Searching fo science

by Design For Change Spain added on 23 Nov 2020

Brief description:
Society is experiencing rapid changes and facing new challenges. For science to address these issues, it is necessary to develop effective science education programmes. The way in which a society's science education is measured is through tests conducted by the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA). In the latest PISA reports, a negative attitude towards science learning can be observed. For that reason, one of the main objectives of Design for Change Spain is the development of positive attitudes towards science and technology through its methodology. In this study the attitudes of Spanish students and their environments’ towards science and technology have been measured. A workshop to improve these attitudes by using the Design for Change methodology has been developed and adapted to an online training caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, the science capital of students has been measured. The preliminary results show a medium-to-high science capital among the students that participated in the workshop. It also shows that the attitudes toward science and science learning change with age. Finally, interviews were conducted to educators and designers to evaluate their perceptions of the workshop.
Photos:
Countries:
(where the practice takes place)
Spain
Cities:
(where the practice takes place)
Madrid
Organization name:
(running the practice)
Design For Change Spain
Organization type:
Nonprofit
Contact person:
Miguel Luengo Pierrard
Contact email:
(for further information and inquiries)
spain@dfcworld.com
Social media:
Related resources:
(e.g., web site, publications,media)
Participants’ age groups:
14 - 15
Indicative number of participants:
23 - 89
Oriented to a specific gender?
No
Frequency:
(for the same group of participants)
Other: Two sessions of the workshop in two days
Total duration:
(for the same group of participants)
1 - 6 hours
Location:
(where the practice takes place)
  • Online
What are the role(s) of the adult(s) running the practice?
  • Teacher
  • Facilitator
  • Observer
During the practice, participants…
  • Make
Participants work…
  • All together / there is no particular grouping
  • What type of materials do participants use?
    • Computers
    Pedagogical approach:
    • Project (or task)-based learning
    • Design-based learning
    • Creative thinking
    Social justice/equity approaches:
    • Activities are designed to empower participants and meet their needs
    Does the practice have (explicit or implicit) learning objectives?
    Explicit: 1. deepen into the understanding of the attitudes of children and youngsters towards science and science learning. 2. analyse the “ Searching for Science" (En busca de la ciencia) workshop, reinforce its strengths, and try to improve its weaknesses from the point of view of educators and designers. 3. prototype an online workshop due to the current situation derived from the COVID-19 pandemic
    Is the practice (explicitly or implicitly) connected to school curricula?
    Yes, implicitly
    If connected in any way to school curricula, which subjects are covered?
    • Mathematics
    • Physics
    Does the practice aim to have an impact on the engagement / interest of participants with a particular scientific topic, concept, phenomena, theory or career?
    No
    Does the practice aim to have an impact on the attitude of participants with a particular scientific topic, concept, phenomena, theory, or career?
    No
    Does the practice aim to have an impact on the behavior of participants related to a particular scientific topic, concept, phenomena, theory, or career?
    No
    Does the practice aim to have an impact on the development / reinforcement / practice of skills of participants?
    Yes: critical thinking, leadership, creativity, empathy
    Additional notes: