the potential to support technology-enhanced science education by enabling science education teachers to improve their day...

A number of international initiatives, such as the leading initiative of Open Educational Resources (OER) movement, have recognized the worth of sharing and reusing educational resources among educational communities. This has become an important issue in the field of Technology-enhanced Science Education, and over the past years a large amount of...

Schools and classrooms, both real and virtual, must have teachers who are equipped with technology resources and skills and who can effectively teach the necessary subject matter while investing on technology affordances for transforming the content in ways that make it more learnable for students. This need becomes even more evident in the case of...

This paper presents a novel implementation of an extended technology acceptance model to gain insight into user perceptions, attitudes and beliefs toward a mobile augmented reality system for science education. Results were collected during the initial testing of a prototype system, with the specific intent to diagnose misspecifications of user req...