Good practices

Selected for piloting
Gigantic Seaweed Along the Coast of Cyprus
Working Group:Early Inquiry, Low Achievers in ScienceCountry:CyprusLanguages:English, GreekAge of students (target group/s):13-14Contact person information:Cyprus Center for Environmental Research and Education
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Stage 1: Scenario
"The past few months, seaweed has been observed in large amounts at a famous beach in Ayia Napa. In this particular region, the sea is starting to become green. The seaweed has multiplied so much that it now appears "gigantic". The seaweed appears sporadically in various areas from Dekelia to Protaras.
It seems that something has disturbed the previous balance of the ecosystem in such a way that the population of seaweed now develops at an alarming rate, a situation that has that worries the municipality in regards to the current condition of the sea. Their main concern is that the rapid development of seaweed can affect the survival of other organisms in the environment as well as the growth of tourism. The problem must be addressed as soon as possible in order to find viable solutions before it is too late.”
Stage 2 & 3: Inquiring & Decision-making
Students are asked to help the municipal authorities to address the "gigantic seaweed" problem by examining the questions below:
• What is this giant seaweed that made its appearance on the beach?
• What causes the rapid explosion of seaweed population?
• Which changes took place that has affected the balance of the ecosystem?
• Is this change a result of natural factors or/and human intervention?
• Which phenomenon is responsible for this particular issue?
• Which material relates more to this particular situation?Strong points and opportunities:• Activates the motives of students
• Raises the interest and participation of low-achieving students
• Relates to the everyday life of students and a common problem in Cyprus coasts
• Relates to current events – It is an authentic issued derived from Cyprus’ newspapers
• Raises the self-confidence of studentsLimitations:Structured inquiry
The structured inquiry is considered that it has a level of weakness because it limits the degree of self-acting and ownership of students and teachers. However structured inquiry is considered the optimum educational approach if the teachers and students are not fully prepared to implement an open inquiry.Added value with regards to the 3 topics of the MASS project:Short duration inquiry based learning
Incorporation of ICT by videos and animations
Raises the interest of low achievers with rich audio-visual learning material




Teaching materials

MASS project intends to identify, analyze, evaluate and disseminate practical tools and methods in teaching science which will effectively lead to arise students' motivation and acquire higher level of basic skills in science. We will explore what happens in science lessons at schools and increase the knowledge of good practice in teaching science in three research areas: Science for Digital Learners, Early Inquiry and Low achievers in Science (See more: Main topics).

 

Main project activities include:

1. Identification of the national examples of good practices
The initial phase of the project is to analyze the strengths, weaknesses and potential in the particular area of science education method in each partner country. It will include identification of good practices on raising students motivation for science on the national level. Examples identified will be collected in the online database.

See more: Good practices repository

 

2. Development of pilot teaching materials and testing phase
Findings from the research phase of the project will form the ground for development of the pilot version of educational materials in each Working Group.

Piloting stage of the project, with the involvement of target group, will raise the quality and exploitability of the products.

 

3. Development of the final version of teaching materials
Final version of educational products will be developed after summing up the piloting phase. They will be available in each partner language. The final project results will bring a change at the classroom level. Teachers will be aware of the key factor for motivation of their students to learn science. They will use a wide range of methods effectively and appropriately to the learning needs and preferences of their students. More teachers will be confident and successful in use such of methods. They will make teaching science more relevant and accessible to students.

Final products will be widely presented and disseminated during the Open Conference III in the middle of 2016.

Pilot materials

To help teachers to become empowered, skillful and self-confident, we work on:

for Digital Learners, Early Inquiry and Low Achievers in Science.

 

If you want to help us to improve these materials by taking part in piloting, please contact leader of each Working Group:

   Leonie de Vries (Digital Learners), e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

   Lenka Pachmanova (Early Inquiry), e mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

   Daiga Kalnina (Low Achievers), e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

 

or the MASS project partner in your country:

   Czech Republic, TEREZA Educational Center 

   Lenka Pachmanova e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

   Cyprus, Cyprus Center for Environmental Research and Education (CY.C.E.R.E.)

   Chrisis Kleovoulou, e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

   Estonia, Estonian Physical Society

   Kaido Reivelt, e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

   Germany, University of Cologne Geographical Institute

   Astrid Hensel, e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

   Greece, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens

   Thalia Mavrakou, e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

   Latvia, Children's Environmental School

   Inese Liepina, e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

   Netherlands, SME Advies

   Bregje van den Brand, e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

   Poland, UNEP/GRID-Warsaw Centre

   Elżbieta Wołoszyńska-Wiśniewska, e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Subcategories

Pilot version

Final version