e-Infrastructures must not only support the management of increasing amounts of data within the global scientific community but also contribute to bridging innovative research and education, thereby bringing new users into contact with science communities. To achieve this, e-Infrastructures have to be involved in the education system. However, school curricula are not yet ready to fully embrace e infrastructures.

GLOBAL excursion is aiming at introducing e infrastructures to educators and pupils. It provides scientists, policy makers, pupils and their teachers a package of activities, materials and tools for enabling the integration of e infrastructures into school curricula. Main access point is the GLOBAL Virtual Science Hub – “ViSH”. It contains a selection of e Infrastructures, and a social network where scientists, teachers and pupils will be able to exchange and establish collaborations, and a virtual excursion room, where pupils will be able to experience real e-science applications in areas of high relevance for the future, such as nano- and biotechnologies.

The technological basis of the Virtual Science Hub is the VCC, a communication platform developed in the GLOBAL project, which has already proven to successfully link distant researchers and to integrate remote regions.  To allow for closer links between stakeholder communities, the hub will include a pedagogical framework that tailors science content to the needs of schools preconditions. With this aim, teachers and scientists will be involved in a user-centred design process and collaboratively elaborate generic tools and methods, offering joyful formats attractive to young people. With the ViSH portal as a hub, virtual excursions are possible through existing e-infrastructures and together with pedagogical concepts, a more efficient use of e infrastructures will be ensured. Teachers will have access to guided and compact materials, easy to implement and adapt in their teaching activities