March 2023
Between 20 and 23 March 2023, we hosted our UK research partners from Worcester University under the Erasmus visiting scholar scheme. The UK group consists of prof. Alison Kington, Dr. Ben Looker, and Dr. Karen Blackmore. They have been part of the global effective teaching and learning consortium, which is a continuation of the ICALT3 project. During their visit, analysis and joint publication plans were discussed. Furthermore, potential cooperation in research and education was explored together with our faculty. Working together on research funding acquisitions and planning a double doctorate between Worcester University and University of Groningen were discussed and will be followed up.
As part of their visit, we organized a seminar on effective teaching and learning. The majority of researchers from our department contributed to the seminar. Our colleagues from the newly established Centre of Learning and Teaching of the Faculty of Science and Engineering also contributed. They presented their European-funded interconnecting projects on imagining sustainable futures by zooming into the role of STEM education. Some projects they presented include:
- Sustainable Mobility in school Education (SMILE): https://www.rug.nl/news/2022/09/erasmus-funding-for-avraamidou-and-azevedo?lang=en
- Generation AI. https://www.rug.nl/sciencelinx/maatschappij/generation-ai and https://generation-ai.eu/.
- Learning science outside the classroom for a sustainable future: https://otter-project.eu/
The UK colleagues also presented the interconnected projects on: 1) the importance of peer relationships for early career teachers’ identity and for staying the profession, 2) the role of school staffrooms in fostering peer relationships for veteran teachers, 3) teacher-pupil relationships and alienated pupils, and 4) the use of mobile technology as a means of facilitating collaborative primary science inquiry. The seminar was also attended by online participants who are also part of our consortium including Dr. James Ko and Dr. Yanmin Zhao (The Education University of Hong Kong) and Dr. Ye Wang (Hiroshima University). We thank the UK colleagues and all the participants for highly engaging participation and stimulating discussion about teaching and learning during and after the seminar. For further information, please don’t be shy to contact Ridwan Maulana (r.maulana@rug.nl).
