The UB helps high school students with their research projects
For years, the University of Barcelona has several support programs aimed at high school students who want advice to work on their research project. There are many and varied options, but the aim is always to get tutors and high school students who prepare their research project in contact with researchers and research groups of the UB, in order to ease the improvement of the projects and the link of the students with the university world.
For years, the University of Barcelona has several support programs aimed at high school students who want advice to work on their research project. There are many and varied options, but the aim is always to get tutors and high school students who prepare their research project in contact with researchers and research groups of the UB, in order to ease the improvement of the projects and the link of the students with the university world.
The Institute of Education Sciences (ICE) has a project called Foment de la Recerca en Centres de Secundària (Promotion of research in high schools, FORCES), but there are also faculties that have had their own support program for years, such as the faculties of Mathematics, Earth Sciences and Philosophy. Moreover, the UB Solidarity Foundation launches a support program for research aimed at global citizenship education. Last, lecturers from there faculties that teach Work Techniques and Communication at the Faculty of Law have created the practical guideline “20 advices to create a good research project in upper secondary school”.
FORCES Program
The program FORCES, recently launched by ICE, aims to create bridges between the UB research projects and the projects carried out in secondary education schools. Therefore, a website has been created as a tool for communication and management so that high school centers can find support.
In this first edition, a total of 47 research projects were proposed, divided into different fields: Humanities (30), Social Sciences (12), Sciences (3), Life Sciences (1) and Medical Sciences (2). It has gathered twenty students of upper secondary education.
Lluís Casas, head of the program, says that “the students have just started their work, which will be developed during the academic year and next year, but for now our views are positive, regarding both the high school teachers and the UB researchers who take part in the project. Also, regarding the second edition, we want to increase the number of participating faculties and groups”.
The Faculty of Mathematics has offered support for twelve years
For the twelfth year running, the Faculty of Mathematics is offering support to tutors and students who are interested in carrying out their research projects on mathematics. Each year, they create a list with proposals so that those who wish so, can contact the center. Apart from providing the students with different contacts of researchers, they offer the option of having university students as advisors in these research projects.
Apart from the support in projects on mathematics, the Faculty offers support in computer sciences. The idea is that the students who are in their last years of the bachelor in Computer Sciences help high school students who want to do a research project on some topic related to computers, robotics or information technologies, planning and designing the most technical tasks of the project and getting them in touch with expertized lecturers.
Advice in projects related to other disciplines
The Faculty of Philosophy provides high school students with a group of lecturers who can solve doubts, questions or problems that come up during the process of the research project. Therefore, they are offered help in creating the bibliography, methodological advice and collaboration in the practical part of the study.
The Faculty of Earth Sciences is offering their specific program that includes the advice by a lecturer of the Faculty in the creation of the project (related to the fields of geology, geological engineering and marine sciences), and the possibility of using the facilities of the Faculty (library, map collection, rock collection, laboratories and others) to work on their projects. The program offers a list of topics, but the Faculty also gives support to other projects proposed by the students.
Promoting global citizenship education in the research project
Within the framework of PAULA program, education for peace, jointly carried out by ICE and UB Solidarity Foundation, the project Research for Global Citizenship is set, and it offers support to work on research projects that contribute to one of the aims of upper secondary education: global citizenship education.
This project counts with the collaboration of the Barcelona City Council and it includes an educational support network for research, in which entities and the city services, students and lecturers from the University of Barcelona and high schools provide high school students with access to numerous local resources that enable them to study global challenges for human rights.