There is a growing concern among policy makers that the transformation of the media landscape by social media has contributed to increased political polarization, undermined the legitimacy of traditional media and amplified existing prejudice among parts of Western societies. In his 2017 policy paper ‘Social networks and populism in the EU: comparative study’, Paul-Jasper Dittrich acknowledges this point and goes on to conclude that, ‘there remains the danger that institutionalized forms of democratic debate, decision-making processes and supervision of governments may be seriously undermined should the success of populists in using social networks as political communication platforms stabilize’ (p. 18).Almost a century ago, the philosopher and educational reformer John Dewey already described how the isolation of viewpoints within a society could jeopardise democracy. He stated that: ’everything which bars freedom and fullness of communication sets up barriers that divide human beings into sets and cliques, into antagonistic sects and factions, and thereby undermines the democratic way of life’ (John Dewey, The Later Works 1925-1953, vol. 14, 1998, p. 227).This project, with the title 'A Debate And Philosophy Typology' (ADAPT) aims at strengthening a new generation’s critical skills, mental openness, argumentative capacity and democratic values with debate and philosophy education. In ‘Philosophy: A School of Freedom’ (2007), UNESCO endorses teaching philosophy to promote the development of critical reasoning and the exercise of freedom, placing emphasis on ‘putting concepts and ideas into perspective’ through reflection and developing ‘each person’s skills to question, compare [and] conceptualise’, which are requisite for ‘an open, inclusive and pluralistic, knowledge-oriented society’ (p. ix). As such, philosophy and debate form a remedy against polarization.In the days of the Athenian polis (5th century BC), public speaking, debate and philosophy were the cornerstones of democratic life. Philosophy had the form of a dialogue between people with contrasting points of view, while philosophers taught the art of persuasion to citizens attending the ‘Ekklèsia’, the principal assembly of the democracy of ancient Athens. In contemporary secondary schools however, debate clubs and philosophy classes have become separate worlds that, regrettably, seldom interfere. This results in knowledge and skill waste and lowers the potential impact debating skills and philosophical thinking could have on strengthening democracy and fighting populism.Therefore, the objectives of the ADAPT project are fourfold:1) To adapt the key ideas, principles and thought experiments of philosophy to the needs of debate coaches2) To adapt the training methods in competitive debate to the needs of philosophy teachers3) To develop a joint methodology for debate coaches and philosophy teachers that results in innovative educational materials and teaching methods4) To implement the Debate & Philosophy methodology in philosophy classrooms and research its effectivityWith four schools (Wolfert Bilingual School, Rotterdam, The Netherlands; Gimnazija Ledina, ljubljana, Slovenia; Privatna klasicna gimnazija, Zagreb, Croatia; ITE Enrico Tosi, Busto Arsizio, Italy), two universities (Tilburg University, The Netherlands; Erasmus School of Philosophy, The Netherlands), and three associations (Za in Proti, Slovenia; Hrvatsko Debatno Drustvo, Croatia; The Noisy Classroom Ltd, UK), we are planning to develop the following Intellectual Outputs:1) A teacher's manual with the title: 'Debate & Philosophy - A joint methodology for debate coaches and philosophy teachers'2) A collection of classroom worksheets (available for download in PDF format, A3 size), that showcase the Debate & Philosophy methodology at a glance3) A set of 3D-printed icons that depict the various argumentative elements that occur in debates. The 3D models can be downloaded and 3D-printed in order to experience the Debate & Philosophy methodology in a visual and tactile way4) A dedicated website at the URL http://debateandphilosophy.com, which offers an overview of the ADAPT project and the option to download both the classroom worksheets and the 3D-models5) Two peer-reviewed papers that research the effectivity of the Debate & Philosophy methodology6) A Debate & Philosophy YouTube channel, containing a collection of interviews with top-ranked philosophy teachers and debate coachesBy linking the development of the Debate & Philosophy teacher's manual with digital innovation and didactic research, we are aiming for an end product that is both appealing to teachers and scientifically sound. The wide range of expertise within the ADAPT consortium guarantees that the Debate & Philosophy teacher's manual, along with its digital supplements, will be both practical and of high quality, and will benefit a new generation of European citizens.

FAST, or how Food And Sustainability Thrive. FAST opened up the world of science, citizenship and entrepreneurship to students of lower and upper secondary schools in seven countries of Europe: Slovenia, Italy, Denmark, Spain, Poland, Portugal and The Netherlands. It was unique as it allowed students (coached by a transnational team of teachers) to formulate their own research topic within the overall topic. During the prior meetings (personal or in some occasions via e-mail) between teachers, heads of school and the first communication with students, each school determined a common research topic to be discussed and researched in a bilateral meeting. The students chose the topics: eco-farming of fruit (SI-NL), sustainable livestock farming (DK-NL), water-processing (ES-NL), influence of salt on food conservation (PT-NL), influence of weather (IT-NL), ecology and Earth-day (PL-NL) and how to reduce the waste of food (NL). ObjectivesThe work developed by the teams, according to the research topics previously chosen, was planned to meet the horizontal objectives: “Improve achievement in relevant and high-level basic and transversal competences in a lifelong learning perspective”, “Open and innovative education, training and youth work, embedded in the digital era” and “Sustainable investment, performance and efficiency in education and training”. All teachers involved orientated the students work in the different tasks using the teaching techniques and strategies they thought would encourage and motivate the students to know more about their topic subjects of the FAST project. Innovative, the students were given autonomy to do their own research departing from guidelines given by the teachers. They were asked to search for information in the school library, the internet or by contacting professionals linked to their research areas to collect direct information. The teachers shared experiences in the teaching strategies between all countries and noticed that they could easily transfer teaching approaches in their own research instructions. The cooperative work of teachers of different school subjects in this common project is a good example of how to maintain a life long learning process. Innovative teaching - Main activitiesIn order to get a broad scope of research, each school selected a class that was teamed up with a Dutch class (year 3). Together they executed PHASE 1 of the research during a physical exchange. PHASE 2 of the research was finalized during the project-meeting in the Netherlands.The main project language was English and in all schools the English language teachers participated actively in the management of this project. In most countries, the students learned new content words in English (CLIL) so cooperation on activities of the project became easier. During the teachers meeting in 2016, all teachers agreed to give the students (extra) language information about sustainability and food. Due to the age differences between the students, all students were informed about Europass and the European Language portfolio, but they were allowed to choose to evaluate themselves and use the outcomes in their personal curriculum vitae. All students can use the project certificate as part of their Elicit portfolio, Europass or school-own certificates. In order to make the priority of 'open and innovative education' possible, it was necessary to embed FAST in the digital world. The ICT skills were incorporated in all stages of this project. ICT was relevant for basis communication, interaction and research. During the project several students also learned to work with specific scientific programs (e.g. programming weather stations with small Arduino computers) in order to collect relevant data internationally. The direct contact to the professional business community in the regions helped the students to realize that what they learned was real and currently innovative and therefore enhanced their entrepreneurial way of thinking. See http://sites.google.com/zwijsencollege.org/fastTeachers - life long learningMajor goals of the project were to enhance teaching skills and project work and make an extra step towards learning in the 21st century where students need specific 21st century skills. The participating schools contributed to teacher training platforms and school networks, as well as in some cases to professional (international) teachers' networks. Learning outcomes of the project and transversal teaching skills have been shared with colleague teachers at each partner school. They were encouraged to integrate them into their teaching practice, especially in research projects and in opening ways of involving students in sustainability, ecology, water etc. The outcomes of the teachers tasks and of the students research (videos, assessment materials etc.) have become part of the on-going learning cycle of teachers and students belonging to the network of schools involved in the project.