7 July 2014|" Release of Creative Little Scientists' publications: Creativity in Science and Mathematics Education / Recommendations to Policy Makers and Stakeholders  " 

Creative Little Scientists have published two books containing research findings and recommendations from the project. The first book, Creativity in Science and Mathematics Education, synthesises the findings of the Creative Little Scientists and presents them in an easy-to-read format accessible for researchers, educators, stakeholders and policy makers. The second book, Recommendations to Policy Makers and Stakeholders, provides concrete recommendations on the promotion of creativity through early years science and mathematics for further practice at the European, national and institutional level and addresses educational policy makers and stakeholders, including preschools and primary schools as well as teacher training policy makers and institutions.

You can download the books by clicking on the following links Creativity in Science and Mathematics Education    Recommendations to Policy Makers and Stakeholders

30 April 2014|" Creative Little Scientists Final Report and Recommendations to Policy Makers released " 

The final two deliverables of the Creative Little Scientists project have been released. The Final Report synthesises and communicates the final findings of the Creative Little Scientists research to all stakeholders. The executive summary of the report providding a summary of all findings is also available as a standalone document in the Deliverables section.  The Recommendations report provides concrete recommendations for further practice grounded on the research outcomes at the European, national and institutional level and addresses educational policy makers and stakeholders, including preschools and primary schools as well as teacher training policy makers and institutions.

The Final Report on Creativity and Science and Mathematics Education for Young Children (D6.5) as well as the Recommendations to Policy Makers and Stakeholders on Creativity and Early Years Science (D6.6) can now both be downloaded from the Deliverables section of the website here. 

24 March 2014|" Creative Little Scientists Final Conference held on 22 - 23 March 2014  " 

The Final Conference titled “Enabling Creativity through Science and Mathematics in Early Years Education” and took place under the auspices of the Greek Ministry of Education and the Greek Presidency of the Council at Ellinogermaniki Agogi school premises in Pallini, Attica, Greece, on 22-23 March 2014. Over 100 participants from a variety of EU countries attended the two-day event and came together to discuss the project findings and important outcomes such as the Final Report on Creativity and Science and Mathematics Education for Young Children, the Recommendations to Policy Makers and Stakeholders on Creativity and Early Years Science and the Exemplary Teacher Training Materials.

More information on the conference can be found on the conference website: http://conference.creative-little-scientists.eu/ 

15 March 2014|" Comparative Report released " 

The Comparative Report (D3.4) has been released. Findings from the studies on mapping and comparing ‘recorded’ and ‘reported’ practices alongside the corresponding National Reports compiled by each partner country, were compared and synthesised with a view to revealing any similarities and differences between policy documents and teachers’ conceptualisations of teaching, learning and assessment practice of science and mathematics education in the early years, and the role of creativity in these. 

You can find the Report in the Deliverables section of the website here. 

19 February 2014|" Creative Little Scientists Final Conference announced " 

The Creative Little Scientists consortium is delighted to announce the Creative Little Scientists Final Conference. The Conference titled “Enabling Creativity through Science and Mathematics in Early Years Education”, will be held on 22-23 March 2014, at Ellinogermaniki Agogi school premises in Pallini, Attica, Greece.

The purpose of this Final International Conference is the presentation of the project’s findings, which provide a clear picture of existing and possible practices across Europe, as well as their implications and the related opportunities and challenges, in the intersection of science and mathematics learning, and development of creative skills in pre-school and the early years of primary education (up to the pupil age of eight). More particularly the conference will provide an opportunity to:

• Identify and clarify the main challenges in a range of areas concerned with enabling creativity in early years science and mathematics education.

• Review and respond to the directions and recommendations in the “Creative Little Scientists” reports to policy makers and teacher educators.

• Identify priorities for further action at national and international levels.

The website of the conference at the address conference.creative-little-scientists.eu, has all the necessary information about the conference, the venue, as well as accomodation and travel. However, do not hesitate to ask for any clarifications or additional information about the conference by contacting Dr. Fani Stylianidou (tel. 210 8176788) fani@ea.gr, Dimitris Rossis (tel. 210 8176790) drossis@ea.gr.

17 February 2014|" Creative Little Scientists UK Conference announced " 

The Creative Little Scientists consortium is delighted to announce the Creative Little Scientists UK Conference. This one-day event will give practitioners, advisers, teacher educators, science and mathematics co-ordinators the opportunity to explore opportunities for creative teaching and learning in the context of the new National Curriculum for England. The conference will be held in the STEM Education Centre London at the Institute of Education in London, England on Wednesday 26 February 2014 from 10.30 to 16.00. If you are interested in receiving more information about the conference, please download the official flyer found here.

