Schools as Living Labs

Project Information

SALL

Grant agreement ID: 871794

DOI

10.3030/871794

Project closed

EC signature date 23 June 2020

Start date 1 September 2020

End date 31 August 2023

Funded under

• Encourage citizens to engage in science through formal and informal science education, and promote the diffusion of science-based activities, namely in science centres and through other appropriate channels

Total cost

€ 1 511 362,50

EU contribution

€ 1 511 362,50

Coordinated by

ELLINOGERMANIKI AGOGI SCHOLI PANAGEA SAVVA AE
Greece

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - SALL (Schools as Living Labs)

Reporting period: 2022-03-01 to 2023-08-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The ‘Schools as Living Labs’ (SALL) project (www.schoolsaslivinglabs.eu) serves Europe’s aim to promote open schooling and collaboration on science education, whereby the term “open schools” refers to schools which are open to society and, in cooperation with other stakeholders, become agents of community well-being by creating new partnerships in their local communities. Moving in this direction, SALL proposes the living lab methodology as a specific practical approach for the development of open schooling activities linked to science learning in Europe’s schools.
In SALL a living lab activity is defined as a process which involves collaboration among various societal actors who wish to deal together with a certain problem or issue which is important to them. This includes: a) “co-creation” of ideas to solve the problem/issue, after exploring it; b) development of basic elements of the solution, fast and economically (prototyping); and c) testing the solution with the stakeholders to get feedback and improve it.
SALL proposes that school communities can apply the innovative educational methodology based on living labs developed by the project, to develop the open schooling approach in practice, with students’ active initiative and participation throughout the process. In a living lab school project, students get engaged in co-creating solutions to real problems from their own real-life experiences through synergies with the local community.
Thus, SALL proposes a concrete new way for schools across Europe to make science education more relevant, systemic and inclusive for their students, while collaborating with, and with support from, their local communities, researchers, other stakeholders, as well as science museums and centres.
Through systematic collaboration within the project team as well as between the project and the community of stakeholders, SALL co-creates its living-lab-based open schooling methodology by building on existing knowledge and best practices.
Applying this methodology in real-life educational settings, SALL closely studies the developing living-lab-based open schooling activities and their impact. The implementation and evaluation activities on the field are realized in collaboration with school communities which are facilitated to develop living lab school projects and become active members of the SALL network. By the end of the project, this network will include at least 412 schools, 1000 teachers and 10.000 students from 10 countries.
Building on this work, SALL also prepares the ground for sustainable living-lab-based open schooling activities in Europe’s schools after the end of the project, through strong community building, networking, dissemination and communication activities, as well as policy-oriented interventions.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

SALL achieved all its goals, even exceeding some of its target.
As part of the project's efforts to promote dialogue and mutual learning (WP1) and engage at least 412 school communities from 10 different countries, the project developed and implemented a series of science learning and society dialogues, which revolved around the Living-Lab-Based Open Schooling concept.The results of all dialogue processes were compiled and presented in deliverable D1.3. Another highlight is the organization, in the second reporting period, of three collaboration meetings with policymakers in Athens (one event) and Brussels (two events). The final result of the overall strategic planning and policy dialogue process is reflected in deliverable D1.4.
The work on the SALL framework and methodology (WP2) included revising and editing the proposed living lab-based methodology in the light of evaluation results. The final graphically appealing presentation of the methodology can be found in deliverable D2.5.
In relation to supporting the engagement of school living labs with stakeholders (WP3), teachers received relevant training through two webinars and face-to-face sessions organized during project events. A report on the practices and experiences of providing support to school communities was submitted (D3.3).
Implementation of the developed methodologies in the wider community of collaborating schools (WP4) led to the report delivered as deliverable D4.3 summarising the results and outcomes of school living lab projects.
The evaluation data collected underwent quantitative and qualitative analysis to ensure comparable results for all countries and case studies. This work ultimately produced the Final Evaluation Report (D5.3) which highlights the different pathways followed by schools, illustrating the adaptability of the SALL methodology.
Intensive work was done in relation to dissemination and sustainability (WP6). Partners succeded in organising 3 European Events for policymakers in Brussels, engaging a substantial number of high-level policymakers. A report (D6.5) outlined the delivery of these European events for policymakers.
Towards the sustainability of the project, each national coordinator worked on local sustainability plans that addressed possible concerns emerging from schools and proposed guidelines for the Living-lab-based open schooling approach.
The SALL toolbox for living-lab-based open schooling (D6.6) was a final, user-friendly set of graphically designed summaries of all results, gained experiences, evaluation findings and policy recommendations of the project.
A final report (D6.3) outlined the project’s overall work and distilled lessons learned on engaging stakeholders with the Open Schooling and Living-lab-based open schooling concepts, presenting general activities in line with the Communication and Dissemination Plan. The report on Exploitation Actions (D6.3) captured the outcomes of the project, including measures of success, valuable material and immaterial results, and a mapping of existing networks and communities.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

SALL aims to learn from, and build on a number of successful open schooling and science education projects. In particular, in the heart of SALL lies rich previous experience from the Open Schools for Open Societies (OSOS) project (www.openschools.eu). The methodology of SALL comes as an addition and extension to the Open School Model and the Open Schooling Roadmap developed by OSOS. SALL’s proposition is that the focus on the methods of living labs within the wider frame of the OSOS approach adds significant value for open schools as well as for science learning and their position and roles in contemporary societies.
In the short term, it is expected that the development of partnerships and synergies between schools and societal actors through living lab activities co-creating solutions to important real-life issues in the local context, informed by and based on science and technology, can contribute to a more scientifically interested and literate society and students with a better awareness of and interest in scientific careers. In the medium term, the living lab-based approach to open schooling promoted by SALL is expected to provide citizens and researchers participating in living labs with tools and skills to make informed decisions and choices. And eventually, in the long term, SALL can contribute towards the ERA objectives of increasing the numbers of scientists and researchers in Europe.

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