mihai bizoi: "three fp7 projects at university of valahia: profiles, irresistible, engage"

THREE FP7 PROJECTS AT VALAHIA UNIVERSITY: PROFILES, IRRESISTIBLE, ENGAGE

Mihai Bizoi, PhD Valahia University of Targoviste, Romania

Where are we from?

Location: ü Targoviste ü Residence of Dambovita

County ü Situated at 80 km North-

West of Bucharest ü The ancient capital of

Valahia Principality

TARGOVISTE – THE CULTURAL CAPITAL OF WALLAHIA

§  Ta r g o v i s t e h a s a special place in the history of Romanians:

§  t h e p r i n c e l y residence,

§  the capital of Wallachia §  the main economical,

polit ical, military , cultural and religious centre of the area

§  for three hundred years (between 15th and 17th centuries).

VALAHIA UNIVERSITY OF TARGOVISTE

" Quality " Modernity " Youth

VALAHIA UNIVERSITY OF TARGOVISTE - STRUCTURE

" In the beginning the Valahia University was formed of two faculties and a university college with a number of 14 specializations and about 700 students;

" Nowadays the structure is composed by:

" 9 faculties organized in conformity with Bologna system: about 7200 students (face-to-face studies, distance learning, lifelong learning programmes).

VALAHIA UNIVERSITY OF TARGOVISTE - FIGURES

" Faculties

" Departments

Faculty of Economics

Faculty of Humanities

Faculty of Law and Socio-Political

Sciences

Faculty of Sciences and Arts

Faculty of Orthodox Theology and Educational

Sciences

Faculty of Electrical Engineering,

Electronics and Information Science

Faculty of Environmental

Engineering and Food Science

Faculty of Materials Engineering and

Mechanics

Faculty of Political Sciences, Letters

and Communication

Distance and Lifelong Learning

Department

Teacher Training Department

University Doctoral Studies

School

Foreign Languages

Studies Department


" 32 license degree programs (3 - 4 years) " 33 master degree programs (3 - 4 semesters) " 6 directions for doctoral studies " 33 post-university study programs of specialization

VALAHIA UNIVERSITY OF TARGOVISTE - FIGURES " 303 full time academic staff

(professors, associate professors, lecturers, assistants, researchers);

" 82 partial time academic staff (professors, associate professors, lecturers, assistants, researchers);

Professor, 43

Associate professor, 67

Lecturer, 142

Assistant, 47

Preparator, 4

Professor, 40

Associate professor, 6

Lecturer, 24

Assistant, 12

Preparator, 0

VALAHIA UNIVERSITY OF TARGOVISTE - FIGURES " 7200 students involved in face-to-face studies, distance learning,

lifelong learning programmes in all forms of studies.

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

5394

1368 382

Students Distribu5on in 2012/2013

Doctorate

Master

Bachelor


Scientific and Technological Multidisciplinary Institute with the following 14 research centers:

•  Research Center "Applied Sciences and Technologies" •  Research Center for electrical engineering, electronics and information

technology •  Research Center „Department energy-environment” •  Centre for research and studies in accounting and finance •  Center for research and studies in Management and Marketing •  The research of the history of international relations and cultural studies

"Grigore Gafencu" •  Research Center "Academic School of material science" •  Research Center "Nanomaterials for micro-Mechanical" •  Research and expertise centre of the natural resources and environment •  Biotechnology and applied engineering sciences •  Center for the study of the environment, habitat, activities and free time driving •  Interdisciplinary research centre-Science-Faith Mission "of St. Paul" •  Centre for research in social sciences •  Interdisciplinary Centre for scientific research "Dumitru Staniloae"

VALAHIA UNIVERSITY OF TARGOVISTE INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS " Contracts of collaboration with 57 universities (France, Italy,

Greece, Spain, Portugal, United Kinghdom, Canada, Belgium, Germany, Finland, Denmark, Ucrain, United States, Israel, Croatia, Algeria, Kazahstan, Bosnia-Hertegovina, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Republic of Moldavia) and research institutes (JINR Dubna, CNAM Paris);

Previous collaboration with University of Tallinn

" International projects: " TRANSVERSAL LLP-KA3 511733–LLP–1-2010-1–FI-KA3–KA3MP (2010-2013) -

“CoCreat: Enabl ing Creative Col laborat ion through Support ive Technologies” (http://www.cocreat.eu/ => http://cocreat.wordpress.com/)

Other European Projects (closed) •  SUSTAIN - Sustaining Development in Early School Education

(LLP COMENIUS CME, 518321-LLP-1-2011-1-TR-COMENIUS-CMP), 2011-2013;

•  NTSE - Nano-Tech Science Education (LLP KEY ACTIVITY 3 PROGRAMME: INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES (ICT), 511787-LLP-1-2010-1-TR-KA3-KA3MP), 2010-2013;

•  BSI - Broad Sweeps of Imagination: A New Method to Teach a Foreign Language (COMENIUS CMP 134405 - LLP - 1 - 2007 - 1 – TR), 2007-2009;

•  VccSSe - Virtual Community Collaborating Space for Science Education (COMENIUS 2.1. 128989 - 2006 – RO), 2006 – 2009;

•  FISTE – A Future Way For In-Service Teacher Training Across Europe (108766 - 2004 – RO – COMENIUS - 2.1.), 2004-2008.