6 February 2014|" Guidelines and Curricula for Teacher Training released " 

The Guidelines and Curricula for Teacher Training (D5.2) has been released. This document offers teacher education policy makers and institutions a set of curriculum design principles and accompanying conceptual recommendations in order to design and apply curricula that will foster creative approaches to science and mathematics learning in preschool and first years of primary education. Furthermore it offers teacher education institutions a related set of teacher outcomes about what teachers should know and be able to do in order to develop such creative approaches. These can be seen as concrete recommendations for teacher educators and teacher education institutions to frame their sessions, workshops and courses. They are directly linked to the implications for teacher training which arose from the Creative Little Scientists' Conceptual Framework, the Report on Mapping and Comparing Recorded Practices, the Report on First Survey of School Practice and the Report on Practices and their Implications. 

You can find the Report in the Deliverables section of the website here. 

26 November 2013| " University of Malta to host Creativity in early years science and mathematics seminar " 

The University of Malta will host a seminar titled Promoting Creativity in the Early Years Through Science and Math on Wednesday November 27.

The official press release for the seminar follows.

Promoting Creativity in the Early Years Through Science and Math

The results of research carried out during a 30-month project called Creative Little Scientists, focusing on early years science and mathematics and how these can be used to promote creativity among young children, will be presented and discussed at a seminar to be held on November 27.

The seminar is aimed at teachers and other stakeholders involved in early childhood education. Workshops will be held to present and discuss policy analysis and fieldwork carried out in local schools on promoting creativity and inquiry-based learning at pre-school and early primary school levels. The seminar precedes the final project conference to be held on March 22 and 23, 2014, in Athens. Suzanne Gatt from the University of Malta Faculty of Education is one of the research partners of the project, which was funded through the EU’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) and coordinated by Ellinogermaniki Agogi from Greece. 

The seminar will be opened by Education Minister Hon. Evarist Bartolo. Other speakers are from the Education Ministry, the Malta College of Arts, Science and Technology and the Univerity. The seminar will end with a lunch giving the participants the opportunity to meet fellow colleagues in the field of early childhood education.

10 October 2013|" Report on Practices and their Implications released " 

The Report on Practices and their Implications (D4.4) has been released. It provides a detailed analysis of evidence gathered through fieldwork in the nine European countries (Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Malta, Portugal, Romania and the UK) participating in the Creative Little Scientists project. The Report builds on Country Reports (D4.3) that drew together data gathered from each partner country to examine and illustrate the potential for creativity and the role of inquiry in the classroom realities of preschool and early primary school science and mathematics education. It includes a selection of exemplary episodes of learning and teaching from each partner country illustrating the variety of approaches observed and the possibilities identified for creativity in early science and mathematics.

You can find the Report in the Deliverables section of the website here. 

24 July 2013|" Field work research National Reports released " 

The National Reports of the field work in schools across the countries represented in the Creative Little Scientists consortium have been released. The findings of this qualitative study aim to reveal the potential for creativity and the role of inquiry in the classroom realities of preschool and early years primary science and mathematics education, and are grounded on concepts and synergies identified in the previous stages of the project (Conceptual Framework - D2.2 and List of Mapping and Comparison Factors - D3.1). Moreover, they aim to complement the findings of the Report on Mapping and Comparing Recorded Practices (D3.2) and the Report on First Survey of School Practice (D3.3), previous project deliverables which addressed the same goals through the analysis of relevant policy records and teacher survey data respectively.

You can find all the National Reports as separate files in the Deliverables section of the website here. 

5 July 2013|" Creative Little Scientists 4th project meeting " 

The fourth project meeting for Creative Little Scientists took place in Panormos, Crete in Greece from Friday 5 to Sunday 7 July 2013. Partners reviewed the development of the ongoing project management and financial issues, worked towards finalising the report on the field work that was carried out between January and March 2013 (WP4 - Analysis of practices and implications), reviewed progress on WP5 (Directions for teacher training), and WP6 (Dissemination and Exploitation of Findings) and discussed all the issues at stake and the strategy to follow as the project reaches its completion in March 2014.

The final meeting for the project will take place after the project's Final Conference and will be held in Athens, Greece in March 2014.

30 June 2013|" Creative Little Scientists Summer School is starting " 

The Creative Little Scientists Summer School is starting on Sunday 30 June in Panormos, Crete. 18 preschool and primary school teachers across Europe will participate in this training event which aims to foster creative approaches to science and mathematics learning in preschool and the first years of primary school based on the teacher education curriculum design principles and guidelines formulated in the EU-funded project Creative Little Scientists. 

29 May 2013|" Results of the Creative Little Scientists teacher survey released " 

The Report on First Survey of School Practice (Deliverable D3.3) was submitted to the EU at the end of May 2013. The outcomes of the first-level field research which were carried out by means of a questionnaire survey addressed to teachers, provide a general view of the conditions pertaining real school practice in the 9 participating countries. The report highlights a number of significant findings which have already been taken under consideration and will be used to inform the subsequent stages of the project. 

