About the ICSE Academy

Austria

University of Klagenfurt

The Institute of Instructional and School Development (German abbreviation: IUS) focuses its activities on those who learn and those who teach, on learning arrangements, organisations, and the educational system. It operates in the action fields of research and development, as well as those of teaching and counselling in the educational sphere, and it actively participates in national and international projects. IUS is part of the young and innovative University Klagenfurt (UNI-KLU) in Austria, located at the intersection of three diverse cultures: Austria, Slovenia and Italy.

The University’s scientific achievements regularly earn national and international recognition. The projects carried out here serve as important impulse generators for the business location Carinthia. Teachers, teacher educators and other contributors to the field of education are supported in their professional development (PD) by innovative programmes. These interventions are evaluated both formatively and summative, involving quantitative and qualitative measures. The insights gained are communicated to the national and international community of educators and educational researchers.

The IUS is open for different scientific paradigms. In order to investigate the impacts, evaluation and research of processes and products are conducted continuously and systematically. The IUS is co-ordinating and researching the Austrian-wide Network ECOLOG – Ecologizing Schools for Education for Sustainable Development commissioned by Ministry of Education. Ecological experience gained through this initiative perfectly fits to ENSITE’s objectives concerning environmental citizenship.

Alpen-Adria Universität

Federal Ministry Republic of Austria

Czech Republic

Charles University

The Charles University in Prague represents the largest education institution in the Czech Republic. It actively engages in international cooperation and promotes them within the framework of ERASMUS programmes. The Faculty of Education has teachers study programmes focussing on different areas inclusive of STEM education and the integration of STEM subjects is for it a current challenge within the Czech educational system. For this reason, Charles University caters to the smooth implementation of ICSE Academy in the Czech Republic, as well as using their networking experience in domestic and international levels.

Associated key actor (educational authority, network)

Cabinet of Science Education of National Pedagogical Institute, Prague

The National Pedagogical Institute of the Czech Republic (NPI CR) is run directly by the Ministry of Education, Youth, and Sports, and prepares strategies for further development of general, vocational, art and linguistic education, continuing teachers education and the area of pedagogical-psychological, educational and career counselling together with the Ministry. Fourteen regional centres provide support to teachers, trainers and schools.

Model schools

Smíchov secondary industrial school and gymnasium, Preslova 25, Prague

The Smíchov Secondary Industrial School and Gymnasium offers three classes in Information Technology in each year, one Cyber Security class in pilot mode and a new Gymnasium class focused on STEM. The school educates 647 students in the 2020/2021 school year, with a 99.5% occupancy rate. For this school year, the school received 612 applications for study, so it had a fourfold overflow of applicants for all the courses offered. This was the highest number of applications of all secondary schools in the Czech Republic that offer four-year diploma courses, including the most prestigious grammar schools.

1st Secondary School in Jirkov, Budovatelů street Nr. 1563

The 1st Secondary School in Jirkov, Budovatelů is school urban type, fully organized, consisting of three pavilions – school, canteen, gymnasium and a separate building of the school’s kindergarten, which has three departments for pupils and three service apartments. It is located near the town centre, close to the square and the bus station. It has 30 classrooms – 10 of which are special, 2 gymnasiums, one library and 18 classrooms. In addition to the specialist classrooms biology and physics, the school has two language classrooms, a training flat, a school workshop, a art classroom with a ceramic kiln, a chemistry laboratory, a school grounds and a gym. The pupils use 2 gymnasiums for physical activities and outdoor playground with asphalt and plastic surface.

Faculty primary and secondary school in Ústí nad Labem, České Mládeže street Nr. 230/2

The Faculty primary and secondary school is attended by 480 pupils and is taught by 32 teachers with the help of 5 teaching assistants, all pupils are taught according to the School Educational Programme for Primary Education Creative School. As part of the EU OPVC project “Money for Schools”, all classrooms were equipped with computers, data projectors and new blackboards. The school supports children’s extra-curricular activities and every year at the beginning of the school year we offer a range of extra-curricular clubs for children, such as sports, floorball, recorder and ceramics. The school is also successfully involved in international Comenius and Erasmus+ projects.

