Engaging secondary school teachers and students with high-tech research and entrepreneurship

Autor: Villems, Pille, Pedaste, Margus, Brikker, Meelis, Siiman, Leo Aleksander, Frans, Renaat, Andreotti, Erica
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2015
Předmět:
Zdroj: 8th International Conference of Education, Research and Innovation, (ICERI), NOV 16-20, 2015, Seville, SPAIN
ICERI2015: 8TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE OF EDUCATION, RESEARCH AND
INNOVATION
ISSN: 2340-1095
Popis: One of the reasons why many European students are not interested in studying STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) domains and why there are relatively low numbers of university students in Europe pursuing STEM majors is because traditional science-teaching pedagogies do not engage today's students. Research has shown that inquiry-based science education is an effective pedagogy to engage students in STEM learning. In this study, we describe and present the results of the EU funded Quantum Spin-Off project as it was implemented in Estonia. The project aimed at engaging secondary school students and their teachers with authentic inquiry activities and required collaboration with university researchers and/or experts at companies working in the field of nanotechnology. In Estonia, 6 science teachers, 7 researchers and 74 secondary school students participated in the project. A qualitative analysis of student and teacher feedback about the project revealed that they valued the experience, especially the opportunity to work collaboratively to solve an authentic problem. Collaborative problem solving is seen as an area of growing importance, since more and more work in the 21st century is being performed by teams in an increasingly global and computerized economy. The Quantum Spin-Off project is a good example of how to make science education engaging for students as well as develop their cross-curricular skills in inquiry, entrepreneurship, and collaborative problem solving.
Databáze: OpenAIRE
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