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Educating the Educators

International Conference on Approaches to Scaling-up Professional Development in STEM Education

MOST RECENTLY: ETE IV - STEM & Open Schooling for Sustainability Education

Educating the Educators (ETE) is an international conference series on professional development in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) education that brings together teacher educators, policy makers, teachers and various other stakeholders related to STEM education.

The fourth edition of the successful conference series took place on May 11-12, 2023 at the Naturalis Museum in Leiden, Netherlands. ETE IV was hosted by Utrecht University and Naturalis in collaboration with the MOST project, the ICSE consortium and ECENT-ELWIER.

Thank you to everyone who was part of this wonderful event!

ETE IV: STEM & Open Schooling for Sustainability Education

ETE IV focused on implementing and scaling up innovative teaching approaches in STEM education and in particular on open schooling initiatives with respect to environmental issues (such as waste reduction, energy reduction/transition, increasing electricity needs for clouds and bitcoins, etc.). The aim was to discuss different approaches with a rich variety of participants on ways of working for teachers and PD course leaders, the roles of teaching materials, and on structures needed for innovations in STEM education.

ETE IV featured both traditional and innovative formats to benefit of gathering a circle of participants from research, practice and policy. Vivid exchange and collaborative work was ensured through spaces for co-creation and for sharing ideas and results. Prominent keynote speakers provided rich introductions with two plenary lectures and a panel discussion on the main theme of the conference:

  • Learning our way out of systemic global dysfunction: rethinking STEM education in the Capitalocene
    Arjen Wals (Professor Transformative Learning for Socio-ecological Sustainability/Unesco Chair at Wageningen University & Research, Netherlands)
  • School-community projects as keys to sustainability education in the STEM domains
    Marta Romero Ariza     (MOST-project & University of Jaén, Spain)
    Katja Maaß (MOST-project & University of Education Freiburg, Germany)
  • How do we envision education-oriented communities to stand-up for sustainability?
    Panel discussion with representatives from education, policy, Fridays for Future and the world of work

Program

Thursday May 11, 2023

08:30-09:30 Registration coffee/tea
09:30-10:45 Welcome & Plenary lecture by Arjen Wals
10:45-11:00 break
11:00-12:00 Workshops & short orals & MOST Policy meeting (11:00-12:15)
12:00-13:30 lunch & interactive poster gallery & materials market
13:30-14:15 Plenary lecture by Marta Romero Ariza & Katja Maaß
14:30-15:30 Workshops & short orals
15:30-16:00 break coffee/tea
16:00-17:30 Workshops & short orals & MOST Fair
17:30-18:30 Exclusive museum visit & materials market
18:30 conference diner

Friday May 12, 2023

09:00-10:00 Workshops & short orals & interactive poster gallery
10:10-11:10 Workshops & short orals & materials market
11:10-11:30 break coffee/tea
11:30-12:45 Plenary panel discussion & Closure
12:45 lunch

Detailed scheduleConference book
 
 
 
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 LiveScience-picture photographer: Mike Bink

Educating the Educators (ETE) is an international conference series on professional development that brings together teacher educators, policy makers, teachers and various other stakeholders related to STEM education.

Organisational Structure

 

Conference Chairs

Katja Maaß, Director of ICSE, University of Education, Freiburg, Germany

Michiel Doorman, ICSE Consortium & Utrecht University, Netherlands

Program Committee

The program committee will support the conference chairs with scientific and conceptual advice while creating the conference structure and when selecting proposals to assure a high relevance and scientific quality of the conference and possible subsequent publication(s). Members of the program committee are:

Ragnhild Lyngved, Josette Farrugia, Marta Romero Ariza, Maria Evagorou, Jesper Boesen, Gultekin Cakmakci, Martin Bilek, Danielle Meuleman, Bettina Rösken-Winter, Christine Knippels, Anna Shvarts, Sabine Mickler, Chrissavgi Triantafillou.

Local organizational Committee

Danielle Meuleman, Michiel Doorman, Monica Wijers, Vincent Jonker, Sanne Korte, Heather Huijting, Chrissi Fischer, Berit Stier.

