Surrounded by Science: Learning paths towards science proficiency

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Every day, people of all ages are engaged in powerful science-related activities outside the classroom that spark interest and foster their understanding of science. However, it is not fully understood how outcomes of such activities relate to the outcomes of traditional formal science education. Surrounded by Science brings together experts in science education research, science centers and museum pedagogues, providers of outreach and informal learning activities, strong users communities, and policy makers to design and develop a systematic assessment methodology that will analyze the impact of out-of-school science activities. The project team will conduct a series of field studies and use innovative research instruments (Digital Toolbox) to support the data collection from citizens actively participating in science related activities to assess the impact of specific out-of-school activities. The project will integrate the collected information in matrices to advise science organizations in the design of their activities. Furthermore, the project will propose an accreditation scheme for science education providers and offer guidance on their effective integration to (formal) science education policies. In total, more than 10.000 participants will become part of the assessment, either by interacting with one of the selected activities or by participation in an in-depth assessment of their science proficiency. Surrounded by Science aims to have a long-lasting impact on the ability of science educators to design more effective, targeted, and meaningful learning activities at all levels. The Digital Toolbox is available to partners within and beyond the project, allowing them to evaluate and set up more effective activities to achieve meaningful impacts on learners? science proficiency. It seeks to enable formal science education to benefit by providing schools with recommendations on how to integrate successful activities to formal learning settings.