GEOschools - Teaching Geosciences in secondary schools
GEOschools (2011-2013) aimed to provide advice, teaching aids, instruments and other support for teaching geoscience in secondary schools.
The GEOschools project brought together geoscientists from universities, teaching training institutions, schools, museums and geoparks.
The project supports innovative teaching of geosciences in secondary schools and raising awareness on geoheritage. The overall aims are:
- To bridge the gap between scientific knowledge and school knowledge in the field of geosciences
- To increase teachers' knowledge and students' interest in geosciences
- To improve the didactics of geosciences in European schools
- To promote education for sustainable development.
The specific objectives and expected results are:
- To conduct an interest research on geosciences concepts
- To conduct a comparative research on national geosciences curricula in the six participating countries (Austria, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Spain, UK)
- To develop a multi-lingual school geosciences dictionary
- To produce a common Framework on geosciences literacy principles
- To develop, test and evaluate teaching modules in geosciences
- To provide support to teachers and their students in the didactics of geosciences.
The project also supports school-science collaboration by bringing teachers and practising geoscientists together in a variety of activities in geoparks, geotopes and museums as well as in the classroom.
The activities, materials and the GEOschools approach are regularly disseminated to teachers through the GEOschools open conferences.
Basic information
GEOschools research goal is to determine why teaching and learning of geosciences is declining in some European countries and to develop the "Geosciences literacy framework" based on survey on teachers' and students' interest in geosciences.
The research on students' interests focused on analysis of the students' (aged 14-17) preferences towards selected geoscience topics. The topics were selected to reflect the geoscience content in school curricula. The research reached around 600 students in all the six participating countries.
The consortium also conducted comparative study on secondary school curricula in the six participating countries, using content analysis of school textbooks.
The project is dedicated to the secondary school, and teachers will find here the results of the research that has being developed, including reports and scientific publications but also helpful resources and links to use in their lessons and there will be news about events concerning these topics.
The GEOschools teaching modules are based on concepts developed in the Geosciences literacy framework. The teaching materials will be tested and validated in teacher training seminars organised in each of the participating countries.