Over the last two decades, institutions for higher education such as universities and colleges have rapidly expanded and as a result have experienced profound changes in processes of research and organization. However, the rapid expansion and change has fuelled concerns about issues such as educators' technology professional development. Despite the educational value of emerging technologies in schools, the introduction has not yet enjoyed much success. Effective use of information and communication technologies requires a substantial change in pedagogical practice. Traditional training and learning approaches cannot cope with the rising demand on educators to make use of innovative technologies in their teaching. As a result, educational institutions as well as the public are more and more aware of the need for adequate technology professional development. The focus of this paper is to look at action research as a qualitative research methodology for studying technology professional development in HE in order to improve teaching and learning with ICTs at the tertiary level. The data discussed in this paper have been drawn from a cross institutional setting at Fontys University of Applied Sciences, The Netherlands. The data were collected and analysed according to a qualitative approach.
Out-of-school science educational activities, such as school visits to a science center, aim at stimulating pupils’ science talent. Science talent is a developmental potential that takes the form of talented behaviors such as curiosity and conceptual understanding. This dissertation investigates whether and how out-of-school science activities contribute to the elicitation, emergence, and development of pupils’ science talent. The context of this thesis is the Northern Netherlands Science Network, an alliance of primary schools, out-of-school science facilities, the university of Groningen, and the Hanze University of Applied Sciences (www.wknn.nl). Interviews with the schools on their starting position showed that adequate communication between schools and out-of-school facilities is necessary to coordinate the participants’ educational goals. Secondly, the elicitation and expression of science talent was studied in the micro-interactions between pupils and their educator (classroom teacher or facility instructor). To do so, a multivariate coding scheme was developed to measure Pedagogical Content Knowledge expressed in real-time interaction (EPCK). The interaction shows a variable pattern over time. Sometimes episodes of high-level EPCK — so-called talent moments — emerge, in which talented pupil behavior in the form of pupils’ conceptual understanding, and talent elicitation by the educator in the form of open teaching focused on conceptual understanding, determine one another. These talent moments only occur in activities that were prepared in the classroom and with educators who were trained to evoke conceptual understanding. Under these conditions, out of school science activities can contribute to the elicitation and development of science talent in primary school pupils.AB - Out-of-school science educational activities, such as school visits to a science center, aim at stimulating pupils’ science talent. Science talent is a developmental potential that takes the form of talented behaviors such as curiosity and conceptual understanding. This dissertation investigates whether and how out-of-school science activities contribute to the elicitation, emergence, and development of pupils’ science talent. The context of this thesis is the Northern Netherlands Science Network, an alliance of primary schools, out-of-school science facilities, the university of Groningen, and the Hanze University of Applied Sciences (www.wknn.nl). Interviews with the schools on their starting position showed that adequate communication between schools and out-of-school facilities is necessary to coordinate the participants’ educational goals. Secondly, the elicitation and expression of science talent was studied in the micro-interactions between pupils and their educator (classroom teacher or facility instructor). To do so, a multivariate coding scheme was developed to measure Pedagogical Content Knowledge expressed in real-time interaction (EPCK). The interaction shows a variable pattern over time. Sometimes episodes of high-level EPCK — so-called talent moments — emerge, in which talented pupil behavior in the form of pupils’ conceptual understanding, and talent elicitation by the educator in the form of open teaching focused on conceptual understanding, determine one another. These talent moments only occur in activities that were prepared in the classroom and with educators who were trained to evoke conceptual understanding. Under these conditions, out of school science activities can contribute to the elicitation and development of science talent in primary school pupils.
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Integrated curricula seem promising for the increase of attention on science and technology in primary education. A clear picture of the advantages and disadvantages of integration efforts could help curriculum innovation. This review has focussed on integrated curricula in primary education from 1994 to 2011. The integrated curricula were categorized according to a taxonomy of integration types synthesized from the literature. The characteristics that we deemed important were related to learning outcomes and success/fail factors. A focus group was formed to facilitate the process of analysis and to test tentative conclusions. We concluded that the levels in our taxonomy were linked to (a) student knowledge and skills, the enthusiasm generated among students and teachers, and the teacher commitment that was generated; and (b) the teacher commitment needed, the duration of the innovation effort, the volume and comprehensiveness of required teacher professional development, the necessary teacher support, and the effort needed to overcome tensions with standard curricula. Almost all projects were effective in increasing the time spent on science at school. Our model resolves Czerniac’s definition problem of integrating curricula in a productive manner, and it forms a practical basis for decision-making by making clear what is needed and what output can be expected when plans are being formulated to implement integrated education.
