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SETAC
Science Education As a
Tool for Active Citizenship
Citizens’ participation in the debate on
science, in the knowledge-based society and their active engagement in science learning
are among the issues in which both formal and informal learning institutions
are involved.
SETAC - Science Education As a Tool for Active Citizenship – is a European project funded by the Lifelong Learning Programme of the European Union. It draws on the cooperation between formal and informal learning institutions in order to enhance school science education and active citizenship, looking further into the role of science education as a lifelong tool in the knowledge society.
SETAC is coordinated by the National Museum of Science and Technology Leonardo da Vinci, Italy while the other partners come from Belgium, Germany, Denmark, Hungary and Italy.
For two years, eight European institutions – among which museums, training institutions and schools – have worked for the development of activities, resources and methodologies. On the day of the project’s conclusion, 31 October 2010, SETAC contributes the following products and results to the field:
1. “Quality Science Education: Where do we stand? Guidelines for practice from a
European experience”
This is
the concluding manifesto that presents the results of the SETAC work in the
form of recommendations for practitioners working in formal and informal
science learning institutions.
It
examines issues related to science education, to active citizenship and to the
relation between the two, drawing on significant current contributions from the
field and on the work done during SETAC.
This document can be considered an invitation to reflect on one’s own practice and to look into it through the lens of methodological frameworks and research results, with the aim to create a shared knowledge and practice on what is today young people’s education in science and in active citizenship.
2. “Teaching and Learning Scientific Literacy and
Citizenship
in Partnership with Schools and Science Museums”
This paper constitutes
the theoretical framwork of the project and focuses on learning and teaching in
science looking in particolar into scientific literacy and citizenship and to
museum learning. It aims to contribute innovative ways of using museums for
science education and develop new modes of linking formal and informal learning
environments.
Knowledge from different
domains that have evolved substantially over the past few decades is brought
together with the intention of setting up some relatively concrete guidelines
for maximising the potential of museums as learning resources.
3. Tools for teaching and learning in science: misconceptions, authentic questions, motivation
Three specific studies, leading to three specific reports, have been conducted in the context of the project, looking in particular into notions with an important role in science teaching and learning.
a) Children’s misconceptions has emerged during the development of the methodological approach of the project as an important issue to deal with when speaking about work in the classroom as well as understanding in science and technology. The document argues that every pupil develops spontaneous solutions to a problem posed, for example when he or she tries to understand how an object works or why a phenomenon happens. Teachers and museum educators need to take misconceptions on account when building experiences that keep the student/learner, rather than knowledge, at the centre of the learning experience.
b) Authentic
questions are another powerful tool when working in science education. Museums
and science centres are settings in which authentic questions have a strong
potential both as ways of exploring objects or phenomena and as ways of engaging
students’ own knowledge and experience. SETAC contributes a study carried out
with school students aiming to identify the modes and the strategies through
which authentic questions can be used by formal and informal educators.
c) It has become commonplace knowledge among science educators that students’ interest and enjoyment of science are declining as they progress through the grades. Thus, an empirical research took place during SETAC aiming to understand better students’ attitudes and motivation as factors influencing their achievement and participation in science and science-related issues. The research was designed to frame also the development and the testing of SETAC activities, resources and learning environments in order to look into students’ motivational processes during these. This may provide some evidence on the potential of science education in improving attitudes towards science and in heightening the motivation to learn science as a key prerequisite for lifelong engagement with science and active citizenship.
4. Activities with schools
SETAC developed a series of prototype education activities which were tested with a number of school classes in each country. These have been experiments, hands-on experiences, exhibits, dialogue-based games about health, energy and climate issues and based on the methodological approach suggested by the project pedagogy. The aim of the activities with teachers and students – as of the project itself – is to encourage inquiry-based learning, active engagement in exploration and experimentation, and debate on the topics from the point of view of social impact. Among the activities developed between the partners, we chose two which are available on-line for practictioners to use and to adapt in their own context. These are:
a) The Energy role game
A role game on Energy invites students to act in different roles, those of the stakeholders of an imaginary community, called to debate and decide upon a certain common problem. This way, students encounter directly issues implied when speaking about Energy as well as about one’s own role as citizen in society.
b) MyTest www.museoscienza.org/myTest
MyTest
aims to encourage students to engage in researching, reflecting and
communicating science-oriented topics. MyTest invites users to create their own
tests on-line on health, energy, climate change or any other scientific topic,
or to respond to the tests generated by other users. More than looking into the
scientific value of the questions, what is important for the project has been to
offer this tool as a method for stimulating critical thinking, research of the
information necessary to answer a certain question and for developming an
inquiry attitude towards science.
5. European in-service training course for
primary and secondary school teachers across Europe
Deutsches Museum, Munich
Germany
First edition 25-28 July 2011
Second edition 14-17
February 2012
The training course is designed in such a way as to engage participants in debate and exploration of issues related to science education and active citizenship. Through a series of lectures, roundtables, museum visits, interactive workshops and practical activities, participants will be able to study and reflect on:
The course is open to school teachers, headteachers and teacher trainers from all EU-member and associate countries. Professionals interested can apply for a EU Comenius grant.
All the products of the project as well as information about the training course are available at the project website, some of them in more than one languages:
For more information contact: Sara Calcagnini [log in to unmask]