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Short Abstract

Austria’s OeAD fosters citizen science in schools through the Sparkling Science programme and the Citizen Science Award. To build educators’ capacities, two accredited teacher trainings were developed, supporting integration into classrooms and award participation.

Abstract

Austria’s Agency for Education and Internationalisation (OeAD) has a longstanding tradition of coordinating initiatives that connect schools with citizen science. Since 2007, the Sparkling Science funding programme has fostered long-term research collaborations between schools, researchers, and citizen scientists. The Citizen Science Award, a research competition launched in 2015, has provided schools, youth groups, and the wider public with an accessible opportunity to engage in selected citizen science projects on an annual basis.

For children and young people to participate meaningfully and benefit from these initiatives, building educators’ capacities has proven essential. To this end, OeAD has developed two accredited teacher training courses. The autumn course offers an introduction to citizen science and explores ways of integrating projects into the classroom. The spring course focuses on preparing teachers for potential participation in the Citizen Science Award, while also fostering exchange with the featured projects.

This presentation will outline the design and implementation of these teacher training programmes, highlighting their contents, objectives, and practical relevance. Furthermore, it will discuss key success factors and lessons learned, offering insights into how citizen science can be effectively embedded in school education.