Project description
Coordination actions, conferences and studies supporting policy development, including international cooperation, for e-Infrastructures
DON'T WALK ALONE, JOIN THE GLOBAL SCIENCE EXCURSION!
Scientists Meet Teachers
It is the vision of the GLOBAL excursion project that students and teachers can explore science in innovative, virtual excursions to science labs where they interact with scientific infrastructure, material and data as well as the scientists themselves. But “real” science activities and science teaching in school are like two different worlds and, if those are to be bridged successfully, a better understanding and common grounds to build the collaborative activities on will be necessary . To make these virtual excursions an exciting and realistic learning experience the scientists need a better knowledge on educational practice in schools, and teachers need a better comprehension of available science content and options for interaction.
A Participatory Design Workshop
Thus, one of the first steps in the project was for ZSI to organise a participatory workshop, where five teachers from across Europe met a group of scientists who want to open their labs for schools and offer students new and exciting ways to experience science.
This first encounter of scientists and teachers was a great learning experience for all, where pedagogical requirements, technological boundaries and motivational barriers were elaborated in a very interactive way. At the end of the second day, the meeting room was full of posters, flip charts and post-its — representing the common knowledge elaborated during the two days. The participants were exhausted, but all very content with the results and the process of collaborative approximation.
The successfully established contact between scientists and teachers will continue during the next two years and, we hope, will result in exciting and innovative science teaching.
GLOBAL excursion will introduce e infrastructures to educators and pupils. It provides scientists, policy makers, pupils and their teachers a package of activities, materials and tools for enabling the integration of e infrastructures into school curricula. Main access point is the GLOBAL Virtual Science Hub – "ViSH". It contains a selection of e Infrastructures, and a social network where scientists, teachers and pupils will be able to exchange and establish collaborations, and a virtual excursion room, where pupils will be able to experience real e-science applications in areas of high relevance for the future, such as nano- and biotechnologies.The technological basis of the Virtual Science Hub is the VCC, a communication platform developed in the GLOBAL project, which has already proven to successfully link distant researchers and to integrate remote regions.To allow for closer links between stakeholder communities, the hub will include a pedagogical framework that tailors science content to the needs of schools preconditions. With this aim, teachers and scientists will be involved in a user-centred design process and collaboratively elaborate generic tools and methods, offering joyful formats attractive to young people. With the ViSH portal as a hub, virtual excursions are possible through existing e-infrastructures and together with pedagogical concepts, a more efficient use of e infrastructures will be ensured. Teachers will have access to guided and compact materials, easy to implement and adapt in their teaching activities.
Together with end-users, GLOBAL excursion will develop a common understanding, teaching use cases, as well as pedagogical and technical artefacts. The aim of this project proposal is to provide young citizens and their educators (teachers, parents, etc.) across Europe with a range of e-Infrastructures and access to expert knowledge on its usage for a joyful exploration of e-Science through e-Infrastructure. Based on the experience from previous projects, we intend to target pupils between 14-18 years of age (upper stage school). Participating schools and science communicators will elaborate communication and teaching activities. The driving themes will be nano- and biotechnologies, as well as volunteer computing and life sciences with an interdisciplinary focus especially including ethical, legal and social aspects (ELSA).
The main purpose of the GLOBAL excursion project is to enable students and teachers access to the experimental laboratories and resources of selected e-Infrastructures in order to improve science curricula by enriching school's existing teaching and learning materials. By connecting e Infrastructures, resources and tools with schools, pupils can experience challenging and authentic learning scenarios. Thus, students gain insights in scientific real work and relive interest in natural science education.
Fields of science
Call for proposal
FP7-INFRASTRUCTURES-2011-2
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Funding Scheme
CSA - Coordination and support actionCoordinator Contact
Coordinator
1150 WIEN
Austria