IBE experts at EDU Trendy 2013
- Published on Wednesday, 04 September 2013 14:10
Education Enthusiasts will be present at EDU TRENDY 2013 - a sector event for all interested in the development of education and new solutions for improving teaching quality and effectiveness.
Edu Trendy is inspired by other European events presenting the most recent trends in education. This year’s meeting will be held on 26-27 September in the National Stadium in Warsaw. Apart from the IBE stall which will display IBE publications and projects materials, IBE experts will be among the guest speakers.
.7th IUPAC2013 - 44th World Chemistry Congress in Istanbul
- Published on Wednesday, 04 September 2013 13:47
The conference programme included 10 plenary lectures, 72 lectures given by guest speakers, 7 academic symposiums and over 500 speeches and seminars on significant topics in chemistry, as well as three poster sessions during which a total of 1200 academic posters on various chemistry-related topics were presented.
During the first poster session, Marcin Chrzanowski, a representative of IBE Science Section presented a poster "Workshops on creating items concerning scientific method in chemistry" that presented results of the workshops for teachers held in March 2013. The workshops were designed as a form of professional development for chemistry teachers in the construction of tools for diagnosing the ability to use scientific method at the third and fourth stage of education (elementary level).
During the poster sessions, a total of 32 posters related to teaching chemistry and other natural sciences were presented. All posters have been photographed and will be analysed by IBE Science Section experts.
In addition, the conference materials - the latest issues of international journals on teaching chemistry and natural sciences (e.g. ACS Excellence, Australian Journal of Chemistry, Turkish Journal of Chemistry and Chemistry World) will be used in IBE for further research.
Important topics covered in the lectures and seminars, include:
- Teaching chemistry through argumentation
- Why is chemistry such a difficult subject for students?
- Using the history of science in natural science teaching
- Engaging natural science students in work for local communities and global society
The topics will be developed during the Science Section/IBE seminars and help in interpretation of Science Section research outcomes.
More information on the conference at http://www.iupac2013.org/default.asp.How much does education cost? BECKER study seeks to find answers
- Published on Wednesday, 04 September 2013 13:39
Everybody knows that education is expensive, but how much exactly do parents and local governments spend on education ? How much money comes from the state budget, and how much from private institutions? Answers to these and other questions will be possible owing to the BECKER study carried out by IBE. It is the first such research project in Poland.
IBE researchers want to ask for opinions of school and kindergarten headmasters, teachers, local government officials, town councillors and families. BECKER is the first study in Poland devoted to expenditure on education conducted on such a large scale. In total, twenty thousand people will participate in the study.
For the BECKER study, conducted under the auspices of the Association of Polish Counties, 4 cities (Poznań, Tarnobrzeg, Siemianowice Śląskie, Świnoujście) and 5 counties (Pruszkowski, Sokólski, Głogowski, Giżycki i Sępoleński) have been selected.
Practical solutions
The main objective of the study is to answer the following questions:
- What is the cost of education at various stages?
- Is the money spent on education optimally used?
- What is the scale of parental expenditure on their children’s education?
- How much time do parents and legal guardians devote to their children's education?
The IBE research project is practical in a number of ways - it will help determine the most important factors influencing educational expenditure decisions and try to provide practical solutions. Local authorities will have an opportunity to find out more about the needs and opinions of the residents concerning the education system. This knowledge may prove useful to school headmasters who oftentimes need to assume the role of efficient managers while allocating money to various needs in their institutions.
Interviews
The study which is scheduled to end in April 2014, has been divided into several stages. The first stage covers interviews with school and kindergarten headmasters and local residents. Interviewers will visit households twice, they will remain in telephone contact with the participants ensuring that families, both parents and children, are interviewed several times. The aim is to collect the data as carefully as possible and to present reliable results.
In mid-September, another cycle of the study at schools will begin. This time, teachers will be invited to interviews, which will provide more information, among other things, on how they plan and organize their work and what costs they bear in connection with their work.
The last stage of the study, which will begin in November, will again include residents of selected counties and cities.
.IBE in the KeyCoNet network
- Published on Thursday, 01 August 2013 14:19
The Educational Research Institute has become an associate member of the European Policy Network on the Implementation of Key Competence Development (KCD) in School Education. The project brings together 30 ministries of education in the EU Member States, universities and research institutes.
The project is financed under the European Commission Lifelong Learning Programme and is aimed at promoting the effective use of modern media to support innovative teaching and learning, developing and strengthening cooperation between schools, implementing research and research results dissemination. The main task is to review and analyze the projects related to the development of key competences in primary and secondary schools across Europe.
The coordinator of the project, which will end in 2014, is the European Schoolnet network of 30 Ministries of Education in the EU Member States, government agencies, universities, research institutes.
A tool that will help in implementation of the project is the European Framework for Key Competences, which covers such skills as:
- communication in the mother tongue,
- communication in foreign languages,
- mathematical competence and basic competences in science and technology,
- digital competence,
- learning to learn,
- social and civic competences,
- sense of initiative and entrepreneurship,
- cultural awareness and expression.
Each of these competences include critical thinking, creativity, own initiative, problem solving, risk assessment, decision-making and the ability to control emotions.
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