COSMOS

COSMOS (Creating Organizational Structures for Meaningful Science education through Open Schooling for all) uses socioscientific inquiry-based learning (SSIBL) in science education as a pedagogical means of opening up schools to their communities to address the challenges of low interest in science and science career aspirations, and the underrepresentation of female students and those from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds in formal and non-formal settings, at the primary and secondary education phases.

To transform, and open, schools from an ‘inwards’ towards an ‘outwards’ mode of engagement in, with and for their communities we will (a) establish within schools Core ORganizational structures for Promoting Open Schooling (CORPOS) to facilitate community involvement. CORPOS will elevate the importance of school, family and community partnerships and will consequently (b) support the creation of communities of practice (CoP). The CoP will be focused on relevant and meaningful socioscientific issues (SSIs) for the students and their community, to enhance and ensure engagement of all societal actors, and consequently enhance students’ interest in science and science careers using SSIBL. At the same time, we will (c) ensure the viability and sustainability of open schools created by working closely with teachers, stakeholders and school leadership offering teacher professional development, supporting networking and collaboration and capacity building.

The COSMOS consortium (13 partners, 7 countries) provides transdisciplinary cooperation and expertise in non-formal and formal science education, expertise in pre-service and in-service science teacher education, and, strong societal links within their communities, all of which warrant the successful development of organisational structures for networking and collaboration, the creation of CoP and the use of SSIBL as a pedagogy within science education.