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Science teachers and the Xplora portal

We would like to invite science teachers to get involved with Xplora, as the portal is not only a resource of information but a community to be developed together. We hope that Xplora is so inspiring, that teachers would like to contribute actively with their content or ideas.

How to get involved with Xplora

-Forward us science news, links and events
Do you know an exciting science education website? Send us the URL. We will add it to our resources database. We will be also eager to promote news and science events happening somewhere in Europe. Obviously we prefer events that are open to teachers and students from all over Europe. But also local science activities are welcome. Please contact: science-news@eun.org.

-Report about your contribution to a web experiment, database project or collaborative project
Xplora is presenting and managing some database projects, collaborative projects and web experiments.
A teacher might want to report about his experiences with a certain web experiment, a database project or a collaborative project. We always appreciate nice photos of the pupils engaged in some activity. We will be happy to give you and your school an opportunity to present and promote your activities on the Xplora portal.

-Write about the educational material on Xplora-Knoppix
Xplora has developed a Knoppix DVD version focusing on science education. On this DVD we have included educational material from Xplora partners and from other sources. DVDs have been distributed freely to many schools and teachers across Europe. We would very much like to receive reports on how teachers have made use of this material. We would like to receive feedback of the usefulness of this material so that we could improve it. The name of the teachers and the schools involved, as well as pictures, will be included in such a report and will be published on the Xplora portal.

-Write about the software on the Xplora-Knoppix DVD
Xplora would like to receive reports from teachers, about their use in the classroom of the DVD software. Also reports about the usefulness of the Open Source license which comes with the DVD would be welcome. Examples of interesting topics are:
-How useful is the Open Source paradigm for the introduction of ICT in your lessons?
-Which programs did you use and how?
-How do students work with the DVD?
-What has to be improved?

-Help your colleagues with ready to run courses
We are planning to enrich our Xplora-Knoppix DVD with ready to run MOODLE courses. We plan to make these available without installation on our DVD and to let them be exported, imported and modified in a local environment. If you are an expert in MOODLE courses, have already developed such courses in the field of science or want to develop these courses together with Xplora, please contact Karl Sarnow (email). A ready to run MOODLE course can take a lot of load from teacher, if the course fits the standard curriculum.

-Ask for assistance
We would be also happy to help teachers in realising science projects they have in mind. Do not hesitate to contact Alexa Joyce or Johanna Snellman for information and support:
Alexa Joyce alexa.joyce@eun.org
Johanna Snellman johanna.snellman@eun.org

Language issues
As we are living in Europe, it belongs to our cultural heritage to speak different languages. Xplora does unfortunately not have the resources to translate from and to all European languages. So the most convenient way would be to send us contributions in English. But French and German are also acceptable in extreme cases. Let us know if you need help for an English version, as we might find volunteers from your country to help you with the writing in English.

Photo: Karl Sarnow