About the project

“Science & Global Education beyond the barriers of learning difficulties KA2 2015-1-IT02-KA201-01”
The project aims to respond to two of the main challenges faced by modern societies:
1) The rapid obsolescence of all technical and scientific knowledge which makes it difficult to teach sciences at school even if sciences are a key factor for the understanding of climate change and for the sustainable economic development
2) The processes of social exclusion related to early school leaving. Early school leaving is often related to segregation in schools (2013, Eurydice Report)
Special Edcational Needs often suffer from segregation in schools even if all European countries have ratified the UNESCO Salamanca Statement and Framework for Action in Special Needs Education (1994). One extract from the statement is used repeatedly as a guiding principle in policy level debates: Regular schools with an inclusive orientation are the most effective means of combating discriminatory attitudes, building an inclusive society and achieving education for all
Nevertheless an effective inclusion of SEN students in schools is far from being fully achieved
Inclusion of SEN and science teaching present similar criticisms
– The persisting difficulty in developing innovative inclusive practices useful to develop scientific thinking
– Inadequate use of ICT, which is an extraordinary means for fostering SEN students’ communication and the development of self-help groups , but it is also an extraordinary means to develop science teaching
-Lack of connection between what students learn at school and the skills needed for managing their own lives, interacting effectively in heterogeneous groups and tackling complex global problems such climate changes
Participants
Participants are research organizations Adi- Italian Teachers’ Association, Italian, Polish and Turkish technical and vocational schools , public institutions involved in the Covenant of mayors ( Bologna City Hall and Gdynia City Hall), Gdansk and Rome Universities
The project is addressed to teachers educators and researchers
Activities
Development of an on-line multilingual platform and repository for relevant legislation on Special Educational Needs, guidelines and best practises for highly inclusive teaching strategies to develop scientific culture in schools and science lesson plans
Development of innovative inclusive lessons based on flipped and spaced techinques combined with hands on activities
Organization of:
one preparatory meeting
three Joint staff training events combined with exchange of students , each of 7 days, to test and evaluate the lessons created by teachers in mixed international groups, to test the platform, verify its effectiveness and develop future plans to continue flipped and spaced trials
A seminar devoted to disseminating and sharing the use of the platform
The final evaluation will be performed by the project team