The motivations behind this project are multiple: First, we wish to reconcile the broken relationship of our two, currently distinct modes of understanding our world: one is the scientific mode, which is deprived of our everyday experience, the other one is our naive, mundane way of experiencing ourselves and the world — with an emphasis on our social surroundings. These two modes can be deeply connected, in fact, we propose they should be connected. Healing this discrepancy leads to the demystification of sciences and the scientific method on the one hand, and on the other hand to the candid skill to better access our inner happenings by being able to find analogies and to compare those emotional processes with how the outside world is structured around us. We wish to celebrate our scientific and technological advances, as all the scientific findings and technological innovations of the centuries provide us with more and more surfaces to reflect upon in ourselves. In turn, establishing a reflective connection with ourselves can foster curiosity and motivation to understand scientific concepts, theories, and models. Second, by this new approach mentioned in the previous paragraph, we also have the unhidden wish to make a step towards easing the teacher shortage that Europe has been facing for several years. High-school teachers of different disciplines are often asked to replace each other (if one is not permanently teaching a subject that has never occurred in their mind they would) and many times this results in the complete disinterest of the students in the given subject due to lack of motivating and professional source (the phenomenon is particularly pronounced in the sciences). As an outcome of this project we offer materials, tools and training for educators that focus on this very interoperability of disciplines, enabling teachers to think beyond school subjects, thus strengthening connections between the classes a school kid shall have. In addition, the material to be developed would also provide the possibility to detach from the current very subject-based perspectives if a system or institution wishes.
This project aims to build a connection between the teaching of science and related school subjects and the fostering of our social competences. We propose that there is a mutually fruitful analogy between social competences and topics in science. By dealing with them together, they can nurture one another: on the one hand, scientific topics can act as metaphors that help us discover our personal world. On the other hand, focusing on our soft skills and social competences can establish a reflective connection with ourselves that in turn can aid curiosity and motivation to understand scientific concepts, theories, and models. We offer to develop an innovative approach which incorporates these two aspects. Not only does it help students find motivation to understand science while they discover their own competences in the process, but it also contributes to new, creative ways to teach science. This curriculum provides a channel through which the development of social competences can be included in already existing curricula of various school systems without having to make substantial sacrifices on the curriculum currently in use and, more importantly, without the need for new staff members to teach social competences as a separate subject. In fact, using our curriculum has the benefit to function as a burnout prevention tool for science and other teachers — precisely along the same lines of what we believe is helpful for the students too. The inner creativity and self-reflectivity this curriculum promotes; the shift in focus from an overly intellectualised and alienated way of teaching science to a method where emotions, soft skills and social competencies are involved in both the teaching and the learning process facilitates the growth of both the students and teachers as persons. In natural science it’s already trained how to enter in the world of science through the first steps of observation up to highly sophisticated experiments. All get its place carefully ordered according to the life stage of kids: the methodology works through observation, research, classification, experiments, analysis and conclusions of phenomena. Learning these techniques, children become able to use them in their employee skills. They learn a set of steps one built on the other that help them consciously focus on one specific given phenomenon in any field of their life. They learn to make analysis and draw conclusions, to see how an intervention into a process can change the course of the process itself. All this happens in a natural way, through perceptible models that are understandable and safe at the same time. A teacher – with the help of our training and materials becomes able to connect a physical chemical or biological phenomenon well known for himself to a phenomenon coming from the world of social life. Thus one gets a chance to convey knowledge of a social incident that can be directly experienced. They can make it palpable and understandable.