Josef Jungmann´s Gymnasium in Litoměřice

The Josef Jungmann´s Gymnasium is a school that respects tradition and is open to new trends and teaching methods. We are a school that is welcoming and partnering with parents, and where there are good relationships between teachers and pupils and between teachers and pupils with each other. It is a faculty school of the Faculty of Science and Faculty of Arts of the UJEP in Ústí nad Labem. It profiles itself as a school with a traditional mission of preparing pupils for higher education, as a school where values defined by teachers and pupils are shared, and as a school that is open to new trends and teaching methods. The school has six newly renovated professional classrooms including laboratories (biology, chemistry, physics laboratories). Most of the classrooms are equipped with data projectors. The reconstruction of ICT classrooms, library, language classroom, VV classroom and the garden of the gymnasium is planned.

Secondary Vocational School for Environmental Protection and Restoration – Schola Humanitas

Ukrajinská 379, Horní Litvínov, 436 01 Litvínov

The Secondary Vocational School for Environmental Protection and Restoration – Schola Humanitas provides an education comparable in content to a gymnasium, but with better material equipment and realistically greater chances for employment immediately after its completion. We profile ourselves as a science school specializing in the field of ecology. By completing it, students are fully prepared for university studies in various fields. The Schola Humanitas is the oldest school of its type in the Czech Republic. It offers modern interactive education in a friendly family environment (max. 22 pupils in a class). The teaching of professional subjects in laboratories with the latest equipment is complemented by activities in the field, where the student gets to know the direct application of his theoretical knowledge. Part of the matriculation exam is the optional development of a professional matriculation thesis and its defense, which is an invaluable experience for students when writing future bachelor’s and diploma theses. We can support the student’s interest, whether through experience in Open Science internships, or participation in the High School Vocational Activity, where we have already recorded several nationwide successes.

The Medical School for Nurses and Business Aacademy

The Medical School for Nurses and Business Academy was established on 1 July 2018 by merging two separate institutions, a higher and secondary medical school and a business academy, both located in Trutnov. More than 70 – year tradition of both schools, their excellent reputation, high quality education in vocational courses and above all the outstanding position of their students on the job market are crucial for further development of the newly established school. The school employs 56 teachers and it currently holds 520 students. The medical school focuses on courses for paramedics and caters for social demands. It offers lifelong education in the fields of healthcare and social activity to all age groups. The higher medical school and the secondary medical school provide education in four-year secondary level courses and one three-year higher education course.

Cypros

Educational Excellence Corporation Limited (EDEX)

University of Nicosia

University of Nicosia (UNIC) is the largest private university in Cyprus with over 7000 students. It is an independent, co-educational, equal opportunity institution of higher education, which offers a wide range of programmes to students from around the world. The University through its five Schools (Medical School, School of Business, School of Education, School of Humanities, Social Sciences and Law, School of Science and Engineering), offers 40 Bachelor degrees, 32 Master degrees and 11 doctoral programmes in business, science, medicine, education and the liberal arts. International in philosophy, the University hosts students from all over the world, in a multicultural learning environment, promoting friendship, cooperation, and understanding. The University pursues excellence in education through research and high teaching standards, in a continually improving academic environment.

The School of Education employs 22 full-time faculty and 32 part time while it offers degrees in Primary and Pre-primary Education, Masters degrees in Education (with 8 specializations), and PhD in Education. UNIC’s degree programmes are accredited by the Cyprus Government, the NCA of USA and some European Accrediting Bodies. It currently has over 5500 students enrolled and around 28% of its student population are non-Cypriots, something which makes it a multicultural institution where diversity and pluralism are valued. The School of Education at UNIC has extensive experience participating in EU funded projects. One of the tasks of the research group within the School of Education is to conduct research to contribute to the improvement of education. In addition, we are experienced coordinators and participants of projects funded by the EU, the US Department of Education, and large corporations focussing on research, material development and the broad dissemination of innovative teaching and learning approaches, namely DIALLS (Horizon2020), CSRC (Teaming/Phase1) Mascil, Engage, Primas (FP7 SiS), IncluSMe and Masdiv (Erasmus+), PreSSES (Comenius). We have strong expertise on special education, educational psychology, adult education, technology-based learning, science education inclusive education, school improvement, social inclusion, intercultural education, teacher development, ICT, e-learning, distance education, collaborative inquiry, research, and evaluation.

