The European Commission has launched Scientix, a new web-portal targeted towards teachers, researchers, policy makers, local actors, parents and anyone interested in science education. Scientix will give access to teaching materials, research results and policy documents from European science education projects financed by the European Union and by various national initiatives.

Scientix, the new platform, will facilitate regular dissemination and sharing of news, know-how, and best practices in science education across the European Union.

The philosophy of the platform can be summarised by the following keywords: search, find and engage. The information and services provided cover several dimensions of science education and will attract all kind of actors involved in science education: teachers, researchers, policy makers, local actors, parents, and young people. For teachers for example, Scientix has collected teaching materials from hundreds of European projects and will make them available in all European languages upon request.

This new portal is available in six languages: English, French, German, Spanish, Italian and Polish and will give access to the main findings of European science education projects financed by the European Union under the 6th and 7th Framework Programmes for Research and Technological Development (Directorate General Research), the Lifelong Learning Programme (Directorate General Education and Culture) and various national initiatives.

However Scientix is not only a website. Several events and workshops will be organised in the next 3-years. The main event will be the Scientix conference May 6 - 8, 2011, which will promote networking among the science and education community and provide feedback on the services offered online. A monthly newsletter will also be sent out to provide information about updates on the portal.

Scientix is carried out by European Schoolnet (EUN) on behalf of the European Commission. European Schoolnet (EUN) is a network of 31 Ministries of Education in Europe and beyond. EUN was created more than 10 years ago with the aim to bring about innovation in teaching and learning to its key stakeholders: Ministries of Education, schools, teachers and researchers.