All European Schools have been invited to participate in a pilot project co-founded by the European Union: “Raise citizen science”.

The goal of the project is to strengthen the links between scientific research and education.

The Erasmus Maris Days took place October 26-27, 2023, at the ‘Oceanogràfic’ of the ‘Ciutat de les Arts i les Ciències’, Valencia, Spain.

The Erasmus Maris initiative is “aimed at engaging upper secondary school pupils (aged 15 and above) in co-creating new knowledge related to the conservation of the marine environment and inland waters”.

During the first day presenters of the participating organizations gave speeches to introduce all aspects of the project. Among others: EC-JRC-Geel (Belgium), MARE Belgium, Ayam Sailing Europe (ASE, Belgium), Mr Bordoy (ES-OSG), UNESCO Italy, University of Gothenburg (Sweden), Norwegian Institute for Water Research (Norway), Umweltbundesamt (Germany), University of Ghent (Belgium), Valencia Polytechnic University (Spain), Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (Netherlands), etc.

During the second day a theoretical lesson on Quality Assurance/Quality Control followed by a practical training in the laboratory was organized for science teachers. The aim was to contribute to identifying and validate a Standard Operating Procedure for counting microplastic in samples from sea or inland waters.

The European School of Karlsruhe was represented by the Director Mr Daniel Gassner and by Mr Glass Dreusch, Chemistry teacher in the English section.

We are so excited to see the progress of this project!

M. Glass Dreusch