The interdisciplinary team at UNIC for the ENSITE project comprises of experts in mathematics education, science education, and psychometrics, along with a number of other colleagues and PhD students. Our research team has strong expertise and relevant publications in the areas of science education and socio-scientific issues, development of teaching and learning materials in higher education, teacher professional development in socio-scientific issues and designing of evaluation tools. A special focus in the PD courses has been dealing with socio-scientific issues, making science relevant and support citizenship science. We are highly interested in transferring our knowledge to particularly improve ITE programmes across Europe and deepen our own knowledge, in particular with regards to European diversity and how it influences global decisions and environmental issues.

Germany

University of Education Freiburg – International Centre for STEM Education (ICSE)

Pädagogische Hochschule Freiburg

The University of Education in Freiburg (PHFR) is a specialised, public higher education (HE) institution with a mission in both research and teaching, focusing on the field of teacher education and the educational sciences. PHFR offers degrees at all cycle levels for primary and secondary school teachers and future professionals in the broad field of education.
PHFR’s research covers the full span of educational, pedagogic and subject-didactic fields. The University places special emphasis on research that is relevant to improving HE teaching and has earned a particular reputation for its research on, and dissemination of, innovative practices and pedagogies in maths and science education. Several large-scale international and interdisciplinary research, development and dissemination projects have been carried out over the past decade at the maths and science education departments of the PHFR. As a result of this work, the University can currently resort to an international network of stakeholders in maths and science education of over 1000 contacts relevant to the project’s scope. Linking research and teaching, practice-orientation and policy-connections are thus among the PHFR’s distinguishing strengths – in particular in the field of maths and science education.

In 2017 Prof. Katja Maass and her team established the International Centre for STEM Education (ICSE) at PHFR. 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 and to make science literacy accessible to all students no matter what their gender, their cultural background or their socioeconomic background, and to promote the interest of young people in STEM careers.
Our focus in STEM education research and its transfer into day-to-day practices is therefore on issues such as:

 Greece

National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA)

University of Athens

The National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA) was founded in 1837. It is a research-oriented institution consisting of 33 departments and offering a variety of undergraduate and post-graduate programs. The Department of Mathematics has 54 academic staff, and over 3000 students. It cooperates, through inter-state and inter-university agreements, with universities and research centres in Europe and internationally, for the promotion of science, scholarly research and exchange of information. The department is responsible for the education of prospective mathematics teachers since about half of the students of the Department of Mathematics follow a teaching career after their studies.

All members of the NKUA team are experts in initial teacher education of future mathematics teachers. We have significant experience in developing a reform-oriented primary and secondary curriculum for mathematics teaching in the context of an initiative of the Ministry of Education (collaboration with the Institute of Educational Policy of Greece). One of the main aims of this curriculum was to exploit real life contexts and situations in mathematics teaching. Furthermore, we designed part of the developed materials and resources to challenge in-service teachers to bring socio-scientific issues into their classroom teaching. Most part of the students, after their graduation, will pursue a career in the educational field. Hence, having a mathematical background, addressing their values and attitudes towards controversial scientific issues and supporting them to include these issues in science and mathematics teaching are one of main aims of our department. This brings added value since we can transfer that knowledge to environmental socio-scientific issues and enhance our scientific scope.

The members of the team have already collaborated in national and European projects such as Mascil (2013-2016) or IncluSMe (2016-2019).

Lithuania

Vilnuis University

Vilnius University is the largest University in Lithuania involved in multi-disciplinary academic activity. It was founded in 1579 and is one of the oldest higher education institutions in Eastern and Central Europe. During more than four centuries of its existence, Vilnius University (hereinafter – VU) grew into the leading University in Lithuania.

The University retains its leading role in a broad spectrum of fundamental and applied research, education, training and retraining, consultancy, providing research and development services to a wide range of businesses. VU has 14 academic units (Faculties, Centres and/or other), one of the oldest Libraries in Lithuania, the Astronomical Observatory, the Botanical Garden and 2 Hospitals of VU. In 2018, there were 17865 students studying at VU. They are accompanied by 2601 specialists, 1954 of them teachers, 647 scholars, including 1803 habilitated doctors and doctors.

