The project rationale is deeply rooted in the long lasting effort of European policies in addressing the underachievements in basic skills as far as scientific issues are concerned. The "Council conclusions on increasing the level of basic skills in the context of European cooperation on schools for the 21st century" stated that "A good level of reading literacy and numeracy, together with a solid grasp of the basic principles of the natural world and of fundamental scientific concepts, provide the basis for the acquisition of key competences for lifelong learning". Within this context the project partners have been in many different initiatives to promote science literacy among secondary school students and on analysing the obstacles that are affecting the interest and performances of the students towards scientific knowledge: - often students approach to scientific issues is too passive, based on memorising rather than understanding - teaching methods are not up-to-date and lack in making use of innovative approaches as the full use of the potential of New Technologies, the implementation of students self centred learning initiatives, as peer-to-peer learning, learning by teaching, enquiry and problem based learning etc. The E-Learning From Nature project expects to achieve the following results: - Improve students low achievements in scientific subjects by improving their basic skills of scientific subjects through a practical approach based on the comparison with concrete issues. This approach, together with a strong reference to their local context, will allow them to acquire a basic knowledge in science, overcoming the perception of distance from everyday life which is often associated with scientific knowledge. - Motivate secondary schools students to learn science by providing them with teaching materials developed and made available by exploiting the communicative potential of new technologies. This approach, together with a strong reference to their local context, will allow them to acquire a basic knowledge in science, overcoming the perception of distance from everyday life which is often associated with scientific knowledge; - Consolidate students knowledge of science subjects enhancing a peer-to-peer (from student to student) teaching and learning approach, engaging students in the production of lessons which can be exploited by their “colleagues” in other countries through the support of new technologies. - Promotion of a learner-centred pedagogical approaches where each single student involved in the project - supported by their teachers and the project experts - will find his/her own way to acquire key basic competences in scientific subjects. - creation of a transnational network of secondary schools that will be directly involved in the project activities as associated partners. The schools will actively be involved in the research activity and the production of the deliverables to be compared at transnational level. In addition to the above mentioned results, the following outputs will be delivered: 1) ICT based collection of Research Action tools: Learning Science through Nature . The Research Action tools: Learning Science through Nature provides access to: - a collection of information sheets, direct sources (photos, videos, drawings etc. available in digital format) about the flora, the fauna, the natural elements and any other human intervention of scientific interest of a specific environmental area - and related small lessons aimed at identifying the connection between the above mentioned natural elements with school scientific curricular activities and the related basic skills to be acquired 2) Collection of students’ video lessons for the “peer to peer” learning process for science learning – The collection will make available video based lessons on different science related topics, phisycs, chemistry, biology and natural sciences produced by secondary school students and addressed to their fellows at European level. 3) Teachers’ guide “Innovation in the teaching of scientific subjects”. The Guide will take the form of an easy to use and operative set of practical suggestions for teachers on how to: - adopt new methods and tools based on collaborative and innovative practices to strengthen science education performances at secondary school level - address low achievement in science basic skills through the promotion of problem-based and real life learning scenarios - implement innovative approaches to science teaching and learning through an aware use of ICT with the objective to guide students in learning science through an interactive and proactive approach - promote of a learner centred pedagogical approach to science teaching and learning by using innovative learning by teaching experiences
Context The project rationale is deeply rooted in the long lasting effort of European policies in addressing the underachievement in basic skills as far as scientific issues are concerned. The "Council conclusions on increasing the level of basic skills in the context of European cooperation on schools for the 21st century" stated that "A good level of reading literacy and numeracy, together with a solid grasp of the basic principles of the natural world and of fundamental scientific concepts, provide the basis for the acquisition of key competences for lifelong learning". Objectives The European Commission through the Italian National Agency for the Erasmus+ Programme financed the E-learning from Nature project in the framework of the Erasmus+ Programme with the aim to: • Improve students low achievements in scientific subjects by improving their basic skills of scientific subjects through a practical approach based on the comparison with concrete issues. This approach, together with a strong reference to their local context, will allow them to acquire a basic knowledge in science, overcoming the perception of distance from everyday life which is often associated with scientific knowledge. • Motivate secondary schools students to learn science by providing them with teaching materials developed and made available by exploiting the communicative potential of new technologies. This approach, together with a strong reference to their local context, will allow them to acquire a basic knowledge in science, overcoming the perception of distance from everyday life which is often associated with scientific knowledge; • Promotion of a learner-centred pedagogical approach where student involved in the project - supported by the teachers - find their own way to acquire key basic competences in scientific subjects. • Creation of a transnational network of secondary schools directly involved in the project activities as associated partners. Participating organisations The E-learning from Nature project involved: • 8 contractual partners including training agencies, schools, universities and associations • 39 schools • 147 teachers (109 science teachers and 38 English teachers) • 1 100 students • 40 associated partners including associations, education centers, business associations, public authorities, universities Activities and Results The following results have been achieved through the related activities: ICT based collection of Research Action tools: Learning Science through Nature The Research Action tools: Learning Science through Nature provides access to: - Geographical Areas: a collection of information sheets, direct sources (photos, videos, drawings etc. available in digital format) about the flora, the fauna, the natural elements and any other human intervention of scientific interest of a specific environmental area; the result is available at https://enature.pixel-online.org/learning_science_GA.php - E-lessons: small video lessons aimed at identifying the connection between the above mentioned natural elements with school scientific curricular activities and the related basic skills to be acquired; the result is available at https://enature.pixel-online.org/learning_science_EL.php Teachers’ guide “Innovation in the teaching of scientific subjects” The guide for science teachers focuses on the subject of innovative methods to enhance students’ motivation towards the study of scientific subjects and improve their basic skills in science. The guide is organized in 4 chapters: • Teaching scientific subjects through problem based and real life case scenarios. (https://enature.pixel-online.org/teach_guide01.php) • Enhance students’ scientific basic skills through their active involvement in the learning process (https://enature.pixel-online.org/teach_guide02.php) • Effective use of new technologies to promote the scientific knowledge (https://enature.pixel-online.org/teach_guide03.php) • Transnational cooperation to promote scientific knowledge in school education (https://enature.pixel-online.org/teach_guide04.php) Impact As far as the impact of the project is concerned: - Teachers had with the opportunity to be part of a transnational network of colleagues interested in addressing the issue of students’ underachievement in science subject - Teachers also were involved in a learner-centred pedagogical approach giving them the possibility to contribute to the creation of the project intellectual output - Teachers have at their disposal 2 ICT based learning tools (The database of geographical areas and the database of related e-video lessons) and a guideline to enrich their competences related to innovative teaching methodological approach - Students experienced a motivating and effective experience that put them at the centre of the teaching method. Their curiosity for science was stimulated making them autonomous, motivated learners.