"<< Background >>AMASE wants to bridge the gap between advanced technologies in the real world and STEM education in the classroom for students from 12-18 years old within the context of advanced materials. This way, AMASE wants to help tackling two of Europe’s many challenges: stimulating youngsters to choose a STEM-profession and taking care of the environment, including climate change.The choice for the STEM field is straightforward. Europe is facing great skill shortages across STEM-related careers because too few students are choosing to study these disciplines. The European Commission makes in its Report on Science Education for Responsible Citizenship (2015) following recommendation: ‘Promote partnerships between teachers, students, innovators, researchers and stakeholders in science-related fields, in order to work on real-life challenges and innovations, including associated ethical and social issues;’ This is exactly what AMASE is standing for: making science studies more attractive by building a strategic partnership between Advanced Materials researchers, educational researchers, experts in making sciences attractive and teachers. This way students get insight in the real world of advanced research and its applications in enterprises, including 21st century challenges like sustainability, eliminating pollution, combating disease. Therefore, a long lasting Community of Practice between educators and researchers and between students and researchers will be established that can be easily expanded to other scientific fields.The connection between environment and Advanced Materials sciences and environment and climate change might not be straightforward for a lot of people. That is exactly why we should bring this field of research into the classroom. Indeed Advanced Materials are our allies for the creation of a sustainable future without the loss of quality of life and education has an important role to play to make people understand that! Without Advanced Materials and the related technologies, our only way to stop the diminishing of the natural resources of the planet would be to return to a life with a lot of restrictions: no fossil fuels would mean no energy, no mining would mean no consuming products. Human civilization has always evolved through breakthroughs in technology, and technology means new materials and processes. New magnets enable the transition to wind energy, recycling technologies reduce the need for mining, advanced catalysts have made the atmosphere cleaner, advanced filters are reducing the waste into waters and are purifying the drinking water; thousands of material technologies are being used to provide a sustainable way of life and many more are being developed. They are ""key enabling technologies"", i.e. they are hidden behind other technologies such as photovoltaics, microelectronics etc, while they drive their development. Advanced Materials are behind more than 70% of all technological innovations today. Other examples are nanoparticles for cancer treatment/diagnosis, antibacterial surfaces or brain-computer interfaces. At the same time (as is the case in all new technologies) the public is unaware of these developments and therefore, it is hesitant to consider the new possibilities. Our task is exactly there; to help students understand the developments, prepare them for being part of the solution and become the problem solvers themselves.<< Objectives >>AMASE wants to support teachers to bridge the gap between advanced technologies in the real world and STEM education in the classroom for students from 12-18 years old. More specific, AMASE wants to bring the world of advanced materials in the classroom. It wants to enable the students to transfer STEM knowledge from the classroom into the real world of scientific research and technology and vice versa and hence enhancing the motivation of students for choosing STEM related subjects. This way students get insight in the real world of advanced research and its applications including 21st century challenges like sustainability, eliminating pollution, combating disease. Moreover, the project plans to build long lasting relationships between researchers and educators that can be easily expanded to other scientific fields.AMASE chooses for the world of Advanced Materials sciences because often people are not aware that Advanced Materials are our allies for the creation of a sustainable future without the loss of quality of life. Education has an important role to play in there. Advanced Materials are the “key enabling technologies”, i.e. they are hidden behind other technologies such photovoltaics, microelectronics that are necessary for a sustainable world. By bringing Advanced Materials in the classroom, the project aims to obtain following goals:1)Stimulating teachers on bringing complex subject matters, more specific Advanced Materials sciences, in an attractive way to students of 12-18 years old. Often teachers think that advanced research cannot be brought in the classroom because the topics are far too difficult. AMASE wants to take away that fear and show the teachers how they can fascinate teenagers for rather complicated subjects.2)Getting 12-18 years old students directly in touch with advanced technologies in the classroom, giving them a positive mindset towards STEM, advanced technologies and Advanced Materials and motivating them to choose a STEM profession. 3)Making students aware of the importance of Advanced Materials for the creation of a sustainable future without the loss of quality of life; making them acquire a positive attitude towards Advanced Materials based on solid scientific knowledge.AMASE aims for long living results by establishing a Community of Practice between educators and researchers and between students and researchers. The envisaged pedagogy will be based on the Community of Practice that develops ways to connect classroom to an advanced research field and develops hybrid learning modules (online and offline). AMASE also aims for attractive learning modules by combining attractive digital tools such as films or games and in-depth STEM concepts. This will allow students to broaden and deepen their STEM knowledge and at the same time to discover the beauty and usefulness of STEM professions, in particular within the world of Advanced Materials. Also the adapted game ‘Materials Hunter’ will be an output of the project.