Eglė Jasutė is an associate professor at the Faculty of Philosophy at Vilnius University. She defended her PhD in Informatics. Jasutė’s area of interest is Computer Science didactics and mathematics learning at school, how to promote students’ involvement in mathematics learning.

Contact: egle.jasute@fsf.vu.lt

Website: www.vu.lt

Malta

L-Università ta´Malta

First established in 1592, the University of Malta (UoM) continues to be the highest teaching and learning institution of the country. The University strives for excellence, is very active on the international scene and has link agreements with many universities in Europe and beyond. The Maltese team comes from the Faculty of Education which was set up within the University in 1978. The faculty provides for national needs in initial teacher education for schools in the primary and secondary school sector and is engaged in research and projects at a national and international level. It also offers several post-graduate programmes at Masters and PhD level. The Faculty has strong links not only with the national Educational authorities but also with all schools in both primary and secondary sectors. Within the Faculty of Education, the Department of Mathematics and Science Education (DMSE) has an extensive experience of initial teacher education. It offers courses in Mathematics Education, Science Education and Geography Education in initial teacher education programmes and post-graduate research programmes. The research activities of the Science and Mathematics teams within DMSE target teacher education and teaching, learning and assessment in Mathematics and Science among other things. The DMSE also collaborates with the local Educational authorities in developing curricula, running professional development for teachers in schools and for organizing national conferences in Mathematics and Science education. The main philosophy which guides the science and mathematics teams within DMSE is the development of reflective teachers who have a commitment towards student-centred learning and who engage all students in relevant, meaningful and enjoyable experiences of science and mathematics that prepare them for life as future citizens.

The team has been involved in collaborations with schools on initiatives related to mathematics and science education. Members of the team participated in several other projects like PRIMAS (Promoting Inquiry in Mathematics and Science across Europe), Capacity Development of Faculties of Education in International Approaches to Teacher Education, E-PLIPS (Implementation of a European Dimension by Peer Learning in Primary School), SPICES (Social Promotion of Intercultural Communication Expertise and Skills), IncluSMe (Intercultural learning in science and mathematics education) and MaSDiV (Supporting mathematics and science teachers in addressing diversity and promoting fundamental values). With this experience, the team will bring in its expertise related to assessment to this project in the development of a module that supports prospective teachers in applying principles of assessment to assess student learning through SSI.

Science Centre

 Netherlands

Utrecht University (UU)

The Freudenthal Institute for Science and Mathematics Education (FI) is part of the Faculty of Science of Utrecht University (UU) in the Netherlands. The mission of the institute is to stimulate and broaden the interest, knowledge and skills of students and teachers in the field of mathematics and the natural sciences, and stimulating reflection on the sciences and their rich multicultural history and foundations. A focal point for this is the relation to the National Science Agenda (“Nationale Wetenschapsagenda”) and the goal to prepare citizens for and educate them to participate in a diverse, quickly changing, technology-oriented society (scientific citizenship). The institute offers support for teachers and provides courses for student-teachers in learning the necessary basic skills (21st century skills) such as combining new information and insights with available knowledge, problem solving skills, creativity, reflection and cooperation. Among these skills, special attention is paid for metacognitive prompts and language-producing activities that foster the importance and role of language in mathematics and science learning, as this learning is largely a social and communicative practice.

The Freudenthal Institute has a longstanding tradition on design, research and development of learning and teaching materials in the STEM area (in particular in science and mathematics education) for science classrooms, initial teacher education and in-service teacher education. This experience was used in prior European projects like Primas, Mascil, MaSDiV, Parrise and IncluSMe. High importance is on producing materials that are easy to access, interpret and use.

The ENSITE-team of the Freudenthal Institute has experience in developing classroom materials for inquiry-based approaches to science and mathematics teaching and with use of socio scientific issues (SSIBL). The SSI-experience is developed in the Parrise project. Furthermore, the institute has a tradition in designing classroom materials for statistics and involving analysis and visualization of big data.

Hogeschool van Amsterdam

Utrecht University

 Norway

Norwegian University of Science and Technology

The Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) is situated in Trondheim and is the largest university of Norway with about 44 170 students. The Department of Teacher Education at NTNU has Norway’s largest academic environment within teacher education and educational research.

