Science Education Refreshed

Ilkka JormanainenUniversity of Eastern Finland

School of ComputingJoensuu Science Society

Motivation• Technology is reshaping also

education in many levels• Growing gaps in use of technology– Genders, generations, developed and

developing countries, …

• What is role of science and technology expertise in the future?

SciKids’• Combination of a technology club

and research laboratory environment• Administrated currently by Joensuu

Science Society• Founded in 2001 as Kids’ Club• Based on regular club meetings twice

in a month during school semesters at the university’s premises

SciKids’ objectives• To provide a meaningful

hobby for school children• To get diverse students, and

particularly girls, excited about technology

• To provide a platform for educational technology research

• To develop tools and methods for technology education in collaboration with schools and teachers

SciKids’ pedagogy• Based on modern views on learning• Modern learning environments, such as educational

robotics• Concretization of the problems let the children to make

their mental models explicit– How does the modern society work?

• Encourages children to think creatively through inventive, problem-based learning

SciKids’ participants• Participants are between

9 - 16 years (typically ~10 of them)

• Researchers from the department

• Volunteer tutors (students of computer science and education, mainly teacher students)

• Parents, local teachers, other collaborators

SciKids’ research• Platform for educational

technology research– How to concretize

programming with the robotics? – How does the technology-rich

environment affect in special education?

– How to tell a story with robots?– What is innovation process with

with kids?

• Fresh and ethical research agenda

SciKids’ innovations• Various spin-offs• R&D projects for technology

education– Total funding about 1million+ €

• Seniors’ Club• SciFest festival for science and

technology• Topics for thesis, IT-projects etc.

SciKids’ outreach• TekkiKids at Meraka Institute

(SA)• TEDITE Kids’ Club in Zambia• Kids’ Club Mozambique• SciKids’ Uganda• Dissemination has been very

successful in many terms• Motivated students and

participants have been a key to success

SciKids’ future plans

• New SciKids’ hubs– New clubs in

different contexts– Networking the

clubs all over the world

• Innovative development• Being one or two step ahead schools’

technology education• Providing fresh ideas with good quality to the

community: theather robotics, SciHouse, …

Breaking through boundaries in (and with)

science education

SciFest in a nutshell• International science and

technology festival• Organized in Joensuu since

2007• Idea ”imported” from

South Africa• Four days, 8100 visitors

(2013)• 100+ workshops, lectures,

competitions, science shows, movies, etc…

• SciFest is much about going beyond conventional boundaries

Breaking the attitudes

• Who says that teenage girls are not fascinated about science, or that kids from less developed countries could not master technology?

Breaking the distances

• The longest (?) tug-of-war in the world between Finland and South Africa

Breaking the language barriers

• Their English may not be very fluent, but still Taiwanese students surprise us year after year

Breaking the boundaries of the earth

• Dr. Harrison Schmitt went to moon with Apollo 17 and came to SciFest 2009 to tell us about it

Breaking out from the comfort zone

• Science must be taken out from the labs and chambers, and it must be enjoyable and concrete for kids and adults too!

www.scifest.fi/welcome

SciFest 2013 video available online soon!