This Go-Lab Summer School is specifically designed for teaching professionals in STEM disciplines (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) that have already used Go-Lab and have created or adjusted an ILS, and thus are familiar with the basics of Graasp. The school will deepen teachers’ knowledge in the use of online labs as well as inquiry-based science teaching techniques to develop, improve and enhance their teaching skills and practices.
The overall goal of this school is twofold:
- to introduce participants to several relevant pedagogical principles connected with Go-Lab, deepen the participants’ knowledge in IBSE, introduce other pedagogical methods that are useful for Go-Lab, such as students’ differentiation within an ILS, Flipping the Classroom, the different Go-Lab scenarios, etc.
- to make teachers fully familiar with the applications and functions of the Go-Lab Ecosystems and Graasp to create innovative Inquiry learning spaces, including learning analytics will help them create attractive science lessons and to enable participants to train their peers in the use of Go-Lab.
Become a Go-Lab Ambassador in your community and train others to use Go-Lab!
Virtual or online labs are a great way to support the development of students’ inquiry skills and help them gain initial scientific experience. Students that have been exposed to the culture of doing science by undertaking interactive, guided experimentation, carried out in renowned scientific facilities and research centers, are more likely to develop a long-lasting motivation and interested in science topics.
Consequently, the specific objectives of the summer school are:
- Deepen the knowledge of STEM teachers (of both primary and secondary education) in the concepts and skills of inquiry learning and demonstrating its various applications in inquiry-based learning activities in the science classroom taking into account different teaching and learning styles;
- Practicing participants in the use of the Go-Lab portal and its many apps and functions;
- Develop teacher’s ICT skills through the use and application of the Go-Lab tools and services.
- Create and publish digital learning resources (Inquiry Learning Spaces) and activities using the Go-Lab 2018 authoring environment;
- Introducing participants to the various Go-Lab Scenarios beyond the “basic scenario”
- Practice the application of the “Big Ideas of Science” as means of building inter-disciplinary science activities related to the science curriculum;
- Foster the culture of collaboration among teachers of different science disciplines in organizing multidisciplinary activities;
- Acquainting participants with the potential of popular social media tools, science outreach websites and teachers’ communities.
Overall, the course has a significant and important European dimension: Participants from all over Europe will become part of an active and growing community of practice to exchange and share ideas, experiences, concerns and educational resources with fellow teachers across Europe and introduce them to on-line learning repositories, portals and educational metadata.