International Centre for STEM Education (ICSE)

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Dear Newsletter Subscribers,

Welcome to the newest edition of the ICSE newsletter!

In this issue you can find out about our newest activities, events and materials. ICSE’s new year began as exciting as the last year ended. During an eventful January we hosted the kick-off-meeting of our new project ENSITE as well as the ICSE Consortium meeting here at the University of Education in Freiburg.

Read about mobility in this issue, one of the intriguing classroom topics that ENSITE provides for Math and Science Education and about upcoming ENSITE meetings and activities that will take place this year. One of them being the ENSITE Multiplier Event in Utrecht this May.

You can also read about another new EU-funded pilot project, called GEM! GEM aims to empower girls to embrace their digital and entrepreneurial potential. A Kick-Off Meeting will take place in Freiburg in March this year. Find out all about GEM and about the first GEM Summer School in this issue.

We will also present to you the winter editions of our popular Quarterly Problems in Maths, Sciences and a Sustainability topic. Feel free to share these tasks with your colleagues. Would you like to learn more about our quarterly problems? You can receive our international Quarterly Problem via our Mailinglist.

We are thrilled to start this new year with our engaged partners, friends and followers and are looking forward to all the joint ventures to come. Enjoy reading!

Your ICSE team

content

Announcements:

Follow ICSE on Instagram: Exciting STEM tasks available now!
ENSITE Multiplier Event in Utrecht, May 14-15, 2020
GEM Summer School "Up in the Sky!", July 13-17, 2020

2. The ICSE Consortium Introduced Part III

University of Jaén
University of Malta

3. Project News:

What MaSDiV Has Achieved for Teachers' Professional Development
ENSITE: Mobility - A Socially Relevant Topic for STEM Education
GEM: Empower Girls to Embrace their Digital and Entrepreneurial Potential

4. Tasks

Quarterly Problem: Math Edition - Go See the Sea!
Quarterly Problem: Science Edition - Winter is Coming
Quarterly Problem: Green Edition - Happy New Year!

5. ICSE Reported

Successful ICSE Consortium Meeting took place this January

follow icse on instagram: exciting stem tasks available now!

Did you know that we have an Instagram account? If you want to learn some fascinating fun facts, solve intriguing tasks and partcipate in entertaining challenges from the world of STEM, follow us on Instagram!
Through our account, you will also always be up to date on current events at ICSE.

Ensite multiplier event in utrecht, may 14-15, 2020

Should wind power plants be set-up everywhere? Should we forbid the use of drinking water for cleaning and gardening? This type of socio-scientific issues is receiving increasing attention in teacher education for STEM subjects.

During this Mulitplier Event (ME) of the project ENSITE, our Dutch partners will present and discuss examples of how students in Initial Teacher Education can learn about statistics and SSI, and how they in turn can teach this in Secondary School. Interested?

gem summer school "up in the sky!", july 13-17, 2020

Have you ever wondered what it feels like to travel into space? So have we! Unfortunately, we have no way of finding out directly. However, we will send a huge balloon into space, film the flight, and use the opportunity to measure environmental data and make it available to researchers.

This July, the Summer School exclusively for girls grades 9 to 13, will take place at the University of Education Freiburg. Do you want to participate? Then register at oliver.straser@ph-freiburg.de.

ICSE Consortium introduced: university of jaén

Today we want to introduce one of our founding members of the ICSE Consortium: The University of Jaén (UJA).
UJA is a medium-sized public university located in the South of Spain.
The research team in Didactics of Science and Mathematics led by Marta Romero Ariza has been involved in the development of innovative courses and materials to improve STEM education for many years. UJA collaborates with ICSE in several international projects and activities.

Learn more about UJA and its relationship with ICSE!

the icse consortium introduced: university of malta

Since 2010, the University of Malta (UM) has been collaborating with the University of Education Freiburg and ICSE in various EU-projects, such as PRIMAS, IncluSMe, MaSDiV and ENSITE.

This is what Josette Farrugia, Head of the Department of Mathematics and Science Education at UM, says about its relationship to ICSE: “Being part of ICSE makes these collaborations easier and more permanent as they go beyond the lifetime of projects.”

Read more about our ICSE partner UM!

MaSDiV's achievements for teachers' pD

ICSE’s project MaSDiV has now ended. The project aimed at supporting Mathematics and Science teachers in addressing diversity and promoting fundamental values.

A pre-post-test evaluation shows that the project’s professional development (PD) program had indeed positive effects on participating teachers.

Find out more about MasDiV and the project evaluation!

Mobility: A socially relevant topic for STEM Education

Mobility is one of the diverse topics that our new project ENSITE deals with in terms of classroom content and teaching methods. It is a socially relevant issue to which every teenager has their individual point of reference. The topic links young people’s own life experience with scientific problems.

Therefore mobility-related questions offer great curricular content for Math and Science Education, promoting students’ skills in “scientific citizenship”. Learn more about this topic!

gem: empower girls to embrace their digital and entrepreneurial potential

In January, we have started the new EU-funded pilot project GEM, which is especially designed for girls. GEM wants to encourage girls’ interest in STEM subjects and careers, particularly in information and communication technology and entrepreneurship. To this end, ICSE and each project partner will organize summer camps for girls, offering various learning activities to support the development of STEM related and personal skills.

Do you want to know more about GEM?

quarterly problem: math edition - go see the sea!

For many people being at the sea is like a holiday. If you live far away from the sea, it is necessary to take a few days off, otherwise the trip there is not worth it at all.

For example, if we get into the car in Freiburg, we have to drive across Germany, passing several cities and villages until we arrive at the North Sea. But how many motorway exits does one actually pass on this way?

Got curious about this task?

quarterly problem: science edition - winter is coming

Snowy white winter is a beautiful season. A sunny winter day attracts many lovers of outdoor winter sports. Which sport do you like? Would you enjoy sliding down the slopes on skis or snowboards?

The ski resort has different types of lifts: cable cars, seat lifts and ski lifts. Have you thought about which ones are slowest or fastest and why? How would you calculate the average speed of a ski lift?

Learn more about our "winter problem"!

quarterly problem: green edition - happy new year!

3, 2, 1... Happy New Year! Champagne glasses are clinking, fireworks are exploding and crackling everywhere and the whole sky is shining brightly. But not everyone likes fireworks.
Environmentalists have been complaining for years that fireworks heavily and unnecessarily pollute the environment.
But are New Year's Eve fireworks really so harmful to the environment? Or does the pollution not play an important role over the course of the year?

Find out more about this sparkling task!

successful consortium meeting in january

To look back and discuss the achievements as well as to determine and prepare the upcoming tasks, ICSE Consortium members from 16 European partner institutions came together in Freiburg from 29 to 31st January 2020.

Once more we looked at questions concerning the core of our consortium’s work, as well as the practical realization of our visions and goals. Learn more about the specific topics and questions of this meeting!

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INTERNATIONAL CENTRE FOR STEM EDUCATION (ICSE)
University of Education Freiburg
Kunzenweg 21
79117 Freiburg
Phone (secretary’s office): (0049761) 682-349
E-Mail: icse@ph-freiburg.de
WebSITE: https://www.icse.eu

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Web: mwk.baden-wuerttemberg.de

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