The Faculty of Education participates in a European project that promotes debate and critical thinking among students

The European project Engage has set up a portal that provides teachers with free download educational resources.
The European project Engage has set up a portal that provides teachers with free download educational resources.
Research
(24/04/2015)

With the aim of promoting socio-scientific controversies among secondary education students, the European project Engage has set up a portal, particularly addressed to secondary education teachers, which profits hot scientific issues and news to arouse debate in class. The portal provides teachers with free download resources; new resources are published every two weeks. The Faculty of Education of the University of Barcelona (UB), the only Spanish partner, participates in the project with Mario Barajas Frutos, Engage coordinator in Spain, Professor Joaquim Jiménez and the adjunct lecturer Sílvia Alcaraz.

The European project Engage has set up a portal that provides teachers with free download educational resources.
The European project Engage has set up a portal that provides teachers with free download educational resources.
Research
24/04/2015

With the aim of promoting socio-scientific controversies among secondary education students, the European project Engage has set up a portal, particularly addressed to secondary education teachers, which profits hot scientific issues and news to arouse debate in class. The portal provides teachers with free download resources; new resources are published every two weeks. The Faculty of Education of the University of Barcelona (UB), the only Spanish partner, participates in the project with Mario Barajas Frutos, Engage coordinator in Spain, Professor Joaquim Jiménez and the adjunct lecturer Sílvia Alcaraz.

“In order to create these resources, first project partner percolate in a brainstorming session. Engage consortium includes fourteen institutions from thirteen countries”, affirms Alcaraz. There is only one requirement to create materials: they must come from a recent piece of news with scientific and technological implications, for instance the approval of an act that allows creating babies with the DNA of three people or plastic bag banning and the use of degradable plastic bags as a possible alternative to ordinary plastic bags. “Then —she adds—, partners defend each proposal providing supporting arguments about its connection to the curriculum connection, news relevance, etc. and they vote for the best proposal”.

The main objective of the project Engage is to equip the next generation to participate in scientific issues. Traditionally, students have understood that science is the knowledge generated by scientists, but they have to realize that science is built with the collaboration of other social agents. “Therefore, it is crucial to bring young student closer to ethical, economic and political factors that influence scientific decision making and encourage their participation. In order to achieve this aim, the project offers educational resources, an online learning community, training and the opportunity to develop projects together with scientific research institutions”, emphasizes Alcaraz.

Engage is part of the EU Science in society agenda to promote more Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI). It is a three-year project (2014-2016) designed to provide sustained professional development, through an online community built around the use of science-in-the-news OER curriculum materials, MOOCs for just-in-time learning, and a brokering system for creating school-scientist partnerships.