It offers practice-oriented and profession-oriented Bachelor’s, Master’s and PhD degree programmes. In addition, it has a broad portfolio of further education for teachers and school management. Our research and our performing art and educational development work is directed towards school, classroom and workshop. Our research contributes to the national and international development of knowledge about learning and education in a lifelong perspective.

NTNU is a multi-disciplinary university with a strong profile in science and technology, and a focus on programs of professional study. Therewith, NTNU contributes to competitive Norwegian business and industry sectors as well as supports a capable public sector through collaboration in new practices, processes and products. Three specific trends will be important for NTNU in the strategy period until 2025: more intense competition, strengthened interaction with society, and willingness to change. NTNU wants to prioritize innovative and exploratory learning processes of high quality, grounded in research-based knowledge about learning. They have a long tradition of learning through real tasks and problem-based learning. This closely relates to the university’s understanding of the community assignment and its special responsibility for interdisciplinary skills. Two of the core tasks for initial teacher education at NTNU are 1) Develop research-based teaching materials and learning resources for school and teacher education, 2) Educate teachers that stimulate students to engage in development and innovation work. Thus, the aims of the ENSITE project fit very well into the strategies of our university at all levels.

Within science and mathematics education, the research profile encompasses several internationally and nationally esteemed research projects (e.g. Learners Perspective Study – LPS, EU PRIMAS, Teaching better Mathematics – TBM, TransMaths Norway, and MathTextbook Scandinavia, EU mascil, EU FaSMEd, EU INSTEM, Literacy, LOCUMS, IncluSMe). Our expertise includes ICT and learning, entrepreneurship in education, inquiry-based science and mathematics education, conceptual understanding and literacy. The Norwegian ENSITE team are experienced teachers, teacher educators and educational researchers from the field of science education and ICT.

 Slovakia

Constantine the Philosopher University

 Grammar School Nitra

Grammar School (Gymnázium) at 68 Golianova Street in Nitra is a modern secondary school with 4-year, 5-year bilingual (Slovak/English) and 8-year forms of study. The founder of the school is the Nitra self-governing region. The school has more than 750 students and 50 teachers. It is located in a pleasant quiet environment in the Klokočina housing estate. The school has a hundred-year history, a good reputation, many well-known and successful graduates. During its existence, the Gymnasium has gone through several names. One of the many was the name: Gymnasium of Eugen Guderna in Nitra. The school:

Teacher.sk, Ltd.

Teacher.sk is a e-learning solutions design and implementation, consultancy and data analytics company with experience in the public and private sector. We collaborate on projects for the development of computer science education at all levels of schools and support the introduction of modern forms of teaching. We implement comprehensive e-learning solutions based on Open Source LMS Moodle. We develop e-learning courses, mobile and web applications for education. We analyze data on the structure, content and user behavior of web and educational applications. We support activities and projects aimed at the development of STEM education.

Spain

 Universidad de Jaén

The University of Jaén (UJA) is a medium-sized public university located in the South of Spain, founded in 1993. In 2015, UJA received the Excellence Award from the European Foundation for Quality Management to recognize its high-quality approaches and services and its engagement with excellence and innovation. The University of Jaén is in the Top 50 of the world’s best young universities according to THE (Times Higher Education). This ranking analyses aspects such as teaching, research work, the university’s international outreach, or integration into industry. Besides, the UJA has received the distinction of Campus of International Excellence in the fields of Agrifood (CEIA3) and Climate Change (CamBio), and it leads the Andalusian CEI project on historical heritage PatrimoniUN10. UJA permanently welcomes new foreign research proposals as part of a conscious effort to increase its international profile and widen both its knowledge and its horizons.

Jaén University has five faculties (Humanities and Education Sciences; Social and Legal Sciences; Health Sciences; Experimental Sciences and Social Work) organized into 35 departments, three postgraduate educational centers and five specialized research centers, involving over 900 academics and 450 administrative staff offering services to more than 14000 students (graduates, post-graduates and PhDs). The centralised organisation in a main campus facilitates interdisciplinary collaboration with academics, students and professionals.

