communicating science and technology in romanian … · erasmus, comenius [4]), an annual contest...

The 9th International Conference on Public Communication of Science and Technology

COMMUNICATING SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY IN ROMANIAN SCHOOLS – THE “HANDS-ON SCIENCE” PROJECT

Dan Sporea, Radu Sporea National Institute for Lasers, Plasma and Radiation Physics, Romania

Abstract

We are coordinating at national level the European Union funded Comenius project “Hands-on Science”, a project aiming both to improve science teaching in schools, and to rise young people’s interest in science and technology subjects. The paper reveals the various methods we have used to achieve these targets, both from the organizational point of view and means of expression. In several cities of Romania science clubs were organized in schools, where teachers and students from neighborhood schools present every two months reports on various scientific subjects, new set-ups and virtual experiments they developed. Every six months the “Hands-on Science” network is coordinating a science fair at national level, where small research projects run by students are presented as an exhibition like contest. Apart from the classical educational practice (real and virtual experiments, scientific presentation, etc.) we used more unconventional means to introduce science and technology to schools students such as: theater, poetry, live music, visual arts, all on science related subjects.

Keywords: Comenius project, hands-on science, high school, science communication

1. Introduction

One of the many challenges our society is facing in the modern world is the growing discrepancy existing between the

rising demand of highly qualified manpower (in the field of science and technology development) and the low number of young, talented people graduating technical schools. This is a concern on both sides of the Atlantic, and governments, companies and professional societies make efforts to overcome this situation. Almost everyone realized now that, in order to have students interested to study science, we have to consider more carefully the problem at all levels of the education pyramid: primary, secondary, college [1]. The way children are trained to approach science understanding as they grow-up has a major impact on their future options and affinities. In the North America, a consortium built around SPIE, OSA, MESA and NOAO obtained just two years ago an important financial support ($1.7 million grant) from the National Science Foundation in order "to design and implement an optics-based educational enrichment program for middle school students in the United States" [2]. Major professional bodies have societies dedicated to teaching activities, and in some cases they have a special focus on the improvement of technology teaching in high schools [3]. The European Union recognized the importance of science literacy by supporting various projects in the frame of Socrates Programme (Leonardo da Vinci, Erasmus, Comenius [4]), an annual contest for young scientists [5], a major conference [6] and a forum for the dissemination of science results among teachers in Europe [7].

In the frame of the European Union’s funded Comenius project “Hands-on Science” [8], our Institute is managing in Romania, at the national level, a network of very active high schools aiming to attract students towards science and technology study by offering them the possibility to learn and to express themselves through experiments.

The main goals of our team, as part of the “Hands-on Science” European network are: 1. to transform the school (teachers and students) from classical end-users for teaching and training aids into active

designers and developers of such materials; 2. to use IT & C technologies as efficient tools for the democratization of science teaching, by open the door to the

‘knowledge treasure” to less favoured players and by assisting with funds/ consultancy/ advertising those able to craft an other face to the traditional teaching schemes and to create new, unexpected teaching aids;

3. to promote as much as possible the generous ideas of the project into a large pool of recipients and beneficiaries (students, parents, teachers, central and local authorities, NGOs, companies involved in the teaching process).

In designing the working plan for the Romanian participation to the project we focused on several directions which can bring the maximum benefit both for the project and for the country, on its way to EU integration:

a. to build strategic partnerships with organizations and companies which can assist us to run the project, either through direct financial support or by associating the project name with their image;

b. to support the inclusion of virtual instrumentation programming teaching in high schools; c. to assist high schools teachers in developing real/ virtual experiments; d. to encourage high school teachers to train students in developing their own experimental set-ups and training

aids;

9th International Conference on Public Communication of Science and Technology (PCST), Seoul, South Korea, 17-19 May 2006


e. to prepare teaching materials in electronic and multimedia format; f. to facilitate the access to experiment-based teaching to less favoured groups (minorities, orphan children, students

form rural areas); g. to disseminate the project results though lectures, conferences, communication sessions.