PROFILES •  Professional Reflection Oriented Focus on Inquiry-based

Learning and Education through Science - PROFILES (SEVENTH FRAMEWORK PROGRAMME 5.2.2.1 - SiS-2010-2.2.1 Grant agreement no.: 266589), 2010-2014.

•  Project coordinator: Claus Bolte (Division of Chemistry Education of Freie Universität Berlin)

•  Local coordinator in Romania: Gabriel Gorghiu (Valahia University)

•  The objective of the project is to promote Inquiry-Based Science Education (IBSE) through “raising the self-efficacy of science teachers to take ownership of more effective ways of teaching students, supported by stakeholders” (PROFILES Consortium, 2010).

Partnership

The partnership involved in the project is formed by 22 institutions from 20 countries.

Aims •  The PROFILES project aims, through needs-driven,

professional development for teachers and teacher self-reflection to promote enhanced scientific literacy of students.

•  PROFILES promotes the use of an “education through science” approach (with an IBSE – inquiry-based science education focus), while stressing the need to strengthen student motivation and the teacher being a member of a professional community of practice. PROFILES sets out to achieve this aim through an innovative approach to a professional development provision for science teachers which identifies the teacher as a learner, a reflective practitioner, a disseminator of good practice as well as professional in facilitating relevant and meaningful student learning.

Specific objectives Specific objectives of the PROFILES project are: •  establish a well managed, collaborative and well monitored

consortium, which is able to introduce PROFILES ideas into a multitude of individual educational systems and cultures.

•  ensure improved students’ science learning by offering innovative learning opportunities for pre- and in-service teachers and teacher educators as well as for students within the school, teacher education institutions and non-formal education centres.

•  take into account stakeholder’s views in seeking effective ways to raise teacher ownership (and hence self-efficacy) of innovative science teaching approaches and practices, particularly related to inquiry-based approaches and student centred teaching.

•  develop methods for dissemination of project ideas and successes on a wide scale within Europe (and beyond) and promote networking to raise teacher awareness Europe-wide.

Workpackages • Description of Work of the PROFILES project includes 8

Work Packages: Work Package Short title Coverage

1 Management and evaluation

Project management and evaluation.

2 Partner Support Professional support and guidance for partners in meeting and interpreting project goals and actions.

3 Stakeholders Bridging a potential gap between science education researchers, teachers, and local actors (various

levels of stakeholders) through networking and co-operation.

4 Learning Environment

Support

Preparing needs-related teacher training programme materials plus identification of

appropriate IBSE-related teaching modules which can be modified and enhanced for use in

developing the self-efficacy of teachers in meeting the PROFILES aim.


Work Packages: Work

Package Short title Coverage

5 Teacher professional development

Planning and Implementation of the (longitudinal) teacher training programme and inter-related

classroom interventions through which teachers try out new ideas and approaches leading to teacher self efficacy in PROFILES intentions.

6 Teacher Ownership Building on WP5 and, through self-reflection, reflective case studies (e.g. action research) and evaluation, raise the effectiveness and impact of

the (longitudinal) teacher training programme with a special goal of teacher ownership of PROFILES

practices.


Work Packages:

Work Package

Short title Coverage

7 Student Gains Evaluating the effectiveness and impact of the teacher professional development programme/intervention and

the development of teacher ownership on the PROFILES aim by focussing on student outcomes, both

cognitive and affective. 8 Dissemination

and Networking Dissemination of PROFILES outcomes on a national,

international and worldwide level and the establishment of PROFILES teachers’ networks which are interrelated to other teachers’ networks operating on a local, regional

national or Europe-wide scale.

Information • PROFILES Webpage: http://www.profiles-project.eu/ • PROFILES Dissemination: http://www.profiles-project.eu/Dissemination/index.html

•  In Romania – PROFILES National Webpage: http://profiles.ssai.valahia.ro/ • PROFILES Romanian Newsletters: http://profiles.ssai.valahia.ro/pg/expages/read/Diseminare/ • PROFILES Romanian Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/profilesprojectro

IRRESISTIBLE •  IRRESISTIBLE - Including Responsible Research and

innovation in cutting Edge Science and Inquiry-based Science education to improve Teacher's Ability of Bridging Learning Environments, FP7-SCIENCE-IN-SOCIETY-2013-1, SiS.2013.2.2.1-1, no. 612367, 2013-2016.