Apart from PM, we’ll have three WPs focusing on material-development, and one on implementation and impact. We’ll conduct a research on the project concept, organize an international training for teachers on the use of results, and organize piloting in schools – teachers will pilot supporting materials, students the Folk Tale Boxes methodology and participate in mentoring and meeting with scientists. We will do dissemination activities (organize workshops, a conference, create a website, etc.). We will have five work packages all together. Work package 1: Project management Responsible partner: Hungary Overall progress monitoring will be done using the detailed Gantt chart /budget plan. After each meeting (face to face or virtual) memos will summarize the tasks done and the deadlines to come. There will be internal reporting every six months about project spendings, narrative reports about the activities and about dissemination activities. We will keep an eye on qualitative and quantitative indicators and in case of lack of delivery appropriate measures will be taken (notifying partners, problem solving etc.) Work package 2 – Generic framework – Impact, theoretical background, E-book Responsible partner: Finland The main objective of this work package is to build a solid theoretical foundation for the rest of the work packages through a theoretical overview of the literature, finding existing cases examples in the world, interviewing stakeholders, holding national focus groups and conducting impact surveys. Our findings and understanding of the topic is collected in an e-book of about 100 pages, based on our research visit, desk research, focus groups and impact survey and the research visit in Finland. As a result the partner organisations will have a shared, common theoretical framework of the topic, and we gain an overview of the current situation of social competence and science teaching in the EU. Work package 3 – Folk Tale Boxes – Methodology for students Responsible partner: Hungary The main objective of this work package is to create a methodology that can be used by the students themselves, without teacher intervention or in a facilitated process by the teacher as well. It is a tool for teenagers to understand the relations between their environment and themselves. The concept is based on the Metamorphosis Folk Tale Therapy, which says that all life situations have their own folk tales, ans steps show how a good balance of life can be reinstated. There will be 3 sets of Folk Tale Boxes developed chosen from the participating countries cultural heritage. Each box will include a set of cards, that represents a certain moment from the tale. On one side of the card there will be an illustration, and on the other side some questions that is in some way relevant to personal development, and either physical or social environment. In videos the tales are told and illustrative images are played. Work package 4 – Supporting teachers – Toolbox, Training We create ready-to-use practical, subject-level supporting material for teachers and develop a connected training curriculum. The supporting material is a set of documents which serves to provide educators tools they can directly use with their students or for preparation purposes, e.g handouts, lesson plans etc. Categorisation is possible according to traditional subjects The package also includes the development of the core curriculum of the pilot training. Training participants also have a chance to work out their own materials after they have encountered and have fully understood all types of the support materials. Our materials serve as sample materials for them to start creating new materials that combine soft and science facts and skills. With the curriculum and the training plan we will have a set of EQ based materials. The world needs the intensive use of soft skills that gets into school this way also. Level of satisfaction of teachers (both that of humanities and science) increase just like the level of interest of students in science subjects increase. Work package n°5 – Implementation and impact WP 5 is about implementation of previously produced materials. We train teachers in pilot training, and in multiplier workshops. For kids we organize meetings with scientists to let kids discover their own questions and topics. At thee same time we want teachers „to get out” of their subject and so science teachers would develop in the social area, while other teachers in science. This approach gives a chance for kids with learning difficulties to find their own way towards science. With this innovative curriculum for science subjects we hope to give more happy teachers for the word, and more motivated learners of science. Teachers will develop in their personal human competencies like empathy, cooperation, acceptance, attention and in their professional competencies as well. Also, we hope to have a change in teacher and pupil relationship. Teachers change in attitude: hierarchy now present at schools slowly turns into partnership, one step in democratization of schools. Less stress and more cooperation.
By the end of the project there will be six concrete results. • A 100 page long e-book written for experts and the wider public on the connection of social and scientific subjects actually present in education. Focus group discussions, interviews, desk research will be presented from all three countries. • We’ll develop Folk Tale Boxes as a self-support tool for students. • We’ll create subject-level supporting materials for teachers. • We will create a training curriculum for a 5 day long teacher training • We organize workshops and multiplier events to give teachers a chance to deeply understand the concept. • We organize events – face-to-face and in a virtual way – to give the chance for students to meet scientists. We hope that in theses activities lots of teachers will meet the Scissors program. These teachers will develop an integrated view of scientific and social subjects and can help their pupils to be more responsible toward the environment and civic matters.
