STUDENT ACTIVE LEARNING IN SCIENCE (SALIS)

PROJECT
BACKGROUND

Institute of Education Sciences

Institute of Education Sciences

STUDENT ACTIVE LEARNING IN SCIENCE (SALIS)

PROJECT BACKGROUND
STUDENT ACTIVE LEARNING in SCIENCE (SALiS) is a project that aims to promote science teaching through a more active engagement of students. This project identifies the need for students to have a more hands-on experience in studying science subjects. The programme intends to promote laboratory-work and practical experience as one of the foundations of modern science-teaching. This type of tutoring provides a better learning of science concepts engages students participation and promotes their understanding of the nature of science itself. In other words, the primary goal of the SALiS scheme is to consolidate science education through research and the active participation of students. Our specific objective is to develop curricula and teacher training modules in the participating Universities. Therefore, the consortium of SALIS partners will jointly develop teaching and training modules for Inquiry-Based Science Education. Beneficiary countries include Georgia, Germany, Ireland, Israel and Moldova. These modules will enable teachers to provide knowledge through innovative approaches such as to lab-work coaching, inquiry-type strategies, open lab tasks and cooperative learning in the lab environment. The Tempus SALIS project has 7 phases: 1. Development of curricula and training modules; 2. Equipping laboratories; 3. Staff training; 4. Implementation; 5. Dissemination and Sustainability; 6. Evaluation and quality assurance; 7. Management.

Institute of Education Sciences

WORK PACKAGE 1: CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT

The SALiS project requires the development of teacher training curriculum which will consider the local/national and international dimensions and needs. The curriculum development will be based on modern approaches towards results focused processes best outlined as the Understanding by Design (UBD) principle. Through mapping exercises both generic and specialized competencies are going to be identified that would be set as curricular goals. The development of the curricula for the courses will be tailored to the clearly identified outcomes. The scenarios of the usage of labs will be developed. The development of the curricula will follow the cycle of Development-Piloting-Evaluation-Finetuning-ImplementationReview. The first draft of the curricular materials and courses are to be piloted in the selected groups of prospective science teachers. The data will be gathered during and after the piloting process enabling the adjustments of the curriculum based on the evidence provided.

Institute of Education Sciences

WORK PACKAGE 2: EQUIPPING THE SALIS LABORATORIES IN THE SALIS BENEFICIARY COUNTRIES
For effective implementation of SALiS curriculum the beneficiary institutions will equip training labs and establish the clear procedures for usage and maintenance of the labs. Initially with the help of the EU partners the list of the equipment will be developed in relevance to the curricular targets. The lists are to be used by the procurement specialists of the beneficiary universities in Moldova, Georgia and Israel. Strategies will be implemented to base student active lab-work on low-cost lab techniques, using micro and halfmicro approaches, and the use of chemicals with low potential to be harmful or environmentally dangerous.

After and during the installation of the equipment the detailed guides will be produced that will describe the usage of the laboratories including the safety, logistics and maintenance issues. The curriculum teaching and learning materials describing the lab activities are to be developed separately.

Institute of Education Sciences

WORK PACKAGE 3: STAFF TRAINING IN THE SALIS BENEFICIARY COUNTRIES.

Within the course of the project, the SALiS team will offer inservice training for staff members and teachers in the beneficiary countries. Staff will be trained in active learning methods providing overall competencies such as as critical thinking, puting questions and discussion, writing, reading as well as specific competencies related to scientific activity such as using lab tools and materials and conducting scientific experiment (development of hypothesis, predicting, inferring, observation of the actual experimental procedure, , data registration, data analysis) keeping safety. Training will cover principal themes in chemistry, physics and biology as well as questions related to the integrative science education such as using experiments in physics to explain several biological phenomena. Lab Guide comprising

instructions for the use of tools and materials and conduction of science experiment will be prepared and disseminated among training participants.

Besides, there will be organized visits of the partners from the beneficiary countries to Bremen, Limerick, Plovdiv and Berlin university labs for participation in training activities within the EU-countries.

Institute of Education Sciences

WORK PACKAGE 4: IMPLEMENTATION

Following the pilot phase of the project, after finalizing of SALiS curriculum, beneficiary universities will incorporate the SALiS curriculum into the official catalogue of offerings. The SALiS courses are going to be advertised to prospective science teachers. The EU partners also will implement the SALiS modules into their science teacher training and will offer inservice trainings at their institutions.

Institute of Education Sciences

WORK PACKAGE 5: DISSEMINATION AND SUSTAINABILITY

In order for the SALiS project to have a large scale impact on the education field in the beneficiary countries, the partner universities envisage close cooperation and coordination with the main stakeholders of the project. The means of the communication will be diversified in order to achieve the maximum outreach. The key long term communication instrument will be the SALiS website that will describe the key activities of the partners and will serve for the repositories for the best practices. For the raising awareness about the principles of SALiS communication plan includes distribution of the printed materials (brochures, leaflets, reports) describing the benefits of SALiS and capacities developed by the project to the main stakeholders and possible program recruits. The promotion of SALiS project will be supported by the final conference held shortly before closing of the project, hosting the participants and main stakeholders from every partner country. The conference will address the SALiS approach, findings of the project, best practices and future development of the services to be provided by the partners. For the purpose of sustainability, at all beneficiary institutions the extensive number of faculty both senior and junior level will be trained into the principles of SALiS. The careful documenting for the curricular needs, procedures, syllabi, curricular guides, laboratory guides and training programs will enable the effective knowledge management.

Institute of Education Sciences

WORK PACKAGE 6: EVALUATION AND QUALITY ASSURANCE

The quality assurance and evaluation of both the process and the outcomes of SALiS will involve a multiple tier approach. Every process (e.g. curriculum development, laboratory equipment list development, trainings etc.) will be assessed on local and

international level. On the local level, the local partners, universities of Israel, Moldova and Georgia will formally evaluate each others progress through the project. The internal quality assurance mechanisms for adopting the curriculum and syllabi will be provided. The pilot phase will be assessed using the previously developed instruments and using students as assistants in the process. On the international level - the progress of the SALiS will be guided and evaluated by the EU partners. The Tempus offices will be also provided with the regular progress reports. The SALiS website will describe the activities and the outcomes of the evaluations.

Institute of Education Sciences

WORK PACKAGE 7: PROJECT MANAGEMENT

The project will be headed by Ilia State University (ISU) Georgia. The institution has extensive record of international projects, including TEMPUS projects. The institution is the key provider of the teacher training programs in Georgia and is known for the innovative approaches to education and curriculum development. The ISU will coordinate the developmental, managerial, evaluation and

dissemination processes for SALiS. The coordination of the EU partners will be done with the help of Prof. Dr. Ingo Eilks from the University of Bremen. The University of Bremen will coordinate the visits of the beneficiaries to EU, development of the training programs by EU partners and other efforts by EU experts. Each SALiS beneficiary institution will have coordination teams comprised by the professors, lab assistants and financial/procurement staff. The coordination teams will regularly meet (at least once a month) to discuss the upcoming developments and tasks. The minutes of the coordination meetings are to be developed and presented to the top management of the universities.