SCIFUN - LET'S ADD SOME FUN TO THE SCIENCE EDUCATION

Pawel Barczynski1*, Piotr Skurski2, Michal Karbowiak3, Anna Barczynska4
1 Dr., University of Lodz, POLAND, pawelbarczynski@uni.lodz.pl
2 Dr., University of Lodz, POLAND, pskurski@uni.lodz.pl
3 M.Sc., University of Lodz, POLAND, mk.karbowiak@gmail.com
4 M.Sc., Bernardine Primary School, POLAND, anna.barczynska@gmail.com

Abstract

Negative attitudes, low self-efficacy and low achievement is being present in many reports about science education. What can happen when pupils will feel that the science classes are not only full of weird looking formulas and numbers BUT there is real life problems being solved, their engagement and motivation increases. Moreover, if learning science can bring a lot of fun too, the situation can change dramatically.
Author presents international project SciFUN, driven by the people from universites and education institution around the Europe: (Universitatea din Piteşti and Grupul pentru Integrare Europeana, ROMANIA; Centre for the Advancement of Research and Development in Educational Technology (CARDET) and INNOVADE, CYPRUS; University of Peloponnese, GRECE; University of Lodz, POLAND; Louth and Meath Education and Training Board, IRELAND).
"The aim of the project is to address the challenge of engagement in science through an innovative approach to science teaching and learning and make learning science Fun and Relevant to students' contexts. " (scifun.eu)
Project specific objectives are:

  1. To provide educators with analytical information, regarding acclaimed international and European best practices in science teaching and learning, integrating informal and authentic learning, outdoor activities, and collaboration with scientists.
  2. To support educators in utilizing social media, mobile devices, comics, digital storytelling, multimedia, and Web 2.0 technologies to engage students in science education.
  3. To design sample cross-curricular teaching units enriched with digital tools that may function as models for building new teaching units.
  4. To develop and disseminate the "Making Learning Science Fun" Toolkit and relevant resources to European educators.

One of the most important output of the project is online Toolkit, which will be composed of the following sections:

  1. Summary of the comparative research reports. State of the art research report on Science Education, developed through a research on science education and a focus group, to identify the specific needs of students and their educators and therefore.
  2. Making Learning Science Engaging & Fun - practical tips to European educators. Report with collection of Best Practices for making learning science education fun through a thoroughly review of past programmes and research reports.
  3. Digital literacy tools overview.
  4. Guidelines & ideas for designing learning activities, including recommendations for utilizing comics, mobile devices, digital storytelling, and social media.
  5. Sample Cross-Curricular Units, developed through curriculum review in each country.
  6. Case studies.

The final toolkit will be ready by the end of the project and will be freely available online through project website. Before that, we can share the ideas and projects Intellectual Outputs to inform and invite teachers and educator around the Europe to take look at the results, inspire and maybe even give valuable feedback before project ends.
So - would you like to add some fun to the science education with SciFun?

Keywords: science, education, technology, curricula, ICT



FULL TEXT PDF

CITATION: Abstracts & Proceedings of ADVED 2017 - 3rd International Conference on Advances in Education and Social Sciences, 9-11 October 2017- Istanbul, Turkey

ISBN: 978-605-82433-0-9