•  Project coordinator: Jan Apotheker (University of Groningen); •  Local coordinator (Romania): Gabriel Gorghiu (Valahia

University) •  IRRESISTIBLE is a project on teacher training, combining

formal and informal learning focused on Responsible Research and Innovation.

•  The project bringing Responsible Research and Innovation into the classroom.

IRRESISTIBLE Partners (14/10) Netherlands University of Groningen (coordination) Finland University of Helsinki

University of Jyväskylä Germany IPN

Deutsches Museum Greece University of Crete

Eugenides Foundation Israel Weizmann Institute of Science Italy University of Bologna

University of Palermo Poland Jagiellonian University Portugal Universidade de Lisboa Romania Valahia University Targoviste Turkey Bogazici University

IRRESISTIBLE Topics • Healthy ageing (Netherlands) • Genomics and oceanography (Portugal) • Oceanography and climate change (Germany) • Climate change (Finland) • Renewable energy sustainability (Israel) • Solar energy and specific nanomaterial (Romania) • Nanoscience (Turkey) • Nanoscience applications (Greece) • Nanotechnology (Italy) • Nanotechnology (catalysis) (Poland)

RRI: six key issues • Engagement: joint participation of researchers, industry

and civil society in the research and innovation process • Gender equality: unlocking the full potential of society • Science education: creative education to foster the

future needs of society • Ethics: Including societal relevance and acceptability of

research and innovation outcomes • Open access: free, online access to the results of publicly

funded research • Governance: the responsibility of policy makers to

develop harmonious models for RRI

Project course •  In each of the ten countries a Community of Learners

(CoL) will be formed to develop a thematic module. •  These groups comprise of school teachers, education

experts from universities, exhibition experts from museums / science centers and researchers from the thematic field.

•  The material developed will be used by the CoLs teachers with their students.

• Additionally the students will visit relevant university labs and translate results from their programme into an exhibit, that sheds light on the relationship between research and society.

Project course

Project course • After phase I of the project there will be ten modules on

various RRI-topics that have been tested in five to ten classes each.

•  In phase II, the teachers from the first phase will each train five colleagues.

•  The teaching modules will also be available online in different languages.

•  The best exhibits from the project will be presented to the European public during a special session at an international conference.

• Ultimately, this project will teach almost ten thousand students to consider the social impact of scientific research.

Information • Project webpage: www.irresistible-project.eu •  Local webpage (Romania):

http://irresistible.ssai.valahia.ro •  Facebook page Romania:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Irresistible-Project-Romania

ENGAGE • ENGAGE - Equipping the Next Generation for Active

Engagement in Science, FP7-SCIENCE-IN-SOCIETY-2013-1, SiS.2013.2.2.1-1, no. 612269, 2014-2017;

• Project coordinator: Tony Sherborne (Sheffield Hallam University)

•  Local coordinator (Romania): Laura Monica Gorghiu (Valahia University)

• Web site: http://www.engagingscience.eu

Engage Partners (14 / 12) Country Participant Organisation Name UK Centre for Science Education – Sheffield Hallam University (Coordinator)

UK Knowledge Media Institute – The Open University

Greece Institute of Applied and Computational Mathematics, Foundation for Research and Technology

Germany Innovation in Learning Institute

Italy eXact learning Solutions

France Traces

Romania Valahia University Targoviste

Israel Weizmann Institute

Spain Universitat de Barcelona

Norway Vestfold University College

Netherlands Biotechnology & society department, Delft University of Technology

Switzerland School of High Pedagogy of Freiburg

Lithuania Lithuanian University of Educational Sciences

Cyprus Department of Science Education, University of Nicosia

Aims • To help teachers address contemporary science issues

and applications relevant to students; • To develop teachers’ beliefs, knowledge and classroom

practice for ‘RRI’; • To provide students a strong foundation to engage in

science issues they will meet during their lives. Online Teacher's community built around: • Science-in-the-news and Open curriculum materials; • Massive Open Online Courses for just-in-time learning; • Brokering system for creating school-scientist

partnerships.

The Engage “RRI curriculum”

Evidence

Technology

Argumentation

Values

Sources (media)

Reliability & Validity

Probability & risk

Cost-benefit analysis

Ethical perspectives

Scope Soc/Econ/Env

Effective communication

Argument Structure

Teachers in Engage •  Three-stage path which will propel teachers in their own inquiry

to become expert with RRI: 1.  Adopt, combines exciting learning materials, online

community and online courses and workshops for

coaching and feedback.

2.  Adapt, offers expert’s toolkit of examples, explanations,

anecdotes and activities to help students learn effectively.

3.  Transform, provides open-ended Projects put teachers

and students into partnership with practising scientists, to

learn about RRI directly.

Thank you for your attention!