Practices

Science Pedagogy Innovation Centre for Europe
Comenius Multilateral Project
Institutions involved:
Thematic Field: Maths, Science and Technology
Direcção Geral de Inovação e Desenvolvimento Curricular (Portugal), Dum
Zahranicnich Sluzeb MSMT (Czech Republic).
Coordinating institution:
European Schoolnet (Belgium)
Key words: Teacher education
Description:
The project was targeted at secondary school students and teachers and established a
Science Pedagogy Innovation Centre for Europe (SPICE). The main objective was to
collect, analyse, spread innovative pedagogical practice, especially those which
enhance pupils' motivation for science studies.
The SPICE project is a continuation of cooperation started under the project INSPIRES
(Innovative Science Pedagogy in Research and Education). The SPICE project involves
teachers and experts from 16 participating countries. In each country one maths
and/or science teacher has been selected to be part of the SPICE teacher panel,
which, along with a science expert panel, has helped the SPICE partners in defining 24
good practices, so that they could be transposed and tried out in schools in other
countries. Each selected good practice was tested in more than one country.
The project is a successful example of how teachers from across Europe can work and
learn from each other. The positive feedback received proves the need for
collaborative projects that allow teachers to exchange good practices and are an
important opportunity for professional development, encouraging teachers to reflect
on their own practice. The importance of assessment methods in IBSME should be
stressed and more collaborative efforts are needed. The partners and teachers that
participated in the project will furthermore continue to disseminate the results of the
project via conferences, presentations, teacher training, etc.
Duration:
2009 – 2011
Webpage:
http://spice.eun.org/web/spice
http://eacea.ec.europa.eu/llp/projects/public_parts/documents/comenius/com_mp_50
2244_spice.pdf
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