CoReflect: Digital support for Inquiry, Collaboration and Reflection on Socio-Scientific Debates

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CoReflect seeks to design interactive web-based science education resources, developed in collaboration with an international team of researchers and teachers, to introduce evidence-based learning using socio-scientific debates.

CoReflect is a three year research program (2008-2011), funded by the European Commission under the FP7 Science in Society program. The project brings together eight diverse and multi-disciplinary teams (Local Working Groups) involving university researchers, practising teachers, educational authorities and scientists from six European countries and one associated state.

Project members seek to promote evidence-based practice in science teaching and learning, by collaborating in the development, implementation, study and validation of seven project- and problem-based innovative inquiry digital learning environments on the web.

Each learning environment addresses a specific socio-scientific issue and seeks to support the development of students’ understanding of scientific practices (How Science Works), while motivating them to engage in learning about science in a meaningful way:

The learning environments hosted on the STOCHASMOS web-based teaching and learning platform combine data-rich scientific rigor with the flexibility and easy modifiability that is needed for widespread adoption and use.

A driving question guides students’ inquiry of the socio-scientific problem under investigation. Suggested activity sequences and teacher guides are developed by the Local Working Groups to accompany each web-based learning environment. The topics covered in the learning environments are:

  • Biotechnology-GMOs (Biology)
  • Global warming (Environmental Science)
  • Nicotine addiction (Biology)
  • Sustainability (Environmental Science)
  • Extraterrestrial life (Science, Astronomy)
  • Water pollution (Chemistry, Biology)
  • Fog control (Natural Sciences)


For full information. please visit http://www.coreflect.org/nqcontent.cfm?a_id=3899&tt=coreflect&lang=en

Each learning environment has been piloted in local classrooms by teachers and researchers. Following design-based research, data was collected during each pilot, based on which the Local Working Groups made revisions and re-enacted the learning environment. 

The main goal of CoReflect is to create Europe-wide empirical and research-validated learning environments that can support students’ development in scientific literacy.

Furthermore, the Local Working Groups work together to carry out each other’s learning environments in a different national and cultural context, with the goal of studying the transfer of best practices and the adaptation processes at play. Finally, each Local Working Group is also exploring its own research questions.

 

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