The main objective of the Science Education for Action and Engagement Towards Sustainability (SEAS) is to establish, coordinate and evaluate collaboration among six open schooling networks led by universities and science centres with partners in Austria, Belgium, Estonia, Italy, Norway, Sweden, and the UK. As part of these networks, and drawing on principles of inquiry-based science learning for transformative engagement, students in formal schools are given the opportunity to engage in addressing real-life, complex sustainability challenges that are identified and dealt with together with participants and stakeholders in the local community. SEAS develops and makes us of models for open-schooling implementation that supports schools and out-of-school institutions to collaborate in the promotion, among students and citizens in the larger community, of 21st century scientific literacy and skills for responsible citizenship. SEAS delivers enhanced opportunities for students and citizens to develop deeper interest in science and inclusive scientific literacy, both in the target communities and beyond them taking into account gender, socio-economic status and geographical differences. By providing facilitation and mediation tools and methods for the identification and implementation of sustainability challenges in the participants’ local communities, SEAS makes it possible for students to collaborate with families and stakeholders from civil society and industry in becoming agents of community well-being. SEAS provides participants with the necessary expertise, networking, and sharing resource experience to address these challenges and, in doing so, develop deeper scientific literacy skills and interest in science education and careers. SEAS also contributes to generating models and experiences for ways in which science education inside and outside of the school may become part of the solution to some of the greatest challenges of our times.

The strategic partnership (SP) developed innovative teaching-learning modules and guidelines for supporting secondary school students’ aspiration and imagination towards the future. Our inclusive, future-oriented pedagogy addressed the acute problems of EU societies related to science education: the decrease in student interest in pursuing STEM careers and the “skill-gap” between school learning and labour market needs. Furthermore, in the midst of dramatic social change with unprecedented flows of migrants to the region, Europe more than ever needs education that acknowledges and anticipates diversity.Underlying these problems and challenges is students’ difficulty in projecting themselves into the future as responsible and active persons, citizens and professionals. In order to foster this capacity, our SP created novel ways to develop future-scaffolding skills of all upper secondary school students (ages 16-19). These skills include scenario thinking, systems thinking, thinking beyond the realm of possibilities, action competence, managing uncertainty and complexity, and creative thinking.The SP consisted of three secondary schools, two universities, an environmental NGO, a teachers’ association and a private foundation. The partners were from four EU countries: Italy, Finland, Iceland and UK. The SP grounded on two well-established and effective school-university partnerships: one between the Liceo Einstein and University of Bologna (UNIBO), and the other between Helsinki Normal Lyceum and University of Helsinki (UH). The Icelandic Environment Association brought to the SP their expertise in environmental and sustainability education and the action competence approach. Hamrahlid College in Iceland added to the cultural diversity of students and teachers participating in the project. The partnership between the three schools in Helsinki, Reykjavik and Rimini proved to be fruitful in terms of cultural exchange and the generalisability of the results. The Association for Science Education brought added value through their extensive school and teacher network in UK. The Fondazione Golinelli, in Bologna, contributed their network to the partnership that gave the project dissemination access to a wide variety of stakeholders. The SP developed four I SEE modules on cross-cutting and societally relevant fields: climate change, quantum computing, artificial intelligence and carbon sequestration. The modules consist of activity descriptions, resources and a manual for teachers and students for use both in the classroom and in out-of-school settings. The start-up module developed during the first year was implemented, tested and refined in the Summer School in Bologna in June 2017 which hosted a culturally diverse group of 24 students from Iceland, Italy and Finland, as well as teachers, educational researchers and other stakeholders. Building on this experience, the partners developed three I SEE modules through an iterative process of design, cross-testing and refinement that ran over the second and the third year of the project. The modules were implemented at least two times each in Reykjavík, Helsinki and Rimini during 2018 and 2019.In addition to modules, the outputs of the project include a guide for developing further I SEE modules, case studies, and policy recommendations for inclusive, authentic science education to enhance students’ capacity to aspire to a better future. The materials are publicly available through the project website. To increase the impact, national multiplier events were held in Finland, Italy, and Iceland in 2018, and international multiplier events in UK and Italy in 2019. The modules developed by the project have already directly and indirectly benefited hundreds of teachers and students and reached thousands through multiplier events and dissemination.Case studies in the project show that students who participated in modules widened their perceptions of the future and felt the future to come into their reach. They gained new skills that help them imagine new possibilities for themselves in STEM careers and as active, responsible citizens. Through a guided process of designing, testing and implementing modules, teachers gained new resources and abilities to futurize science education. Both students and teachers gained insight into cutting-edge science through collaboration with outside experts in and out of the classroom. The partner schools and institutions continue to share these materials, experiences and insight through their national and international networks. In addition, this project provides longer term benefits for research and researchers by opening interdisciplinary and potentially ground-breaking research opportunities in the field of science education and serving as a framework for further studies developing and studying future-scaffolding learning environments. Studies have begun at UNIBO and UH, and publications have gained international attention.