Science Across the World: Using the Internet for Inter-School Communication
July 3-10th 2005, Amsterdam
The skies came down in Amsterdam, western parts of the country were submerged in water, transport was cancelled, buses, trains, tube and bicycles were rested for a day, but we started the Comenius course.
Participants
Teachers came from The Basque  Country, Catalonia and Galicia in Spain, from Switzerland, Denmark, Lithuania, Poland and Greece to attend the one-week training programme
The week was formally opened by Ton Koet, director of the English Course at Amsterdam Faculty of Education and of the Graduate School of Teaching and Learning, University of Amsterdam and Ruggero Lala, administrator for the Amsterdam-Maastricht Summer University.
You can find information about the course (until AMSU removes it from the programme) at
www.amsu.edu/courses/communication.
The participants represented all age ranges of learning from primary through middle school, secondary, young adults, and higher education as well as an education advisor.
Subjects represented included Health and Hygiene, English language and culture, Biology, Physics, Maths, Chemistry, Geology, IT.
Day 1 - Monday 04.07.05
 The course started with an introduction in the Science across the World programme.
The participants then presented their own teaching and learning context in short 5 minute bursts and using a variety of media: posters, ppt and web page.
A few examples:
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Daniel Stotz presented the project he coordinates where primary materials are written in English specifically for the children in primary schools in the canton of Zurich, Switzwerland: http://educanet2.ch/pec. -
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Ulla Hjulman presented her work in Denmark contextualising intercultural learning in a vocational training centre EUC MIDT ( www.eucmidt.dk) entitled ‘international technology and culture’.
Other colleagues presented throughout the programme on their home and teaching contexts. A number of their presentations are available in ppt format on the FACTWorld website behind their country flags.
Day 2 - Tuesday 05.07.05
We spent the whole morning investigating issues to do with integrating language and content. Colleagues discussed  methodology for integrating content and language and were presented with various activities for developing language skills through the medium of a content subject.
Some of the materials written based on the above discussion are available at the FACTWorld website in the ‘materials’ section: www.factworld.info .
In the afternoon, participants worked through a web quiz to familiarise themselves with the Science Across the World website, sign up and browse the materials in the programme.
Day 3 -Wednesday 06.07.05
Kees Zwaga, head of European Programmes at the Dutch National Agency gave a presentation outlining plans for the future of educational initiatives in Europe. His talk described the ILLP - Integrated Lifelong Learning Programme for the periods 2007-8, 2013-14 and specifically on Comenius funding for school partnerships.
Kees mentioned that teachers on this course were fortunate, because Science is a priority area, so Science Across the World can offer great opportunities as a focus for school partnership projects with EU funding. Deadline for applications is Feb 1st. 
The afternoon was taken up with two practical activities related to Science Across the World topics, Talking about Genetics and Chemistry in our Lives.
Firstly, colleagues had to construct a DNA model made of sweets, a very sticky practice indeed!
After that, Lida had colleagues design, mix and market their own line of cosmetics products. The room soon stank sweetly of perfumes and detergents.
In the evening the participants had to present their products to the group in the form of a TV commercial during the International Dinner. They brought lots of  culinary goodies from their home country to share with the group.
Day 4 - Thursday 07.07.05
Thursday’s programme contained a review of the Science Across the World programme for developing language skills and we talked about the opportunities for investigating culture through the programme.
Take a look at some of these materials at the FACTWorld website.
We spent quite some time carrying out information transfer activities, using the data within the materials packs.
Each pack contains an information section and pages of statistics on various topics. The colleagues were a mixed ability group in terms of experience in using software such as Excel for creating visuals and so Lida and I produced a simple instructions sheet for the less experienced. Others had a great deal of knowledge and many wonderful visuals were created.
After  such an intensive day it was delightful to be taken on a boat trip in the summer sunshine around the canals of Amsterdam followed by a group dinner in one of the city’s many Indonesian restaurants.
Day 5 - Friday 08.07.05
Lida commented on the redrafts of the Excel visuals.
As a follow up colleagues were presented with links to websites for resources and networks.
These links include:
www.factworld.info (Forum for Across the Curriculum Teaching)
www.ase.org.uk, www.sycd.co.uk (for UPD8 and Science CDs)
Seminar wrap-up and evaluation
We carried out a cluster debate in order informally to evaluate the course.
Colleagues were asked to list things they liked best and things to change. Comments highlighted the need for more pre-course information and pre-course tasks to save time during the course itself. The mix of work and culture was praised as well as the spirit of sharing resources and techniques in the course.
At the end of the day we opened the box with freebies, that arrived from Science across the World sponsor GlaxoSmithKline: for each of the participants, amongst others, a cd-rom 'The Science behind Medicines' and a mouse mat with the Periodical System. Thank you GlaxoSmithKline!
We were joined by the Director of the Summer University Joanneke Lootsma to present participants with their certificates and say our farewells.
Saturday 09.07.05
On our last day together we paid a visit to Science Museum NEMO. An adventure game was prepared to show how teachers can use a science museum in their teaching.
This is the first year of this course. It’s been a wonderful experience and very much a learning experience for both participants and tutors. No doubt that this course will run again next year. There is a great deal of enthusiasm in the University for hosting a repeat event and this report should go some way to publicising the event to future interested colleagues.
July 2005
Hope to see you there next year! Send us a message and you will hear from us!
Keith Kelly (Keithkelly@factworld.org) and Lida Schoen (amschoen@scienceacross.org)
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