Placing science closer to young citizens

The Open Schools Journal for Open Science is the first European peer review scientific journal that accepts original papers written by school-aged students from Primary to Secondary schools across Europe under the mentoring of their Teachers on all aspects of Science, Engineering and Technology. 

The journal is hosted on the ePublishing platform of the National Documentation Centre in Greece and managed by Ellinogermaniki Agogi (EA) and is inviting school groups to submit their articles based on their research at school. The articles are reviewed by researchers and teachers and are published every two months. Students are thus introduced into the concept of open science, the value of data and electronic identities, develop their critical thinking skills and learn more about the importance of supporting their point of view. The third issue of the journal is now published and hosts articles from schools in Greece, Finland, Italy, Portugal, Bulgaria, Israel, Spain, Ireland and the Netherlands. The themes of the articles vary from schools organising Maker Spaces in Israel, to set up companion gardening schemes in their school gardens in Greece and others. Browse also the two past issues in the Journal page and share nationally as any team of students from across Europe can submit an article following the proposed simple process and templates.

Schools in six countries in Europe are also installing school-based seismographs under the supervision of the Geodynamic Institute of the National Observatory of Athens, record data and are invited to design civil protection actions using platforms such as HELIX-Hellenic Data Service, the new Greek Data Service and national digital infrastructure. In March - April 2019, a competition led by EA took place in Greece involving 44 schools that made their seismograph and recorded the whole process. Students participating in the competition ranged from 10-18-year-old and prepared films, built their seismographs with all sorts of materials and presented their work in a shared platform. The 10 winning schools received an award in a ceremony during the Athens Science Festival in Greece showcasing their work.