cisadmin

The Media, Cognition and Learning (MCL) research group organized a five-day summer club for primary and secondary school  students from 17-21 July 2017. The overarching goal of the summer club was to provide students the chance to interact with innovative learning technologies.  A total of 30 5th-8th graders participated in the summer club, and were involved in various fun and learning activities, some of which are described below.

Meeting with the Rector of the University: During the first day, the participating students were welcomed by the Rector of the Cyprus University of Technology, Professor Andreas Anayiotos. As part of their visit, the Rector explained to the students how the Cyprus University of Technology operates, and discussed how studying at the undergraduate, postgraduate or doctoral level of CUT works. During  the second part of their visit the students had the opportunity to ask several questions in relation to university studies or to duties and responsibilities of the Rector.

Learning with activity trackers: An activity tracker was provided to each participating student during a sequence of learning activities, to interact with and explore its capabilities. As part of these learning activities students also had the opportunity to perform several tasks using the activity trackers and engage with real-time data. Finally, students explored how can such technologies can help us learn more about the human body and proposed ideas about how they can be used in formal education.

Solving mysteries using Augmented Reality (AR) technologies: Students working in pairs used augmented reality  apps  to solve two problem-based cases for biology learning. During their investigation, students were asked  to collect and synthesize virtual and real data and provide an evidence-based explanation of the problems.

Exploring Augmented Reality (AR) apps: Students explored some of the endless possibilities of Augmented Reality in various thematic areas and interacted with AR apps about the planetary system, famous monuments of the world, space ships and 3D drawing figures. During these activities they had the opportunity to experience the affordances of the AR technologies as an emerging technological field.

Becoming radio producers: A unique opportunity was given to the participating students, since they had the opportunity to visit the CUT radio broadcasting university station (95,2 FM). During their visit, and with the help of a CUT radio producer, students produced various radio spots which were performed live from the studio to the CUT radio audience.

Designing digital projects: Students developed their own digital projects using the Scratch Jr application, a mobile application for enabling young children to easily learn programming and create various digital projects such as digital games or interactive stories and animations.

A closing party to thank all students for their participation, was organized during the last day of the summer school. The party included pizza, jokes, riddles and songs!

The 2nd round of the PARRISE Cyprus TPD program concluded with a national, public conference, entitled “Responsible Research and Innovation in inquiry-based science learning: The role of education for promoting students’ active citizenship”. The conference took place at the Cyprus University of Technology on May 6th, 2017, from 8:30-13:30. The aim of the conference was to give the opportunity to the different science education stakeholders in Cyprus to learn about the PARRISE project and its philosophy, focusing on the PARRISE Cyprus teacher network activities in 2016-2017, and participate in a public discussion about science education in Cyprus.

More than 100 stakeholders responded positively to our invitation and attended the 2nd national PARRISE conference at Cyprus. Participants included policy-makers, academics, school administrators, science education teachers, parents and students. The conference started with welcoming addresses from the Rector of the Cyprus University of Technology, Professor Andreas Anayiotos, and the Chair of the Department of Communication & Internet Studies, Associate Professor Nikos Tsapatsoulis.The local coordinator of the PARRISE Cyprus project, Associate Professor Eleni Kyza, gave an introductory speech presenting the PARRISE Cyprus project. During her presentation, Dr. Kyza highlighted the main actions which were realized during the PARRISE 2016-17 TPD courses, focusing on:

• Promoting Responsible Research & Innovation (RRI) through the Socio-Scientific Inquiry-Based Learning (SSIBL) approach
• Science teachers’ professional development for promoting teachers’ understanding of the SSIBL approach
• The design and implementation of innovative learning modules integrating the SSIBL approach for the promotion of students’ active citizenship and RRI attitudes.

A highlight of the program was the presentation of the SSIBL modules teachers had co-designed and implemented. In addition, students from primary and secondary education schools, who participated in the PARRISE implementations, shared their impressions for the PARRISE SSIBL modules.

During the event, seven posters, prepared by the participating students and teachers, were posted outside the auditorium allowing attendees to learn more about the classroom implementations and giving the opportunity to PARRISE teachers and students to present their work to everyone during the breaks.

The last part of the event consisted of a roundtable discussion, titled “The role of education in the context of Responsible Research and Innovation”. The roundtable discussants were the coordinators of the European programs “Ark of Inquiry”  [Associate Professor at the University of Cyprus, Zacharias Zacharias] and Engage  [Assistant Professor at the University of Nicosia, Maria Evagorou], and representatives from the Ministry of Education and Culture of Cyprus [Giorgos Yiallouridis, Inspector of Primary Education; Chrystalla Koukouma, Chemistry Education Inspector; Dr. AndreasHadjichambis, representative of the Biology Inspector]. The discussion was coordinated by Dr. Eleni A. Kyza. The event concluded with a public discussion allowing the audience to interact with the invited speakers by asking additional questions.