Erasmus + project: Promoting students’ key competences for making evidence-based decisions on controversial socio-scientific issues (EVIDENCE)

The main aim of this project is to create a relevant model for implementing EVIDENCE methodology, together with respective teaching-learning materials, that will contribute to the development of students’ key competences, such as literacy, science, media, digital, and citizenship competence of both GE and VET schools, while addressing socially acute and sensitive science related issues within the context of medicine, healthcare, and the environment more generally.

The frequent incidence of pseudo-scientific information, conspiracy theories, and “alternative” facts in media is a new reality. Despite a modern raised level of education and standard of living, the number of people, adopting beliefs that are patently at odds with observable reality and scientific evidence, is a growing concern. Unfortunately, most (science) teachers lack skills to tackle socially acute science related issues susceptible to controversies and social escalation in the classroom, many of which raised by students in the context of health.

Project Objectives

1. To provide GE, VET and HE institutions with an innovative EVIDENCE methodology and respective learning materials for developing key competences through addressing socially acute and controversial science and health related issues.

2. To make science learning more motivating and personally meaningful for diverse groups of students, including those with lack of interest and low academic achievement.

3. To raise involved teachers’, teacher educators’ and students’ awareness about the nature of demagogy, conspiracy theories, and pseudo-science and the nature of science.

4. To raise project teachers’ and teacher educators’ self-efficacy in using EVIVENCE approach and innovative teaching-learning methods, in classroom.

5. To raise school level collaboration between different subject teachers in project schools and between the participating VET, HE, and GE institutions.

Products

6 modules will be designed as interactive on-line applications, but in many parts whenever possible, backed up as pdf/docx. files.

The structure of the modules will follow a three-stage design (Holbrook & Rannikmäe, 2010) which has been proved to elicit students’ intrinsic motivation (Vaino, et al., 2012).

The added value of the new project is that it tries to combine the already proven model with innovative and interactive learning methods, and will put bigger emphasis on developing KC-s (literacy, citizen, digital in addition to science competence) of students.

The teaching-learning materials will be available as open-access resources on the Fachwerk web platform, designed and coded specifically for creating interactive, user friendly, attractive e-learning objects.