Scientists Meet Teachers: A Participatory Design Workshop
15. Dec. 2011
Recently ZSI organised a participatory workshop, where five teachers from across Europe met a group of scientists who want to open their labs for schools and offer students new and exciting ways to experience science.
It is the vision of the GLOBAL excursion project that students and teachers can explore science in innovative, virtual excursions to science labs where they interact with scientific infrastructure, material and data as well as the scientists themselves. But “real” science activities and science teaching in school are like two different worlds, and if those should be successfully bridged it needs a better understanding and common grounds to build the collaborative activities on. To make these virtual excursions an exciting and realistic learning experience the scientists need a better knowledge on educational practice in schools, and teachers need a better comprehension about available science content and options for interaction.
Thus, the first encounter of scientists and teachers was a great learning experience for all, where pedagogical requirements, technological boundaries and motivational barriers were elaborated in a very interactive way. At the end of the second day, the meeting room was full with posters, flip charts and post-its – representing the common knowledge elaborated during the two days. The participants were exhausted, but all very content with the results and the process of approximation.
The successfully established contact between scientists and teachers will continue during the next two years and will hopefully result in exciting and innovative science teaching.