<< Implementation >>This project works for and with teachers in schools. The aim is to partner them with Advanced Materials Science, and to scientists and researchers in this field. Educational tools including learning modules and pedagogical guidelines will be developed in networked Teacher Design Teams, together with teachers, researchers and experts, and piloted in the schools. Teachers, Researchers and Educational experts are going to participate in the AMASE program and form the ‘critical mass’ on the basis of which the practice of this advanced subject in the school is scaffolded. The teachers of the involved schools act as change agents for their colleagues. The learning modules and the pedagogical guidelines are the ready-to-use material to sustain that. They ensure the involvement of both teachers and students using state of the art technology. The Community of Practice ensures a more informal involvement of both teachers and students in the world of advanced research and Advanced MaterialsBy giving the teachers these pedagogical guidelines, learning modules and teacher training and the possibility to connect with a larger community, they will become more competent in and enthusiastic to advanced STEM education and linking the advanced field of materials science to school science. The project aims to empower their profession with content and skills that will enable them to widen their teaching capabilities. This will be especially the case because teachers will be given the opportunity to take part in the networked TDTs of educators and researchers that will develop the learning modules. Increasing teachers’ skills and enthusiasm will reflect on the students’ motivation for a STEM-related career and interest in and positive mindset towards advanced materials. Whether this impact is achieved indeed will be inquired with interviews at Teachers’ level and questionnaires at students’ level.With the foreseen online and offline sharing and training through multiplier events, teacher training events, but also through online sharing by eTwinning and other tools, teachers will encourage each other and be encouraged to adopt and implement the AMASE pedagogy and tools. More importantly, in the process of implementation, they will pilot the tools and will become ‘masters’ in the evaluation of the tools in ‘their’ digital classrooms. Indeed the methodology of Practitioner Inquiry plays a core role in monitoring and adjusting the implementation of AMASE.<< Results >>The AMASE project results will contain pedagogical guidelines for educators, exemplary learning modules within the STEM context of Advanced Materials, the adapted and optimized game Materials Hunters and a Community of Practice with two strands: one for educators and researchers and one for students and researchersOne of the important outputs are pedagogical guidelines that can be consulted at all times by teachers and other educators. The guidelines will incorporate the AMASE pedagogical principles on how bringing complex subject matters in general and the field of Advanced Materials Sciences in particular in the classroom both in an attractive way and with a solid scientific basis. They will also contain information on how to use the AMASE learning modules and instructions on the methodology of Practitioner Inquiry, i.e. on how to inquire and improve the AMASE practice within the classroom. The members of the Community of Practice will give input to the AMASE pedagogy, each from his/her own background and expertise. Another important issue of the AMASE pedagogy is the combination of in-depth scientific knowledge and attractive ICT-tools like games.The learning modules will be based on and an illustration of the AMASE pedagogy. They will be ready-to-use learning materials by themselves within advanced STEM education, but also flexible, adaptable and easily to be implemented in other learning paths. The adapted game Materials Hunter will be part of the learning modules. This way in-depth science will be combined with attractive tools. At least one AMASE learning module will be an interactive digital learning resource available over internet (e.g. a bookwidget). A generic format for all learning modules will be designed by the project partners, but the learning modules themselves will be developed by so-called networked Teacher Design Teams. These are teams of educators (teachers, school heads, …) and researchers (Advanced Materials researchers and/or educational researchers). This way the expertise of the different stakeholders is brought together from the very beginning. The learning modules will be piloted in the schools and evaluated and optimized by Practitioner Inquiry.The game Materials Hunter will be thoroughly adapted so that it can be implemented in the learning modules. In the game the player takes the role of the scientist and the technician at the different levels. The more levels the player can finish the more the player ends up in a sustainable world. An important adaptation of the game for AMASE will be that the game will be split up in different modules/levels. This way it can be introduced in a modular way in the different learning modules. The modular pieces will be related to the learning concepts (for physics, chemistry, biology, environmental science, technology) aimed for at the different subjects of the learning modules. Adapting a game fully in line with the learning modules for schools in a broader pedagogical concept for STEM education is rather unique.The envisaged AMASE pedagogy is based on a Community of Practice between educators and researchers and between students and researchers. Different platforms will be used: an AMASE website, www.materialsfuture.eu, existing platforms like eTwinning, Scientix, OSOS and Social Media. A community between educators and researchers and students and researchers is rather unique. It will encourage teachers to implement advanced research into in their school practice and enrich the AMASE pedagogy. It is even more unique to involve students in the Community of Practice. The expected impact on the teachers is that they will be more enthusiastic and skilled to introduce advanced research in general and the field of Advanced Materials in particular in their classrooms. In addition AMASE wants to make the students aware of the importance of Advanced Materials in combating environmental problems and encourage them to take up STEM related careers"