In 1999 Tina Sølbek Schmidt went to Iceland for a training course. As a biology teacher, she realized already at this stage what an interesting starting point a school cooperation with Iceland – with its dramatic nature so different from the Danish – would be for the biology subject. Nine years later the school management at Fredericia upper secondary school gave Tina the green light to reify her plans.

Byåsen secondary school in Norway posted a profile on the Nordplus Frameworks database. It was hoping to pair up with another school on the topic learning-related cooperation. The school, in Trondheim, did not have to wait long.

“Here is a challenge for you: you are now to do research on the Sun and the Northern Lights, and you will study and analyse real-time data. Is it possible that there will be any Northern Lights in week 47, 2009?”

This is an example of an assignment in a Polar Year contest for secondary school pupils. An inspiring learning environment that stimulates young people’s interest in science requires skilled teachers – and that is exactly what “Polar research in the classroom”, initiated by the Norwegian Centre for Space-related Education, is about. The project aims to qualify teachers in various polar-related subjects by establishing quality follow-up studies within a Nordic educational network.

14 Nordic & Baltic institutions joined forces and became one ambitious and exciting Nordplus network KUNO (Kunst Utdanninger i Norden).

Studentsand teachers have been given access to resources they may not find at their home institutions.

Students from four Nordic countries study Nordic landscape from different points of view and have found that there is much more to explore than just the landscape.

It is proved that cultural activities stimulate and help elderly people in their everyday life. A project established under The Nordplus Adult Learning Programme is an example of how networking can be used to implement cultural activities as a form of treatment in elder care.