The paper will refer further to the major results we have according to the above mentioned strategy. 2. Project description

The coordinator of the Romanian team is the Laboratory for Lasers Metrology and Standardization, part of the National Institute for Lasers, Plasma and Radiation Physics, located at Magurele, near by Bucharest. Previously, the Laboratory also managed several projects dedicated to vocational training (Leonardo da Vinci and PHARE). Our research background helped us a lot during this Comenius project, both through our access to up-to-date scientific instruments and investigation methods, and by our contact with companies and professional societies, acting as would-be project supporters. According to the project rules, we assembled a national network formed by various high schools and vocational schools across the country, entities which participate to the project as associate members. We want to mention just few of the more active ones:

• “Grigore Moisil” Theoretical High School, Bucharest; • “Tudor Vladimirescu” Theoretical High School, Bucharest; • “Decebal” Bilingual High School, Bucharest; • “I.L. Caragiale” National College, Bucharest; • “Nicolae Titulescu” National Vocational College, Slatina; • “C. Kiritescu” High School of Economics, Bucharest; • “Vasile Alecsandri” National College, Galati; • “Teacher Training Center”- Bucharest- Romania; • “Elena Cuza” National College, Bucharest; • “Edmond Nicolau” Technical College, Bucharest; • High School of Art, Ramnicu Valcea; • “Bethlen Gábor” College, Aiud; • Elementary School in Mierlesti de Sus, Perieti; • Elementary School 45 “Titu Maiorescu”, Bucharest; • Elementary School No. 156, Bucharest.

The major direction we focused our efforts in the last two years were: the diversity of activities in the project frame, a wider impact at the country level, and the accent on results dissemination.

As it concerns the diversity we have to refer to: the multitude of themes covered by the network activities (Physics, Chemistry, Natural sciences, Ecology & tourism, Consumer protection, Applied science, Science history, and subjects of more general interest such as Scientific literacy); the multidisciplinary approach; the great variety of means used to teach science; the intercultural method by involving minorities; the wide span of participating children age (from primary school to high school); the use of various financial support in addition to that provided by the European Union’s grant.

Considering our past experience with graphical programming and the use of virtual instrumentation (LabVIEW and Measure Foundry) for data acquisition and instrumentation control, our Laboratory decided to support, in the frame of the "Hands-on Science" project a programme for high schools teachers training on the use of National Instruments software tools. As the situation differs from high school to high school, our common support concentrated on several different directions [9]:

• For high schools already having a PC data acquisition board (there are for the moment very few) dedicated sensors (i.e. force sensor, electro-magnetic field sensors) were bought, which made possible for the teachers to develop some original experimental set-ups, running under computer control. Such an approach is an innovative one for Europe, as far as high school experiments can now become quite complex and very flexible.

• High schools possessing such an interface were also encouraged to use more trivial sensors/ signal sources (photodiodes, light emitting diodes, etc.) and to prepare some less complicated experiments.

• In the case of another high school, a simple PC interface developed in Romania was used in connection with LabVIEW programming to collect biological data for human heart activity analysis.

• The vast majority of high schools involved into this programme and which do not have a PC interface, worked on the development of LabVIEW-based simulation programmes to teach physics through virtual experiments.

Among the most notable results in the above mentioned activities are the experiments prepared at “Grigore Moisil” High School through the efforts of Mrs. Mihaela Garabet and Mr. Ion Neacsu. Their approach was a two-fold one: real


life experiments and virtual experiments [10] – [11]. Their work addresses different fields of physics' chapters such as mechanics and electricity, as well as plant and animal biology. At the beginning they propose some virtual experiments where students familiarize themselves with the problem and simulate various situations. For example, they work with their teachers by investigating basic elements of electric circuits like resistors, batteries, capacitors, inductors, or performed some measurements on the current-voltage characteristics of a bulb or a light emitting diode (LED). In the case of mechanics the teachers try to show to their students the way the oscillator amplitude depends on time, how to evaluate the period of oscillation of a pendulum, or to asses the influence of the medium over the oscillation amplitude changes (Fig.ure 1). In the second stage, they implement a real experiment, by connecting all the needed components to the PC through a data acquisition interface and gathering real data (Figures 2 and 3). Students are further trained to process the experimental data.

a b

Figure 1. Virtual experiment for the teaching of Ohm’s law (a), and for the study of oscillating circuits (b)

(courtesy of Mrs. Mihaela Garabet, “Grigore Moisil” Theoretical High School).

a b

Figure 2. Real experiment on the electronic oscillating circuit (a) and the mechanical oscillator (b), using a

data acquisition interface and LabVIEW programming (courtesy of Mrs. Mihaela Garabet, “Grigore Moisil” Theoretical High School).

