Seismology in school education can promote scientific literacy at all levels but its benefits go far wider than simply providing scientific knowledge about this everyday natural phenomenon. It provides the basis for informed action to protect lives and property on local, regional, and national levels. As such, the SSE project and proposed approach will not only contribute to providing high-level educational material to teachers and their students but will also highlight aspects of civil protection, citizenship, civil responsibility and cooperation. Teachers and students of the participating schools, as part of their involvement, will consider matters connected to the societal impact of this natural phenomenon and will be asked to produce material that can be used in outreach programs for public awareness.
The “Schools Study Earthquakes” (SSE) is supported by Erasmus+ Program under the key action Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices. It focuses on the study in the reality of classroom practice of a physical phenomenon with great societal impact and proposes pedagogical practices based on inquiry-based methods that are more effective in science education. The objective of this combination is on one hand to increase children’s and students’ interest in science, on how science is made and how it affects every-day life, and on the other to stimulate teacher motivation on up-taking innovative teaching methods, subjects and practices to enrich and renew the science curriculum. The SSE project also provides increased opportunities for cooperation and collaboration between schools across different areas and countries and encourage relationships between stakeholders of both formal and informal education. It also proposes to build a network of schools that will study real data, do real analysis of real situations and real earthquake phenomena in real time. Teachers are key players in the renewal of science education and among other methods, being part of a network allows them to improve the quality of their teaching and supports their motivation. Networks can be used as an effective component of teachers’ professional development, are complementary to more traditional forms of in-service teacher training and stimulate morale and motivation which then is passed to learners and have long-term implications for the individuals and for the society.
Last visited: 10.05.2018