Fostering innovation in STEM education, Maite Debry

www.europeanschoolnet.org - www.eun.org

Parallel sessions III - 11. Role models and good examples

Scientix conference 2, Brussels, October 2014

Fostering innovation in STEM educationMaite Debry, European Schoolnet, Belgium


Disseminating Educational Science, Innovation and Research

in Europe

How does new knowledge on STEM education find its way to teachers? And How can we make this process more effective?

Knowledge


What do we understand by

dissemination?• Dissemination of results understood as the diffusion of

innovations are envisaged as “the process in which an innovation is communicated through certain channels over time among the members of a social system”, undergoing different phases, such as awareness, understanding, persuading, adopting (or rejecting), and re-inventing (Rogers, 1983 – On social sciences)

• We will refer to dissemination as the process by which, using certain strategies and channels, outcomes of a project are made available, comprehensible and usable to be adopted by potential users (Harmsworth et al., 2001 – On educational development projects)


Finding a solution:

• How do new knowledge from STEM education projects travel to teachers?

• Identify stakeholders suggestions to how to bridge teachers to STEM education projects?

Educational research fail to have an impact on policy-making and practice.(Hammersley, 2000)

Problem

Knowledge

I want to travel


What models of dissemination have been

described to bridge the academic-

practitioner gap?


MethodologyINSTRUMENTS OF DATA COLLECTION

Survey for project managersSurvey for teachersSurvey for policy-makers

Closed-ended (Multiple choice, matrix of choices, 5-points Likert scale)Open-ended questions

Pilot test of the surveys

CONTACTED SAMPLE: 46 FUNDED R+D STEM EDUCATION PROJECTS

20 projects funded within 7th FP18 projects funded within LLP6 projects funded by national institutions2 projects funded by other organisms

COLLECTED DATA

26 responses from project managers about 26 projects105 responses from teachers about 21 projects15 responses from policy-makers about 10 projects


MethodologyINSTRUMENTS OF DATA COLLECTION

Online & face-to-face discussion events

DATA ANALYSIS

Qualitative analysis intended:- To interpret connections among

dissemination strategies and outcomes to be disseminated or target audiences

- To identify possible differences among projects funded by different funding sources

- To identify target audiences’ needs regarding dissemination


Dissemination channels to reach different target

audience

Teachers

Policy-makers

Project managers Researchers


ResultsStakeholders’ perception of the amount of information reached

from STEM education projects


THE MAIN GOALS ARE TO:

- Provide information about

targets of STEM education

project

- Identify obstacles

- Give tools to create a multiplier

effect and eventually

mainstreaming results into

policies

- Highlight approaches which

can federate existing initiatives

and point to key European or

national services


Challenges and Recommendations

1. Teachers’ Time Constraints

Priorities new knowledge to gain

time and safe efforts.


Teachers as intermediaries, ambassadors,

multipliers or members of an steering

committee


2. Lack of involvement of the

target audience


Teacher training institutions

Reference centres

Databases (e.g. Scientix)

New teachers’ networks


3. Underuse of already

existing resources or networks

?


Where do you hide?

Social media and social networks are hot.

Conferences, seminars and workshops are one of the

best ways to gain new knowledge and understanding.


4. Reaching teachers


Support from groups involving teachers, researchers,

students’ families, school principals and administrators, and

other relevant actors


5. Lack of support in one’s

own context


ConclusionsWider involvement of teachers in an active role in testing and reaching out to other teachers with new knowledge and use of already existing institutions and networks to create a more sustained interactivity model.

Teachers making a difference for the improvement of STEM Education


THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR YOUR ATTENTION

For further information:

DESIRE

http://desire.eun.org

European Schoolnet, Project Manager - Maïté Debry:

[email protected]

http://desire.eun.org/

mailto:[email protected]

Fostering innovation in STEM education, Maite Debry

Education

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