In order to make as accessible as possible the demonstration of advantages of the PC-controlled experiments, we

started to build a small portable demo laboratory based on a National Instruments data acquisition board, operating over the USB connection. This approach coupled with a set of sensors can be used for on site training sessions. The team from “Grigore Moisil” Theoretical High School demonstrated this teaching aid at several teachers’ conferences in Romania. The same team, leaders in using LabVIEW for both real and virtual experiments, made several trips in less developed areas in Romania (Valea Jiului county where, after mines closing, a high unemployment rate is registered, and Ramnicu Valce county in a rural region, Galati county) in order to introduce the philosophy of the “Hands-on Science” project to interested school teachers. In the mean time, they presented the results they have using virtual instrumentation and PC-based data acquisition. The most remarkable fact concerning this initiative was their demo visit to a village with a dominant rromani population. The interest of the audience was astonishing. We expect to be able to promote more such exchange visits in the near future.


a b

Figure 3. Data collection and analysis (a) of the sounds emitted by a pet in the school laboratory (b), using a

PC and LabVIEW programming (courtesy of Mrs. Mihaela Garabet, “Grigore Moisil” Theoretical High School).

The high school with economic training profile prepared various experiments to develop their students’ skills to evaluate the quality of the food stuff (Figure 4).

a b

c d

Figure 4. Young chemists at work: answering questions on the drinking water quality in Bucharest (a); testing fat

contents of milk (b); evaluating the quality of flour (c); checking the purity of coffee (d), from the authors’ archives.

Apart from the training on the evaluation of the food stuff quality, students perform various tasks in order to improve their skills to act as experts for the consumer protection divisions (Figure 5).

Referring to the involved student age we have to notice the presence of very young participants to our science clubs activities and contests, starting from 8 or 9 years old ones (Figure 6). This fact was possible because of the high devotion in teaching science of several experienced teachers.


a b

Figure 6. Consumer protection related training: the acidity of commercial detergents (a); the evaluation of the quality for skin care products (b), from the authors’ archives.

a b c

d

Figure 6. The very young generation of participants: the demonstration of the bimetallic lamella used as an electrical circuit switch (a); experiments on electricity (b); explaining the operation of a DC motor (c); the hovercraft (d),

from the authors’ archives.

During the last year, most of the activities carried out in Bucharest were centered on the newly created science clubs. [12], [13]. They gather several high schools having different structures (i.e. theoretical high schools, vocational training centers) and focus (natural sciences, economics, etc.). The first such Club was initiated by the Tudor Vladimirescu High School, but soon other educational units joined the stream (Fig. 7). In this way, as the participation grown up, we are organizing almost every month a meeting, having different hosts and centered on specific subjects.


Figure 7. The opening of the “Science Fun Club” at “Tudor Vladimirescu” High School in Bucharest, from the authors’ archives.

During the contests we are organizing at local or national level, students are working either with sophisticated

training aids or with kits they developed themselves using trivial materials found at home (Figure 8).

a b c Figure 7. Students science fair: investigation of an insect morphology with a PC-controlled microscope (a); the

experiments related to the liquid pressure (b); the evaluation of the friction coefficient (c), from the authors’ archives.

An interesting fact is that each participant brings his experience and “culture”, and various means of expression are encouraged. Thus, a complex, very non-formal interaction is established between teachers and students. The way they approach science teaching is extremely complex starting from reports on a selected theme, experiments, debates, poster sessions, exhibitions, and finishing with small peaces of poetry on science written by students or even short plays with scientific message (Figure 8). The most exciting think was that some of the performances were played in foreign languages.

a b


c d

Figure 8. Music and theatre help science teaching: Archimedes and king’s crown (a); a meeting with Einstein (b); pop band’s invitation to study physics (c); encounter with renowned Romanian chemists at the wax museum (d),

from the authors’ archives

In 2005, the project coordinated in Romania a student contest celebrating the World Year of Physics with over 250 entries (Figure 9). At local level, small contests were run (i.e. to develop some experiments or a contest of posters on chemistry).

Figure 9. Visual arts celebrating the World Year of Physics, from the authors’ archives

Another direction we pursued was the development of electronic and multimedia teaching materials. One example refers to a multimedia manual to study physical geography for the first high school grade. Physical Geography was chosen for its distinctive property that it is much easier understood if its teaching implies moving graphics, animation and real-world video. Cumulate that with the ability to contain a vast array of graphics, charts and multimedia content and Physical Geography becomes the obvious choice. Visuals include charts and graphs, maps, illustrations, pictures, computer graphics (where a real photo is difficult to obtain or e.g. cross sections are needed), movies and computer animations.