You can find the entire Report in the Deliverables section of the website here.

12 December 2012|" Creative Little Scientists summer school website " 

The official website of the 2013  Creative Little Scientists summer school is online! 

17 November 2012|" Apply for the Creative Little Scientists summer school " 

Creative Little Scientists is organising a training summer school which will be held in Crete from 30 June to 5 July 2013. 

The training course will be based on the teacher education curriculum design principles and guidelines formulated in Creative Little Scientists and aims to promote creative approaches to science and mathematics learning in preschool and the first years of primary school. More specifically, the objectives of the training course specify that teachers as a result of the course will feel empowered to: use inquiry-based and creative science education approaches; have positive attitudes towards learning and teaching science, mathematics and creativity; act as innovators, researchers and reflective practitioners; and engage in communities and partnerships with other stakeholders (other teachers, parents, professional associations, experts, etc.). 

 Throughout the course teachers will experience inquiry-based and creative approaches in 3 different modes: a) as learners participating in science and mathematics inquiry-based activities fostering creativity; b) as teachers implementing inquiry-based and creative approaches in their science and mathematics classes; and c) as researchers collecting, examining and interpreting data about their practice and their students’ learning. The course will leverage an inquiry-based creative approach through hands-on and reflection sessions to experience the principles of inquirybased and creative science learning, while introducing the basics of curriculum design research and exploring teacher education curriculum design principles. The latter cover: learning activities, role of teacher educator, materials and resources, grouping, location, time; and assessment.

For more information you can download the brochure here or go to the relevant page on this website.

7-10 November 2012|" Creative Little Scientists 3rd project meeting and training workshop" 

The third project meeting for Creative Little Scientists took place at the Open University campus in London, UK on Wednesday 7 (from 09.30-18:00) and Thursday 8 (9.00-18:00) November 2012. Partners reviewed the development of the ongoing project management and financial issues, monitored the progress of tasks for WP3 (Mapping and comparative assessment of existing practice), WP5 (Directions for teacher training), and WP6 (Dissemination and Exploitation of Findings) and discussed all the issues at stake and the parameters which need to be addressed in subsequent stages of the research and started work on WP4 (Analysis of practices and implications) and WP5 (Directions for teacher training). 

Partners of Creative Little Scientists participated in an intensive training workshop within the consortium which, before the commencement of the observation activities, ensured that the staff performing the in-depth field research activities on the field will do so consistently, reliably, and in full compliance with the observation methodology and tools that have been developed as part of WP4. 

The next meeting for the project will follow the training summer school on 4-6 July 2013 in Crete, Greece.

12 April 2012|" Conceptual Framework released " 

The Conceptual Framework comprising all the issues at stake and defining the parameters which need to be addressed in all subsequent stages of the research was released on 12 April 2012. The Framework comprehensively and consistently covers all areas relevant to the concepts touched by the project, mainly including: science and mathematics education with a focus on pre-school and first years of primary school, creativity in education, creativity as a lifelong skill, related teaching and teacher training approaches, as well as relevant issues from the wider areas of cognitive psychology and comparative education.

You can download the Conceptual Framework here.

22 & 23 March 2012|" Creative Little Scientists 2nd project meeting " 

The second project meeting for Creative Little Scientists took place at Cité des Sciences et de l'Industrie, in Paris, France during Thursday 22 (from 09.00-18:00) and Friday 23 (9.00-17:00) March 2012. Partners reviewed the development of the ongoing project management and financial issues, monitored the progress of tasks for WP1 (Project Management), WP2 (Conceptual Framework), and WP6 (Dissemination and Exploitation of Findings), built a common understanding of the main messages and recommendations of the Conceptual Framework (D2.2), discussed all the issues at stake and the parameters which need to be addressed in subsequent stages of the research and started work on WP3 (Mapping and comparative assessment of existing practice), WP4 (Analysis of practices and implications) and WP5 (Directions for teacher training). 

15 March 2012|" Creative Little Scientists leaflet released in all consortium languages" 

The first leaflet of Creative Little Scientists was released on 15 March 2012 in all languages represented in the consortium. You can download all language versions of the leaflet here.

16 January 2012|" Creative Little Scientists leaflet released " 

The first leaflet of Creative Little Scientists was released on 16th January 2012 and includes general information about the project. You can download the leaflet here.

30 December 2011| " Creative Little Scientists newsletter December 2011 released "

The first newsletter of Creative Little Scientists was released at the end of December 2011 and includes information about the Kick-Off meeting, the work that has been completed so far and is currently in progress. You can download the newsletter here.

6 & 7 October 2011|  " Creative Little Scientists KickOff meeting " 

The kick off meeting of the Creative Little Scientists consortium was held in Athens on 6^th and 7^th of October 2011. The project partners had a chance to get to know each other, build a common vision for the project and work out managerial and operational issues for the next 6 months.