 

 

Hosts

 

MOST (2020-2023)

The H2020 project MOST (2020-2023) opens up formal science education and establishes partnerships between schools and their communities (families, science education providers, citizens, businesses etc.). Together they work on environmental school-community-projects (SCPs) with a thematic focus on waste management and energy saving. These participatory projects directly respond to the needs and values of those involved, benefitting the community as a whole and making schools agents of community well-being. MOST’s learning impact is boosted through an educational research-based approach that raises interest in science, scientific literacy and environmental responsibility. To realize this powerful Open Schooling idea, our consortium gathers 23 expert teams from 10 European countries, including science education research and science teaching staff from higher education institutes, schools, non-formal learning providers, educational authorities, civic organizations, municipalities and enterprises. To initialize the school-community-projects our consortium provides support for schools in form of preparatory workshops, potential partner search activities and through provision of operational and pedagogical instructions. Activities on the local, regional and European level foster the sharing of knowledge, establishing further partnerships and mainstreaming MOST results across Europe. The core of the project is the integration of diverse participants: science and research, formal and non-formal educational institutions, politics, economy and society – on a local level by cooperating within “Open Schooling” projects, as within the project consortium, which contains all named institutions. The cooperation of diverse participants is the prerequisite to develop solution approaches, which take the needs of all concerned parties into consideration. At the same time, this is a driver for innovation, which will motivate all participants, to commit in the long term.

Utrecht University – Freudenthal Institute

The Freudenthal Institute (FI) aims to contribute to high-quality education in mathematics and the natural sciences through education, research and professionalization. The FI is part of the Faculty of Science at Utrecht University, and consists of science didactic research groups, the History and Philosophy of Science (HPS) department, U-Talent and the Teaching & Learning Lab (TLL).

Naturalis Biodiversity Center

Naturalis is the Dutch research institute for biodiversity. In the award-winning museum (European Museum of the Year 2021) we show the beauty of nature. Through our impressive collection, knowledge and data, we record all life on Earth. This is important, as our future depends on biodiversity. Everything in nature is connected, and balance is vitally important for its continued existence. We research nature in order to preserve biodiversity. This is how we contribute to solutions for major, global issues involving climate, living environment, food supply and medicine.

ECENT-ELWIeR

ECENT-ELWIeR is the Dutch Center of Expertise for Teacher Training in Mathematics and Science Education (STEM teacher training). ECENT and ELWIeR organizes an annual conference where all ‘learning communities’ in the area of STEM teacher training meet for exchange and update of both didactical and content knowledge.

ICSE – International Centre for STEM Education

The International Centre for STEM Education (ICSE) is located at the University of Education in Freiburg, Germany and focuses on practice-related research and its transfer into practice. ICSE sustainably links stakeholders from research, practice, policy and industry, nationally as well as internationally through the ICSE consortium. The ultimate aim of ICSE is to help improve STEM education across Europe. That is, to give students insights into authentic features of STEM subjects and their connection to real-life contexts, to raise achievement levels in STEM subjects and to make science literacy accessible to all students, regardless of gender and cultural or socioeconomic backgrounds. Thereby, ICSE intends to promote the interest of young people in STEM careers.

The ICSE Consortium

The ICSE Consortium was founded in 2017 and endeavors to lead the field of transfer-oriented research and development in STEM education. It wants to set standards for a high-impact international collaboration of higher education and research institutes. The consortium is comprised of the following 16 research institutes:

  • Austria, University of Innsbruck
  • Austria, University of Klagenfurt
  • Bulgaria, Institute of Mathematics and Informatics at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences
  • Cyprus, University of Nicosia
  • Czech Republic, Charles University
  • Germany, International STEM Centre, University of Education Freiburg
  • Germany, Leibniz Institute for Science and Mathematics Education (IPN) in Kiel
  • Greece, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens
  • Lithuania, Vilnius University
  • Malta, University of Malta
  • Netherlands, Utrecht University
  • Norway, Norwegian University of Science and Technology
  • Slovak Republic, Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra
  • Spain, University of Jaén
  • Sweden, Jönköping University
  • Turkey, Hacettepe University

 

Past Educating the Educators Conferences

The first three ‘Educating the Educators’ conferences took place in 2014 in Essen, Germany and in 2016 and 2019 in Freiburg, Germany. Like the upcoming conference, the previous events offered participants from all over the world a platform to explore, discuss and exchange approaches to scaling up professional development (PD) in math and science education. If you want to find out more about the past conferences, please take a look at our conference proceedings from the ETE I, ETE II and ETE III conference book.

Foto: ICSE

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