Travelling to the moon would have been unthinkable without curiosity, cooperative planning, and the willingness of many people to implement ideas and to venture into something new. In today’s world, we also have an exciting project: we need to embark on our personal journey through life, identify a suitable profession or purpose, change our society, and preserve the environment. The challenges for younger and older generations are manifold. Learning in a project-based setting allows even school-aged youth to begin to confront these responsibilities. While the individual steps of a project are predetermined, the results are open-ended and often surprising. Discovering new insights together is one of the most exciting experiences for not only researchers, but also students. This is why working on projects strengthens students’ personalities. Moreover, it is as much an individual effort as it is a group effort. The SCHOLA-21 programme provides children and young people with numerous opportunities to rediscover the world around them, a world familiar and unfamiliar at the same time.

SCHOLA-21 embraces the experiences of children and young people

The experiences of children and young people are the lifeblood of explorative learning. They put youth in touch with the pulse of their time. It is their experiences that trigger the kind of questions children really care about: authentic questions to become productive in projects. In this way, children experience how asking questions can help them “find their legs.” Then they go out and learn to trust their own senses. SCHOLA-21 is premised on the assumptions that

• experience is the basis of lively learning
• curiosity fuels learning processes
• asking questions is productive
• engaging learning methods increase students’ interest.
  

SCHOLA-21 wants to know

As philosophers back in antiquity already knew, the knowledge of many is different from the knowledge of isolated individuals. Furthermore, knowledge not based on experience is often inaccurate. Modern science increasingly emphasises team work and interdisciplinary exchange. In more and more areas of society, reality is determined by knowledge. Children want to know things, and working with SCHOLA-21 they learn how to acquire knowledge about the world collaboratively. This is because students

• explore questions independently in work groups
• establish rules for themselves to enable collaborative learning
• strengthen their independence and assume responsibility
• experience through project work that they are able to achieve something (self-efficacy).
  

SCHOLA-21 regards projects as processes

Projects and music have something in common: their motifs develop over time. Often starting out small and low key, their themes eventually gain scope and effect in the course of time. In five steps, SCHOLA-21 guides students through all phases of a project, from preparing the project to presenting the results in a culminating event. The display portion at the end of a project boosts students’ self-confidence. In project work, students learn how to

• narrow down a topic
• formulate learning objectives
• set up binding learning agreements
• manage the time available
• document their learning paths (project portfolio).
  

SCHOLA-21 turns students into directors of their own learning

The knowledge society turns more and more people into directors of their own lifelong learning. So why not start with this at school and on a daily basis? The teacher merely monitors whether the actors and directors are in the right place at the right time. SCHOLA-21 encourages students and teachers to transcend the boundaries of classrooms, schools, and cities. After all, it is the learning environment and context that determine how students are able to absorb new knowledge. Students

• self-direct their learning process
• find answers in the real world
• give mutual recognition to each other
• learn to appreciate their teachers as counsellors and guides through the world of science.
  

SCHOLA-21 changes the role of teachers

• moderators
• mentors
• partners of external experts
• amplifiers of learning.
  

SCHOLA-21 modernises classroom instruction

Good projects get a lot of word-of-mouth inside a particular school. They challenge teachers of different subjects to get involved in complex topics for which textbooks do not provide any simple standard solutions. It may be exciting for students to experience how teachers become learners as well. Project topics find their way into classroom instruction; and classroom doors begin to open. SCHOLA-21 provides the impulse for team work and strengthens curiosity. Good projects are characterised by

• exploring complex topics instead of thinking narrowly along subject lines
• breaking up the rigid 45-minute rhythm
• connecting mornings and afternoons
• establishing different kinds of relationships between students, parents, and teachers
• encouraging team work
• emphasising hands-on, practical learning.
  

SCHOLA-21 unlocks schools

Projects firmly established in day-to-day school activities are bound to transform school culture as well, fuelling the activity of everybody involved in school life. Excitement comes with the increased energy level at schools that are a part of this learning process. Students, parents, teachers, and external partners begin to see themselves with different eyes. The school, including its learning environments outside of school premises, becomes a centre of learning and a centre of culture. An internally and externally open school is characterised by

• a strong sense of community among everybody involved
• the presence of diverse professions
• service to the local community
• connections to the spheres of science, culture, and work
• an improved school climate
• the fact that the school regards itself as an open project.
  

SCHOLA-21 promotes the meaningful use of computer and internet

Computers and the internet are useful tools for learning. When working on projects with SCHOLA-21, students become familiar with all the basic functions of both the computer and the internet. Dealing with computers and the internet in a manner that is both playful and serious helps students to overcome their fears of technology. SCHOLA-21 enables young people to feel as parts of a community and becomes a virtual meeting point for students looking for impulses from other projects. SCHOLA-21 promotes the meaningful use of new media at schools and

• enables students to access their project room from any place
• becomes a space for presenting students’ projects
• supports the acquisition of media and method competencies
• provides topic-based forums and chat rooms for exchanging project-related ideas
• helps boys and, more importantly, girls in gaining self-confidence with computers.