The BITs aim to empower teachers to design their teaching in such a way that their students become informed, critical, and interdisciplinary thinkers who participate actively in democratic societies and contribute to solving the challenges of our time. This requires teaching that fosters meta-scientific literacies and interdisciplinary thinking in inclusive learning settings.
\nAt the same time, the BITs bring the Erasmus+ spirit to life by creating opportunities for exchange and collaboration across countries and subjects that can develop into long-term partnerships. Teachers are inspired to grow as reflective practitioners whose view beyond national borders enriches their teaching.
\nThe aims follow the structure of the SciLMi Model of Meta-Scientific Literacies, which breaks each domain down into goals and operationalises each goal as learning outcomes. Accordingly, each aim of the training is broken down into goals, which are operationalised as learning outcomes that describe what participants will be able to do as teachers by the end of the training. Like those of the SciLMi Model, the learning outcomes are formulated with action verbs from Bloom's taxonomy, so that they are observable and can be assessed through the course assignments (→ Assignments & Assessment).
\nEach BIT variant has a particular focus, which is reflected in its focus module.
\nThe SciLMi BIT pilots included elements specific to the occasion, such as keynotes by invited guests, which cannot be repeated in the same form. The syllabi therefore describe only the parts that can be transferred to other deliveries.
Teachers become familiar with the SciLMi Model of Meta-Scientific Literacies and its four domains, Open up your mind, Be wise & think twice, Make up your mind, and Speak out & take action, and weave these literacies into their everyday subject teaching through lesson plans and HOW activities linked to subject-specific competences and curricular requirements.
\nParticipants will be able to:
\nThe BIT variant SciLMi Critical Thinking for Effective Democratic Citizens focuses on critical thinking, which runs through all four domains of the SciLMi Model. In this BIT variant, participants will also be able to (→ Focus Module: Critical Thinking):
\nThe BIT variant SciLMi Digital Media and Information Literacies for Effective Democratic Citizens focuses on digital media and information literacies, which run through all four domains of the SciLMi Model. In this BIT variant, participants will also be able to (→ Focus Module: Digital Media and Information Literacies):
\nTeachers use socio-scientific issues as authentic, motivating contexts for their subject teaching and collaborate with colleagues from other subjects on cross-subject lesson sequences.
\nParticipants will be able to:
\nTeachers see all learners, with their different strengths and needs, languages, and biographies, and feel supported in responding to this diversity in their teaching.
\nParticipants will be able to:
\nThe BIT variant SciLMi Inclusive Classrooms for Effective Democratic Citizens focuses on making meta-scientific literacies accessible to all learners. In this BIT variant, participants will also be able to (→ Focus Module: Inclusive Classrooms):
\nTeachers reflect on their professional practice in exchange with colleagues from other countries and subjects and build networks that can develop into long-term Erasmus+ cooperation, such as school exchanges, job shadowing, or joint projects. Back at their schools, they act as multipliers who share the SciLMi approach with their colleagues.
\nParticipants will be able to:
\nThe competences that the BITs enable teachers to foster are increasingly assessed in international comparative studies. In PISA 2025, in which science is the major domain, the science framework includes the competency "research, evaluate and use scientific information for decision making and action". The framework justifies it with the explosion of information online and an increasing flow of misinformation and disinformation (OECD 2023). Students are expected, for example, to "search, evaluate and communicate the relative merits of different sources of information", to "distinguish among claims based on strong scientific evidence, expert vs. non-expert, and opinion", and to "justify decisions using scientific arguments". These expectations largely correspond to three domains of the SciLMi Model: Open up your mind, Be wise & think twice, and Make up your mind.
\nPISA 2029 will add Media & AI Literacy as an innovative domain, which will assess how well students "engage effectively, ethically and responsibly with digital content, media platforms, and AI systems". The draft framework distinguishes five competences: access and use, analyse and evaluate, create, participate and collaborate, and reflect and act ethically and responsibly (OECD 2026). Taken together, the four domains of the SciLMi Model, including Speak out & take action, cover these competences to a large extent. Teachers who take part in a BIT thus prepare their students for competences against which education systems will increasingly be measured.
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