In order to raise public awareness on the evolution of scientific discoveries, we have developed a 3D animated model


of Watt’s Double-Acting Steam Engine, aiming to make learning science history accessible and attractive to everyone. This kind of undertaking makes possible the democratization of learning, as such a virtual model, along with the Internet and computer-based teaching, can bring to the desk of every student, renowned masterpieces belonging to science museums. A single off-the-shelf PC and commercial 3D software were used to create this realistic encounter with history, at a high level of definition and keeping to a strict standard of quality. The main objective of the task we undertook was to describe the simple genius of the machine’s working. Starting from the original drawings of the Engine, and using the latest computer animation software a virtual replica was created. Different techniques such as transparency, cross-sections, camera close-up, etc. were used to explain in detail the Engine’s working principle. High quality video rendering, real-life texturing, and the realistic spatial setting, emerge as an immersive and captivating experience (Figure 10).

a b

Figure 10. The editing process for the virtual 3D Watt’s Double-Acting Steam Engine (a); the final results (b)

The success of the project was proved one more time when we participated with a stand to the “Communicating

European Research” Conference organized last November in Brussels by the European Commission. On the same occasion we run two demo sessions in two high schools in Brussels on science related subjects similar to those we are offering in Romania (Figure 11).

a b

Figure 11. Project promotion outside Romania: the project booth at the Communicating European Science in Brussels (a); demo sessions on the use of virtual realities in science teaching at the

European High School in Brussels (b). 3. Conclusions and future work

After about two years from the project start we can conclude that: the Romanian team succeeded to implement several major themes from the project work-plan, which were selected considering the team strong points, the national interests and the innovative contribution to the project; our major objective - to train young people in doing science, was achieved as far as in all projects described in this paper our students actively participated; we reached our goal to engage teachers and students in developing training aids as real experiments or virtual laboratories.

For the coming future we have to concentrate our efforts towards: further development of training materials (real


experiments supported by PC acquisition and processing; virtual experiments and simulations; e-materials); a higher dedication to interaction with specific target groups; preparation of some activities implying players form partner countries; the organisation of an international workshop on life-long learning.

We shall continue our present work on science communication in schools based on a financial support we received from the Romanian Ministry of Education and Research, in the frame of the contract No. 58/2006, project “Science Education and Training in a knowledge-based society – SET 2010”.

4. Acknowledgments

Most of the project activities were supported financially by the European Union’s Comenius project No. 110157-CP- 1-2003-1-PT-COMENIUS-C3.

The authors wish to acknowledge the contribution of the Romanian “Hands-on Science” network members for their support in organizing and running the mentioned activities. Special thanks go to Mrs. Mihaela Garabet, Mrs. Emilia Pausan, and Mr. I. Neacsu, high school teachers in Bucharest for their enthusiasm and competence.

The support we received through donations from EXFO (Canada), National Instruments (USA), and Ocean Optics (The Netherlands) is also gratefully acknowledged. 5. References

[1] The Royal Society, Statement on the Assessment of Science Learning 14-19, at www.royalsoc.ac.uk/education/assessment [2] spie.org/communityServices/StudentsAndEducators/index.cfm?fuseaction=hoo [3] www.ewh.ieee.org/soc/es/ [4] D. Sporea and Adelina Sporea, Comenius “Hands-on Science” Biannual Reports, June 2004 & 2005 [5] ica.cordis.lu/search/index.cfm?fuseaction=events.simpledocument&EV_RCN=2518&CFID=491862&CFTOKEN=72613083 [6] ica.cordis.lu/search/index.cfm?fuseaction=events.simpledocument&EV_RCN=15558&CFID=491862&CFTOKEN=7261308

3 [7] www.eiroforum.org [8] www.hsci.info [9] T. Savu and D. Sporea, “Romanian Strategy on Virtual Instrumentation Training in High Schools,” Saša Divjak (ed.),

Proceedings of the 1 st International Conference on Hand on Science, HSci2004, Teaching and learning Science in the XXI Century, 5-9 July, 2004, Ljubljana

[10] Mihaela Garabet and I. Neacsu, “Understanding the Electric Circuits,” Saša Divjak (ed.), Proceedings of the 1 st International Conference on Hand on Science, HSci2004, Teaching and learning Science in the XXI Century, 5-9 July, 2004, Ljubljana

[11] Mihaela Garabet and I. Neacsu, “Electronic Oscillators, Between Real and Virtual,” Saša Divjak (ed.), Proceedings of the 1 st International Conference on Hand on Science, HSci2004, Teaching and learning Science in the XXI Century, 5-9 July, 2004, Ljubljana

[12] http://www.geocities.com/physicsexperiments/ [13] http://www.pss.ro/science_fun_club_romania

communicating science and technology in romanian … · erasmus, comenius [4]), an annual contest...

Documents