The Creativity in Early Years Science Education training course is a professional development and innovation course, addressed to teachers and school leaders. The aim of the course is to support classroom innovation and to train teachers and leaders of European schools to act as successful change agents in their schools in order to promote creative approaches, in both teaching and learning, to science learning in preschool and the first years of primary school. The training course is based on the teacher education curriculum design principles and guidelines formulated in the EU-funded project Creative Little Scientists (www.creative-little-scientists.eu), as well as the training approach and teaching materials created by the Erasmus+ project CEYS to promote creative approaches to science learning in preschool and the first years of primary school. 

The course will leverage an inquiry-based creative approach through hands-on and reflection sessions to experience the principles of inquiry-based and creative science learning, while introducing the basics of curriculum design research and exploring teacher education curriculum design principles. The latter cover: learning activities, role of teacher educator, materials and resources, grouping, location, time; and assessment.

Finally, course participants will be introduced to a shared online space for collaborating with other course participants, creating and shearing their learning resources to promote creative science learning. 

The training course overall comprises 10 hours of guided explorations, and 15 hours of hands-on workshops. All participants will have direct access to PCs (although participants are encouraged to bring their own laptops) as needed to enhance the hands-on activities. Visits to non-formal learning settings (such as the Museum of Acropolis and/or the Herakleidon museum) will introduce participants to ways of using informal settings with their students for fostering creative science teaching and learning.

The CEYS Summer School 2017 is part of the Inspiring Science Education Academy.

The aim of the Inspiring Science Education Summer Academy is to support the modernisation of science education and training, including in curricula, assessment of learning outcomes and the professional development of teachers and trainers, as well as to the wide adoption of the recommendations of the Rocard Report "A new Pedagogy for the Future of Europe" (Rocard et al., 2007), that sets the basics for the introduction of the Inquiry Based approach in the science curricula of the Member States.

Participation in this course can be funded by the Erasmus+ Programme (Key Action 1, Mobility project for school education staff).

Click on the button below for instructions on how to apply