 Sweden

Jönköping University

Jönköping University is a young professional-oriented university characterized by a high degree of internationalization, an entrepreneurial spirit and extensive collaboration with surrounding society. It is one of three Swedish private, non-profit institutions of higher education with the right to award doctorates. Jönköping University has around 12,600 students, of which 2,300 are international students. The university is one of the top universities in international student exchange and among the best in Sweden in terms of attracting international students. Campus has a truly international and academic environment with students and staff from all parts of the world.

Both, within education and research, Jönköping University has a close cooperation with business and society. JU operates on the basis of an agreement with the Swedish Government and conforms to national degree regulations and quality requirements. The university is organized as a non-profit corporate group with Jönköping University Foundation as the parent organization and six wholly owned subsidiaries: the School of Health and Welfare, the School of Education and Communication, Jönköping International Business School, the School of Engineering, University Services and Jönköping University Enterprise.

 The National Union of Teachers in Sweden

Lärarnas Riksförbund (The National Union of Teachers in Sweden) is the only professional trade union in Sweden exclusively for qualified teachers and study and career counsellors. The union organize 90 000 members and is one of the largest unions affiliated to the Swedish Confederation of Professional Associations (Sveriges Akademikers Central­organisation, Saco). Lärarnas Riksförbund does not organize unqualified employees nor principals. The majority of the members work in compulsory schooling (years 1–9) and in upper secondary schools both in the public and private sector.

The main goals and areas of activity for Lärarnas Riksförbund is to protect and advance the interests of the members in issues regarding working conditions, wages and professional development. This is done through negotiating collective agreements, representing members and through active educational policy. Lärarnas Riksförbund influences educational policies and plays an important role in improving education, for instance through participation in a number of different reference groups in which other key stakeholders are also represented.

 Turkey

Hacettepe University

Hacettepe University (HU) is a major state university in Turkey with over 30,000 students and 3,500 academic staff. The university has 13 faculties, 9 schools, 1 conservatory, 13 institutes and 35 research centres. The Faculty of Education is able to meet the challenge of contemporary education through its highly qualified academic staff, who are open to change and development and who also benefit from international experience and cooperation. The Faculty of Education has strong links between research and schools, and has a collaboration agreement with more than 50 kindergartens, and primary and secondary schools.

Hacettepe University STEM & Maker Lab was established in 2009. They have researchers with extensive experience in STEM curriculum development, in-service teacher training activities and public engagement of STEM to improve the quality of education. Our team member at the Hacettepe STEM & Maker Lab has involved in several EC Erasmus+ projects (ENSITE, MaSDiV, EMERGENT, STEM, STEM PD Net, STING, and INSTEM), FP7 projects (e.g., S-TEAM, SAILS, MaScil), and H2020 project (e.g. MOST).

Beside the development of an intellectual output, the Turkish team support the ENSITE project with its outstanding experience in dissemination and use of media technologies. Hacettepe University STEM & Maker Lab has been collaborating with the University of Education in Freiburg since 2010. This collaboration also enhanced our partnership with other PD centres in Turkey. As a result, we contributed to the Turkish Academy of Science PD courses, and worked closely with the Turkish Ministry of National Education on Professional Development activities to promote STEM education nationwide. For instance, our team member, Prof. Gultekin Cakmakci, has been involved in many STEM teacher training workshops organised by the Turkish Academy of Science and/or the Turkish Ministry of Education or funded by The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBİTAK). His workshops centred on the nature of STEM practices, classroom norms and the nature of classroom discourse to build socially inclusive approaches in STEM education. Prof. Gultekin Cakmakci, among others, has developed the new Turkish Science Curriculum, which has been implemented in Turkey since September 2017.

Since 2015, in collaboration with the Turkish Ministry of National Education and partners from the industry, we organise STEM & Makers Festivals in different cities. Until now, more than 200,000 participants (ages three and up) have attended and engaged with IBL activities. tiny.cc/xvd8az

Hacettepe University STEM & Maker Lab has experience in widespread dissemination of EU projects’ resources through PD courses, STEM Festivals and press. STEM News Aggregator,  which aggregates science, technology, health, education and business news content from a variety of sources (e.g. online newspapers and popular magazines) and feeds them to its users.

ICSE Academy Turkey

 Hacettepe University