Biology Educators Shaping Tomorrow

There are many radical changes occurring worldwide. The most challenging of them is to cope with a climate change. Thus, several international strategies have been initiated to address those issues and find solutions, e.g. UN SDG and European Green Deal. To follow these strategies, we need more responsible and science-educated young people to acknowledge the urgency to switch to a sustainable lifestyle, pursue STEM careers and build a new green economy. Evidently, education is an essential part of that inclusive transition, and science teachers’ alliances are strong advocates for greener future and key actors to encourage students, their peers, families, and local communities to take initiative in science-based environmental projects. This project aimed to empower teachers and their associations. We identified 3 major needs: 1) offer a support system for STEM subjects educators and facilitate transnational collaboration; 2) make STEM subjects more attractive and interesting to learn and spark students interest in the EGD goals; 3) have engaging teaching and learning materials for outdoor green biology activities, enabling to foster many competencies: digital, communication, problem-solving, and teamwork skills.

Transnationally carried out projects are characterized by a multitude of tangible and intangible results and have broad impact on all stakeholders. BEST initiated by science teachers' associations of 5 European countries had 3 well-defined objectives: 1) to build the capacity of professional teachers’ organizations to provide better value for its members and improving teachers personal, subject-related and pedagogical competencies; 2) in collaboration with science teachers to co-create practical, innovative, and adaptable learning/teaching materials in the field of green biology to diversify national curricula. Also promote STEM subjects, reinforce connectedness to the local natural environment and apply ICT to make learning/teaching more engaging and present a variety of teaching methodologies and techniques in an outdoor setting; 3) to introduce and strengthen the European dimension and the prospects for future collaboration. Additionally, raise awareness of European cultural and natural diversity; improve multilingual and intercultural understanding. Finally, to improve the visibility of science teachers' associations as key actors in EGD plan implementation and to foster young generations inclusion in science-based activities.

There were several activities planned. First, all partners introduced different aspects of their organizations (management, communication, activities, members inclusion, presence of European dimension, etc). Based on that, comparative analyses of partner associations was performed by matrix analyses and SWOT analyses to identify and subsequently evaluate common and individual best practices and strengths; also obstacles and issues impeding host organization development in terms of providing better value for its members and contributing to the promotion of STEM education in schools, and the broader audience. Most of it was presented and discussed during LTTAs, however, extensive preparatory work was done by board members (3 from each partner organization) before the LTTAs to guarantee constructive and fruitful collaboration in a context of organizational development, and make it mutually beneficial and valuable for all participants. Second, to co-create green biology lesson plans all partners came up with 2–3 outdoor lesson plan ideas, which were developed during LTTAs by all partners in the local environment using ICT and species recognition apps. In cooperation with active teachers from each association ( 5 teachers per country were involved in every LTTA) the most promising material were selected and edited to improve its relevance and adaptability to the local learning environment. Afterward, lesson plans were introduced to the students in each partner country in at least 20 schools. Lesson plans piloting, feedback, refinement, and adaptation to the local learning environment, national curricula, and individual needs of students and teachers was of utmost importance to create a universal, scalable, easy to use, and free to access innovative and engaging learning tool. All these activities implemented between LTTAs were monitored and supervised by responsible persons assigned by partner associations, and subsequently posted in our public FB page for dissemination. Third, the host country introduced their natural biodiversity, also cultural and linguistic heritage to enhance participants' sense of European unity and common values, as well to improve communication and collaboration skills in multinational teams. Activities (e.g. school visits, joint field trips, team building and teamwork activities, etc) were organized to encourage proactive socializing, boost teachers' English language skills, and seek and find potential partners for future collaboration in the Erasmus+ framework. Apart from monitoring and assessing activities during LTTAs, and between them, a communication plan was followed to report on the progress of the project implementation stages for all members of the organizations. Additionally, to increase the visibility of professional STEM organizations and reach the broader audience on social media and other media channels (schools and organizations' web pages, private social media accounts, local newspapers, etc) articles and photos/videos were made and shared to promote project objectives and results.

Therefore, the concrete results of this project were: Project participants had an overview of how EU STEM teachers' professional associations were formed, how they function, and what value they provide for their members. Comparative study of partner organizations (e.g. strengths and best practices, along with identifying and addressing obstacles that slow down organization development) contributed enormously to the empowering of organizations to build capacity for change and to achieve greater effectiveness in the context of members inclusion, communication, management, and visibility. Partners have got an insight into the educational system and STEM education in different EU countries; have started mapping common problems and challenges of the subject, learning process, and school education in general, and discussed strategies to avoid (if possible) and mitigate them. In the process of mutual partnership, participants have co-created pedagogical materials for engaging the study of green biology in innovative and smart ways involving novel digital solutions and apps combined with outdoor activities. Key elements of those practical lesson plans have been piloted during the project implementation phase in schools, which helped to get instant feedback to improve and adjust plans according to the local learning environment and needs of students and teachers. Students' involvement at the very early steps of lesson plans was crucial to the final success and compatibility of the materials with the national curriculum, to offer an attractive and valuable outdoor learning experience. Multilingual, unique, and easily adjustable collections of lesson plans were readymade for public use for school teachers and nature educators in non-formal education. Future collaboration initiatives with all partners from the current project were laid out to broaden the scope of teachers' understanding, mapping, and tackling of universal challenges across Europe in the context of STEM education and EGD objectives. Many of the members of associations have found potential partners and ideas for future Erasmus+ school projects for students’ and teachers’ exchanges in the field of environmental education and STEM subjects promotion. All partnership organizations have incorporated the European dimension into their activities: shared common values, promoted principles and interest of European Education Area, and have contributed to the European Green Deal objectives by strengthening participants' professional competencies and creating an international and collaborative network of biology teachers. Partners have raised their awareness of European cultural and natural diversity, improved their multilingual and intercultural understanding. Partners have disseminated the project’s context, objectives, and results at local, regional, and national levels, by individual contacts, among colleagues at schools, and written articles, using social media, websites; newspapers to maximize impact and reach more target groups, and encouraging other teachers associations to have similar partnerships.