Innovative practices and technologies in educational projects of European Schoolnet and the project "Scientix"

European Schoolnet (EUN) was established in 1997 as a non-governmental organization of 31 Ministries of Education in Europe, which provides major European education portals for teaching, learning and collaboration. European Schoolnet (EUN) provides major European education portals for teaching, learning and collaborating and leads the way in bringing about change in schooling through the use of new technologies and innovative teaching methods. EUN has been tackling the reasons for that lack of interest in MST education, especially developing and extending the ways in which science is taught. To help implement innovative methods and teaching practices, effective use of ICT and the latest trends in education, European Schoolnet create guidelines for best practices in various aspects of teaching, including the training of teachers. The guidelines are based on scientific reports, studies and distribution through pilot schools performed within its projects or with ministries of education or with partners from industry. To ensure regular dissemination and sharing of progress, know-how and best practices in science education and to provide a feedback mechanism the European Commission launched a project Scientix, managed by European Schoolnet (EUN) on behalf of DG "Research" and funded by the 7th Framework Programme. Scientix portal http://scientix.eu is available in six European languages. Main user groups are teachers, but the audience is much wider - from scientists and researchers to students, parents and politicians and all stakeholders. The project offers a resource repository of hundreds of educational materials from European projects, research reports, and opportunities for access to documents; options for filing an application for transfer of learning materials in the 23 languages of the European Union. Online platform offers communication, including forum and chat rooms, online news including international scientific topics related to education and a calendar of upcoming events. A valuable asset is the ability to online training and regularly receive a monthly newsletter to registered users. The platform is dynamic and focused on consumers. In the first phase (2009-2012), was created as an online portal repository projects in science, mathematics and technology (STEM) and began spreading the project. The main initiative of SCIENTIX conference was held in May 2011 in Brussels. The aim of the second phase (2013-2015) is the distribution at the national level to reach a wider audience and teaching contribute to the uptake of innovative practices and new methods of training in education.