The pace of technology advancements continues to accelerate, and impacts the nature of systems solutions along with significant effects on involved stakeholders and society. Design and engineering practices with tools and perspectives, need therefore to evolve in accordance to the developments that complex, sociotechnical innovation challenges pose. There is a need for engineers and designers that can utilize fitting methods and tools to fulfill the role of a changemaker. Recognized successful practices include interdisciplinary methods that allow for effective and better contextualized participatory design approaches. However, preliminary research identified challenges in understanding what makes a specific method effective and successfully contextualized in practice, and what key competences are needed for involved designers and engineers to understand and adopt these interdisciplinary methods. In this proposal, case study research is proposed with practitioners to gain insight into what are the key enabling factors for effective interdisciplinary participatory design methods and tools in the specific context of sociotechnical innovation. The involved companies are operating at the intersection between design, technology and societal impact, employing experts who can be considered changemakers, since they are in the lead of creative processes that bring together diverse groups of stakeholders in the process of sociotechnical innovation. A methodology will be developed to capture best practices and understand what makes the deployed methods effective. This methodology and a set of design guidelines for effective interdisciplinary participatory design will be delivered. In turn this will serve as a starting point for a larger design science research project, in which an educational toolkit for effective participatory design for socio-technical innovation will be designed.
In June 2016, two Dutch SME companies which are active in the area of urban solid waste management approached the International Environmental Sciences department of Avans about the current R&D activities on urban solid waste management in cooperation with the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG) Brazil. The companies had interest in developing activities in Brazil, since they are aware of the great potential for exporting both knowledge and technology. Solid waste poses a major problem in Brazil which affects 200 million residents. The Brazilian municipalities collect around 71 million tons solid municipal waste on a yearly basis and only a tiny percentage of this collected waste gets recycled. As such. the overwhelming majority of the collected urban solid waste goes to landfills. Within the State of Minas Gerais there are 850 towns of which 600 have less than 20.000 residents and are agriculturally oriented. Current organic waste composting practices take place under very poor conditions (pathogens and weeds still remain in the compost) and most often the resulting compost product is not well received by its residential and agricultural consumers. As such there is huge room for improvement. The SME companies work with Avans and UFMG to address these challenges. The joint research team consisting of the two Dutch SME companies and the two Research and educational institutes have defined the following research question: What is the current status of organic solid waste management in Minas Gerais and how can cooperation between Brazil and the Netherlands result in a win-win for both countries? Two individual KIEM VANG proposals have been defined in order to address these challenges. The planned activities are a joint effort with professor R. T. de Vasconcelos Barros of the Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG) and are executed within the Living Lab Biobased Brazil program (www.biobasedbrazil.org).
Along with the rapidly growing number of disabled people participating in competitive sports, there is an increased need for (para)medical support in disability sports. Disabled athletes experience differences in body composition, metabolism, training load and habitual activity patterns compared with non-disabled athletes. Moreover, it has been suggested that the well-recognized athlete triad, and low energy availability and low bone mineral density in particular, is even a greater challenge in disabled athletes. Therefore, it is not surprising that sport nutritionists of disabled athletes have expressed an urgency for increased knowledge and insights on the nutritional demands of this group. This project aims to investigate energy expenditure, dietary intake, body composition and bone health of disabled athletes, ultimately leading to nutritional guidelines that promote health and optimal sports performance for this unique population. For this purpose, we will conduct a series of studies and implementation activities that are inter-related and build on the latest insights from sports practice, technology and science. Our international consortium is highly qualified to achieve this goal. It consists of knowledge institutes including world-leading experts in sport and nutrition research, complemented with practical insights from nutritionists working with disabled athletes and the involvement of athletes and teams through the Dutch and Norwegian Olympic committees. The international collaboration, which is a clear strength of this project, is not only focused on research, but also on the optimization of professional practice and educational activities. In this regard, the outcomes of this project will be directly available for practical use by the (para)medical staff working with disabled athletes, and will be extensively communicated to sport teams to ensure that the new insights are directly embedded into daily practice. The project outcomes will also be incorporated in educational activities for dietetics and sport and exercise students, thereby increasing knowledge of future practitioners.
