ICSE News: AI revolutionizes STEM Education and ICSE supports teachers in the process
Von:
"International Centre for STEM Education" <icse=ph-freiburg.de@c.havemy.email>
Datum:
31.10.2024, 10:08
An:
icse@ph-freiburg.de
International Centre for STEM Education (ICSE)
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NEWSLETTER Fall 2024
Dear Newsletter Subscribers,
As new trends are revolutionizing STEM education, ICSE stays on track in order to support teachers in meeting the challenges of today. Accordingly, this newsletter issue is dedicated in large parts to the benefits and challenges that AI brings to STEM teachers all over the world.
Join us at the Educating the Educators conference next year to tackle these trends in community or join one of our inspiring 1h4teachers events online from wherever you are. This edition also offers you a video recording of a session by Dr. Oliver Straser that presents some practical tips and tools on how to use AI in order to enhance your teaching.
Of course you can also read up on the newest project developments and find ready-to-use classroom material in form of our newest Quarterly Problem.
Educating the Educators 2025: Submissions are open
Join us for the 5th International Conference on Professional Development in Mathematics and Science Education (ETE), where global experts gather to drive innovation in STEM teacher education.
Taking place on May 08/09, 2025 in Limassol, Cyprus, ETE 2025 offers four insightful tracks to tackle 21st century challenges: 1. Diversity in STEM Classrooms, 2. STEM Education in the Digital Era, 3. Interdisciplinarity in STEM, 4. Sustainability.
With keynote from Jonathan Osborne (Stanford), Hilda Borko(Stanford), and Anastasios Hovardas (University of Cyprus), this conference promises groundbreaking discussions.
The event is the perfect platform for teacher educators, policymakers, teachers, and various stakeholders in STEM education to connect, share, and innovate.
ETE 2025 invites STEM educators to a special Teachers' Day on Thursday, May 8, 2025. This exciting event features hands-on workshops showcasing innovative teaching strategies, practical tools, and cutting-edge approaches to improve classroom practices. Teachers can also attend insightful oral presentations on the latest trends in STEM education and engage in discussion formats aligned with the conference's four tracks. Networking opportunities will allow teachers to connect with peers, researchers, and policymakers. Teachers can also present their work during a poster session.
1h4Teachers in STEM is an online event series designed to unite educators and educational stakeholders across Europe, providing them with regular opportunities to enhance their STEM teaching methodologies. The series features hour-long workshops led by experts who offer insights into current topics in STEM education.
The first two formats this year, dedicated to the topics "AI in the Classroom?" and "Sustainability Education for Environmental Citizenship", were received very well by educators from all over Europe.
The next session is set to take place in December 2024 (date TBD) titled “AI-Based Assessment in STEM Education: An Evolution in Teaching?”. It will focus on the practical application of AI based-assessment in STEM education, exploring how tools like ChatGPT can be utilized for student performance assessment and diagnostics.
Certificates of participation are awarded to attendees, recognizing their commitment to advancing STEM education.
Since the release of ChatGPT-3 in November 2022, our world has changed fundamentally. But is ChatGPT also a good mathematician? Four ICSE associated researchers have tested the waters.
They found that complex math problems, especially reasoning and proving, are a major challenge for ChatGPT. Although newer versions of ChatGPT show significantly better mathematical skills than the older ones, all versions so far show similar error patterns.
These weaknesses also offer opportunities for teaching: students can analyze solutions created by ChatGPT. The typical error patterns not only provide an opportunity to understand the possibilities and limitations of this technology, but also to learn about how large language models work in general.
ICSE Science Factory: open schooling Conventions and fairs
The 2024 ICSE Science Factory convention in Freiburg, Germany brought together a group of people interested in promoting sustainability, digitalization, and health-focused initiatives in STEM education through Open Schooling. While collaborations between experts in fields such as robotics, artificial intelligence, and the participatory exploration of human-technology interaction created innovative cross-disciplinary projects. Other collaborations introduced playful approaches to blending science, art, and technology.
Looking ahead, the 2025 German ICSE Science Factory Fair will provide a platform for schools to present their Open Schooling projects and compete for prizes based on their innovative project ideas. We are currently looking for new partners and contributors, from sponsoring competition prizes to providing expertise in Open Schooling projects. If you are interested in becoming a part of the ICSE Factory, please contact us at icse@ph-freiburg.de.
Teach4life: A teacher career platform that is here to stay
While the 3C4Life project has officially ended this year, its main success, the Teach4Life platform is here to stay. Addressing key challenges such as the shortage of qualified STEM teachers, high attrition rates, and the growing demand for professional development in the STEM fields, Teach4Life offers concrete support in these struggles.
The comprehensive all-digital platform is designed to support both pre-service and in-service STEM teachers through resources like videos, tasks and innovative workshops to enhance their teaching skills, explore diverse career pathways, and connect with peers across Europe. In the future, the Teach4Life platform will continue to expand, with plans for localization into additional languages and further integration into national education systems.
The focus of this year’s ICSE Academy summer school was bringing participants up to date in research and teaching practices in the field of the STEM subjects. The goal was to refresh and deepen their foundational knowledge of meaningful and relevant educational practices. Students and lecturers from 11 countries came together to learn with and from each other in the beautiful city of Prague. Collectively they explored topics like inquiry-based learning, cultural diversity and inclusion and the use and impact of technology on STEM education.
The first 1h4Teachers in STEM workshop took place in January 2024, with a session titled “AI in the Classroom? How ChatGPT Can Support STEM Teachers.” In this recorded workshop Dr. Straser explores the transformative role of AI, particularly tools like ChatGPT, in revolutionizing education. He demonstrates how AI can automate time-consuming administrative tasks, generate personalized lesson plans, and improve student engagement, freeing up teachers to focus more on their students’ learning.
From Escher's impossible scenarios to the geometric figures that shape graphic poems, many artist have found in math an inexhaustible source to expand their creativity. Thus, the infinity symbol (∞), similar to the Bernoulli’s lemniscate curve, appears in multiple forms in our daily lives. But who was the first to use it in the math field and how did this shape become established to mean infinity?
In fact, the Möbius strip, a non-orientable surface with undistinguished clockwise and counterclockwise turns that is shaped sometimes as the infinity symbol, can be used as a support on which to write surprising poems. Let’s try it!
1.-2. ICSE; 3. working-moondance, Pixabay; 4. ChatGPT; 5. Wolfgang Eckert, Pixabay; 6.-7. ICSE; 8. ICSE Academy; 9. ICSE; 10. Mari Carmen Díaz, Pixabay
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