Inspiring Science Education

Deadline: 25 September

The Conference organizers are inviting proposals for original paper and poster presentations, workshops/interactive sessions, on one of the aforementioned themes. Proposal ideas that extend beyond these thematic areas will also be considered.
Submissions and inquiries about the Conference content should be sent in electronic form to kostikas@scienceview.gr by 25 September 2015.
All submissions must be written in English and prepared according to the format given here. 
All accepted submissions will be published and distributed in electronic format. Selected papers will be published in printed form.
For any accepted contribution to the Conference, the first author should pre-register in time. A given participant cannot be first author of more than two contributions. The registration is free.

• Oral Presentations may be between 15 and 20 minutes in duration. An abstract (in MS-Word .doc or in Open-Office format) describing the main points and conclusions of the presentation must be submitted electronically and before 25 September 2015. After being reviewed and accepted, the final "camera ready" version will be submitted electronically in accordance with the detailed instructions that will be given. Failure to meet the deadlines will result in the omission of the submitted work from the printed proceedings and may disqualify an accepted work.
• Virtual presentations.  Interested parties who are unable to attend the Conference in person but have interest in their paper being published in the  Conference Proceedings may register for a "virtual presentation". Virtual Presentations allow participants to submit papers for refereeing and publication in the conference proceedings, as with a regular paper.  Virtual authors can optionally submit a PowerPoint presentation in addition to the paper submission. These presentations will be uploaded on the Conference website so that all Conference participants will have access to them during and after the conference.
• Poster presentations will preferentially be displayed for the full length of the Conference. An abstract describing the main points and conclusions of the work must be submitted electronically and in time.
• Workshops. An abstract describing the main points and conclusions of the work must be submitted electronically and in time.

The aim of the conference is to provide an opportunity for teachers to present innovative educational scenarios and educational activities implemented in their schools, which promote inquiry based learning and creativity and are based on innovative ideas and approaches while highlighting the use of new technological applications (virtual laboratories, simulations, interactive augmented reality applications, robotics applications). These activities should be based on the principles of inquiry based learning and have applied for at least one academic year in real school environment.
The presentation of the obtained results (qualitatively or quantitatively) and the impact they had on educational practice is an extremely important parameter for the selection of the tasks that will be presented.
At the same time innovative approaches will be presented. These approaches have already been implemented in schools and combine teaching of science with teaching arts (music, theater).

The Conference will be structured around main thematic axes such as:

• Inquiry based learning and school projects
• Creativity and Science Teaching
• Inquiry based learning and new technologies
• Robotics and inquiry based learning
• Programming and inquiry based learning
• Connecting school with Museums and Science dissemination centres
• Connecting the school with scientific research
• Teaching Geosciences and new technologies
• Combining Science and Art
• Student Activities - Science through Theatre

The program also includes:

• Workshops for the presentation of applications and tools provided in the portals of SCIENTIX, INSPIRING SCIENCE and the Greek National Aggregator of Educational content PHOTODENTRO
• Presentation of the Aesop platform that has been developed by the Institute of Educational Policy in order to collect 3500 innovative educational scenarios
• Presentation of the unique SKYLIGHT opera that was created with the support of UNESCO on the occasion of the International Year of Light 2015.

Before and during the days of the Conference the participants will have the opportunity to participate in satellite and parallel workshops and events. 
More information about the events and workshops can be found here.

The conference is supported by the European projects SCIENTIX, CREAT-IT and INSPIRINGSCIENCE and is open to all teachers of primary and secondary education.