30 years of life of the Heureka project

Abstract

Heureka (“Eureka” in English) is a long-term project aimed at improving physics education in lower and upper secondary schools in the Czech Republic. It began informally “from below” about 30 years ago. Since then, it has expanded to include three series of weekend seminars for physics teachers, along with various other activities such as the annual conference. The project’s proceedings are freely available on the Heureka website for teachers; many other materials can be found on the wiki for participants. Despite the restrictions due to covid pandemic, the project has continued to thrive, maintaining its inquiry-based teaching approach and active learning style even in the online environment. This paper provides more detailed information about the project, feedback from participants, and the lessons learned from the experience. We hope that this information will prove useful and inspiring for leaders of similar projects targeting physics teachers.