To guarantee the energy supply of a growing population, with fossil fuel resources like coal and oil declining at the same time, is one of today's crucial challenges. Further, it is necessary to reduce industrial pollution, to construct and operate power plants economically, and to facilitate access to new technologies. Whether the results of fusion research and the construction of fusion reactors will be a viable way to solving our energy problems in the future, can be discussed by students if they have investigated the scientific background and scrutinised the political and economic aspects. In our 3-year-project with five European schools (from Denmark, Britain, France, Poland, and Germany) we seek to connect basic knowledge from school with expert knowledge from research, both academic and applied. Excursions will give students an insight into current research findings, and a first-hand experience of scientific work at universities, research labs and industrial plants. Before and after these excursions, they will develop teaching materials that combine the socio-political and the scientific aspects of fusion energy. The materials will be translated into five languages, thus making sure that they can be used in class in every participating country. In four project meetings, the teachers involved will plan the joint student meetings, the design and publication of the materials, and the evaluation of the project. During the student meetings they will act as learning coaches and involve the rest of their schools, e. g. by regular presentations of project results on school websites or magazines. They will also offer staff training, thus acting as multiplicators. During the five student meetings all participants will work together on a central aspect of the topic "energy/fusion energy". These are the common features in all meetings: 1. Excursions that give students the chance to get into contact with scientists in their working environment By co-operating with selected international research centres and laboratories, cutting-edge physical research will become more accessible to students, and they will experience scientific ways of thinking and working first-hand, thus building a bridge from school education to actual research and harnessing synergies between the two. 2. Using different routes of learning, with an emphasis on doing experiments at school and trying new learning methods with digital media ("flipped classroom"). The aim of the "flipped classroom" method is to visualise basic knowledge more clearly and to create more room for students doing application-oriented, self-organised work in science classes. The interdisciplinary view on scientific and political aspects of energy supply is supposed give students a deeper understanding of this topic, enabling them to get a thorough knowledge of and a critical judgement on the current debate on energy. The students will improve their skills in doing scientific research, keeping up with the public debate, working in international teams and discussing complex issues in English. These skills are required for developing self-competence, for shaping the choice of a future career, and for advancing European integration by strengthening intercultural competence. As a consequence of our project on fusion energy, we expect the students' basic scientific competence to increase. We also seek to introduce students to using digital resources and forms of communication and boost the use of digital media in class and in individual learning processes. These are vital skills for everyone who wants to participate in modern society, not least with regard to potential fields of work in European research. While today's students have grown up using digital media and communication for private purposes, working with them on specific issues requires different strategies. Through eTwinning, the use and the conception of English online teaching materials the students are supposed to learn and develop these strategies and at the same time improve their foreign language competence.