Report on the Open Classroom Conference 2019 co-organised with Ellinogermaniki Agogi, Athens

Date: 29-30 June 2019

Venue: Ellinogermaniki Agogi, Athens, Greece


Invitation to jointly organise the conference Creating Conditions for Deeper Learning in Science was received from Ellinogermaniki Agogi as an event of the Open Classroom Conference (OCC) series. In the field of learning innovation our Greek partners, especially our long term friend Ellinogermaniki Agogi, always played a pioneering role by organising the Open Classroom Conference Series. EDEN was aiming at giving support to this highly valuable initiative.

The conference brought together researchers, practitioners and decision makers from all around the world to investigate the concepts of Deeper Learning, the conditions under which it could lead students to develop mastery in scientific subjects and the methods how these achievements can be assessed.

Contributions centered around Deeper Learning defined as a set of competencies or educational objectives and to characterize a way of learning (or a process) that promotes these competencies (mastering core academic content, thinking critically and solving complex problems, working collaboratively, communicating effectively, learning how to learn, developing academic mindset). The focus was widened considering that training in science using arts has been shown to improve creativity and innovation as well as students’ Deeper Learning.

The programme of the conference contained 6 keynote speeches, 5 workshops, 1 symposium, 1 round table discussion and 22 papers. EA organised a presentation of the results of the Stories of Tomorrow project Mars colonies – Lego-robots, e-book demonstration and a theatre play involving the concerned K-12 students and their teachers, besides the iMuSiCA VR demonstrations.

EDEN supported communication and organisational issues. The Network was represented by Ferenc Tatrai, Senior Advisor as a speaker addressing the conference in the name of Sandra Kucina Softic, EDEN President. Ferenc also held a presentation entitled “Learning Innovation & Professional Communities” highlighting EDEN’s contribution to the educational innovation processes of the European Union. One quarter of the around 100 participants were EDEN members. Besides the most populated Greek delegation, the number of German, Swiss and US participants was remarkable. 34 Tweets were posted about the 2-day event at EDEN Twitter account.


The conference also served as the final conference of the STORIES OF TOMORROW project. The conference was further supported by the projects iMuSciCA, eCraft2Learn and weDRAW. The aforementioned projects have received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme. EDEN is supported by the ERASMUS+ Programme of the European Union.