Von: "International Centre for STEM Education" <icse@ph-freiburg.de>
Datum: 15.02.2022, 14:21
An: icse@ph-freiburg.de
International Centre for STEM Education (ICSE)
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NEWSLETTER May 2021
Dear ICSE E-Mail,
Spring has arrived, everything is in bloom and the tension of the pandemic seems to be loosening its grip a bit on Europe at the moment. While these are great news, we at ICSE have more good news that we want to share with you. Currently much of our work revolves around socio-scientfic issues and how to include them in STEM education classrooms. Wherever we look, we seem to be facing global crises- be it the pandemic or the climate crisis that's approaching fast. We believe, that it is all the more important to equip future generations with the skills and the knowledge that is needed to deal with the challenges that lie ahead of them. And that is what we do!
This newsletter offers some starting points to transform class rooms into the right direction. You can find out how co-creation can change STEM education in timely and necessary ways or how the pandemic can be used as an opportunity to foster mathematics literacy of students. Moreover, you can read up on the example of fireworks as a socio-scientific issue (SSI) that is currently being applied in teacher training. Of course you can also find inquiry-based learning materials that deal with the pandemic or the environment, you can get to know two more members of our ICSE Consortium, learn about future events and much more.
Should vaccinations be compulsory? Is it possible to use only ‘renewable energy’? Can global warming be stopped? The relevance of paying attention to this type of socially relevant scientific dilemma’s (socio-scientific issues) in teacher training for science and mathematics is increasing.
This workshop is for STEM teacher educators from Europe, who want to learn how to use social science themes in maths and science education.
The Summer School on Mathematics Education will take place at Utrecht University from August 16-26, 2021. It offers a blend of lectures, seminars and workshops on educational research and developments in the fields of primary, secondary and higher mathematics education. The program will be tailored towards the diverse interests of master’s students, PhD students, teachers, teacher educators, curriculum and assessment developers and researchers. It will include topics like task design, classroom experiments and lesson study, the use of technology for teaching and learning mathematics, contexts and tools for modeling and inquiry-based learning and much more.
Vilnius University (VU) is one of the oldest higher education institutions in Eastern and Central Europe and was founded in 1579. The team around Prof. Dr. Valentina Dagienė both benefits from the cooperation with ICSE and also brings a lot to the table, including Prof. Dagienė expertise in Computational Thinking. Her vision for the future: “I would like to see better connections between mathematics and informatics education, also involving gamification elements. We should make teaching mathematics and informatics more inquiry based and enjoyable.”
Constantine the Philosopher University (CPU) in Nitra is one of the founding members of the ICSE Consortium. The main interests of the CPU team lies in using digital technologies in outdoor and out-of-school education, as well es ecology and environmental education. Their mission for the field of environmental education is to increase its effectiveness and modernize the content and process of education for future science teachers and educators of this field. This is one of the main crosspoints, where CPU’s collaboration with ICSE comes in.
Many teachers feel the desire to keep developing professionally. After a certain time spent on the job, they search for new ways of teaching or maybe want to advance their careers in a complelety new direction. In our new 3C4Life project six higher education institutions come together with six ministries of education in Germany, Turkey, Lithuania, Portugal, Spain and the Netherlands. Together, they are creating online platforms, where teachers will have the opportunity to get the support they need in order to find the inspiration they have been looking for.
The global society is currently facing a range of major challenges that we need to tackle now and even more so in the future. Co-creation is a transformative strategy that requires a paradigm shift from the traditional top-down model to a demand and bottom-up driven approach. But how can we motivate each and every member of the society to take responsibility and to create solutions together? Introducing Open Schooling approaches in STEM Teaching, as is currently done through our MOST project, is one way this question can be answered.
Fireworks are beautiful and also an important part of cultural celebrations in many countries. But what about the environmental impact of the use of fireworks in these celebrations and festivities?
STEM teaching can include the inquiry of complex socio-scientific issues like this one and thereby enable students to form their own opinions on matters that affect their communities and the world beyond. In the ENSITE project future teachers learn how to apply this method with the example of fireworks.
The EU pursues a variety of initiatives to realize lifelong learning for all. To reach this goal, their mission is to promote the development of key competences that enable citizens to participate actively in our society, to pursue sustainable lifestyles and to adapt to constantly changing conditions at learning, training and work places.
Being part of this pursuit, the STEMkey project team is developing strategies and materials to enable future STEM teachers to impart transdisciplinary subject knowledge while fostering key competencies in their students. These resources will foster students' ability to apply this knowledge, while addressing their emotional attitudes and personal viewpoints simultaneously.
”Will there be enough places for intensive care?” “How long will the lockdown last?” “Is it the right moment to loosen the restrictions?” “When will enough people be vaccinated to stop the pandemic?”
These and other questions arise during this pandemic. One key to answering them is mathematics. Mathematical literacy helps to understand many of the current developments and connections. We suggest that you use this knowledge in the classroom to the benefit of everyone. Interested in finding out how?
During a pandemic, people eagerly await the development of a vaccine. They feel very relieved as soon as a vaccine is developed and sometimes that leads to people expecting the pandemic to end soon. But does it really stop in a blink of an eye?
In this open math task, students are asked to reflect on the amount of vaccines necessary to protect their country's population.
Because of Corona we all have to keep distance from each other. Countries use various measures. In the Netherlands, for example, a distance of 1,5 meters must be maintained, but in other countries such as France it is only 1 meter, while in Greece it is 2 meters. All countries allow people who live together in a house to be closer to each other. Now imagine that everyone has to keep 1,5 meters apart. Would that actually work in your country? Find a good estimate of the area of your country and the number of citizens. Use these numbers to calculate whether everybody can fit while keeping enough distance and also keep unusable areas like lakes in mind.
First it rains, then the sun begins to shine and with a little luck, a brightly colored rainbow starts to appear in the sky. But how does a rainbow actually form and what gives it its typical (half-)round shape? Are they really all round or can there also be angular rainbows? We have a little experiment prepared for you.
Spring is here, holidays are approaching and as an end-of-exams celebration, students and their families throw a lot of confetti over the celebrating ones. Confetti is difficult to clean up and often ends up in the stormwater in shape of micro plastics. How much of this plastic can flow into our lakes? Are there any options that are more environmentally friendly or should confetti be banned altogether? Head over to the task description to see how you can use these and many more interesting and relevant questions in your classroom.
1. Gerd Altmann, Pixabay; 2. ICSE; 3. Naassom Azevedo, Pixabay; 4. Kira Sawa, Pixabay; 5. Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra; 6. ICSE; 7. Anemone123, Pixabay; 8. nidan, Pixabay; 9. The Official Journal 2018/C 189/01, Council of the European Union; 10. Martin Sanchez, Unsplash; 11.-14. Pixabay
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