From Scientific Literacy to Lifelong Research: A Social Innovation Approach

Abstract

Scientific literacy does not equal teaching and learning sciences in public education. It is a complex set of knowledge of methods, approaches, attitudes and skills. On the other side, multiplying the numbers of scientifically literate citizens helps to overcome the control crisis of contemporary Science, which needs a real Copernican turnabout to turn (new) brains into problem-solving research mega-machines. Between the ages of 12 and 18, everybody can think and work as a scientist - of course, it does not mean that everybody will be a scientist. But everybody can learn to deal with scientific issues as a part of research communities even after their school life. (We call this paradigm lifelong research.) Our online workflow platform, Palaestria supports defining, planning, organizing, performing and disseminating hybrid research projects. Its features ("stock exchange of subjects", scientific application store, publication module, reward engine) and implementation plan of this future-oriented online tool will be presented. © Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2013.