GSO4SCHOOL Summer School 2020
The CREAT-IT project aims to develop and support teacher skills in science education by integrating creative, cultural disciplines and social media tools in science courses, engaging students to participate in collaborative, project and case study based activities.
For teachers, creativity and innovation is a high risk activity and the incentives are few (Hannon, 2009). In a system where the centre has been the innovator, practitioners’ compliance understandably becomes the habit. The dynamic of change in education in Europe has been described in terms of a set of shifts, first, from “uninformed prescription” (in the 1980s); to “informed prescription”; then towards practitioner led change (Barber, 2002). This last was seen as the key to self sustaining, rapid improvement. It is within this context, that the CREAT-IT project aims to take forward the agenda of practitioner led change at a European level by introducing creativity in science education. At the level of individual teachers this implies getting three things to happen:
- Individual teachers need to become aware of specific weaknesses in their own practice. In most cases, this not only involves building an awareness of what they do but the mindset underlying it.
- Individual teachers need to be motivated to make necessary improvements. In general this requires a deeper change in motivation that cannot be achieved through changing material incentives. Such changes come about when teachers have high expectations, a shared sense of purpose, and above all, a collective belief in their common ability to make a difference to the education of the children they serve.
- Individual teachers need to gain understanding of specific best practices. In general, this can only be achieved through training and demonstration of such practices in authentic settings.
Get to know creative methods
Junior Science Cafes scenarios will follow the guidelines of the SciCafe Network (http://www.scicafe.eu/learn_more). It will utilize the already existing experience and will combine creative aspects according to the proposed pedagogical framework. In the framework of the CREATIT project the Science Cafes will be organized within schools or schools’ theaters and the teacher and students that will organize them will follow the guide lines in order to incorporate creative aspects and combine science with e.g. music, art and/or theater and how these aspects could help science and moreover education. From this process the teacher will be able to introduce science issue to the students with the help of an invited researcher and follow its curriculum. The teachers will be trained to realize these activities within the Implementation phase of the CREATIT project as well as to implement junior science cafes with their classroom.
Science Theater will be a case study that will incorporate the art elements in teaching science. In Theatre and Science workshops for schools and in productions for children and adults, CREATIT will develop interactive shows, where the public (especially children) is engaged in the show through questions or suggestion that make the show go on. In this case study there will be three main aims: 1) to explore the use of metaphor in scientific and theatrical frameworks
2) to explore the evolution of role playing 3) to test a common training for future liberal art and science teachers. Also the teacher will have the opportunity to use the “working group” methodology as he will be called to separate the students in working groups in order to develop certain parts of the theatrical script that will be derived from a science theme (physics, biology or maths).
Science Opera case study will be almost similar with the Science Theater but it will include one more artistic and creative element, music. Write a Science Opera (WASO) is a creative professional development approachto music and science education in which pupils of different ages, supported by teachers, opera artists and scientists, are the creators of an educational performance. WASO integrates science education into the original method by involving scientists who lead a creative process demonstrating common impulses shared by science and the arts.
Contests
Science contests have proven their efficacy in motivating teachers to adopt a scientific methodology that helps them expand the limitations of classroom instruction. Moreover, the provoking of students’ curiosity may also be achieved prior to engaging them to certain activities by involving them to science contests. Among various award some of the winners will have the chance to participate to some of the project’s main events (summer schools, conferences) with their expenses covered from the project. In the next month’s a list of national and international contests organized by the consortium will be presented here.
Partners:
Stord/Haugesund University College – HSH (Norway)
University of Exeter, EXETER (UK)
Elinogermaniki Agogi (Research & Development Department) – EA (Greece)
Hellenic Association of Science Journalists, Science Writers and Science Communicators – Science View (Greece)
Forma Scienza (Italy)
CENTER FOR THE PROMOTION OF SCIENCE – CPN (Serbia)
European Network for Opera and Dance Education – RESEO (Belgium)
More info: http://www.creatit-project.eu/
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