Hands-on Science
Science
Education and Sustainable Development
Conference Details
Following the success of our previous conferences
HSCI’2004 in
Ljubljana and HSCI’2005 in Crete,
attended by 320 participants from 27 countries on 5 continents, with 133
different presentations, the third Hands-on Science
annual conference, HSCI’2006, will be held in Braga, Portugal, (and at further locations in the northwest of the Iberian Peninsula),
from September 4 to 9, 2006.
The Conference will provide the ideal
opportunity for presentation of work, of all kinds, related to Science
Education. The aim of the Conference is to promote an open broad exchange of
experiences on good practices, syllabus and policy matters, social factors and
the learning of science, and other issues related to Science Education and its
development… through an enlarged use of hands-on experiments in the classroom. In addition, results from the activities
developed during the first three years of the Hands-on Science Network will be
reported and discussed and conclusions established
…towards a better Science Education….
Proposals are invited for
oral or poster presentations, workshops and group discussions, Comenius 1 and 2 project proposals, hands-on experiments
demonstration sessions and Science Fair booths and exhibitions (all accepted
contributions will be published in electronic format and in printed form).
Topics
The Conference will cover the largest variety of
topics relevant to Science Education.
All fields of Science and Technology are covered:
Physics, Chemistry, Geography, Geology, Zoology, Botanic, Ecology, Archeology, Astrophysics,
Mathematics, Robotics, Computer Science, Sociology…
A few
reference topics (other to be added on participants’ suggestion):
§
Science education. New challenges, new perspectives,
innovative solutions.
§
The role of Science in School’ education.
§
The need for and effective learning of Science and
Technology.
§
Hands-on Science. Teaching and learning.
§
Integrated and interdisciplinary approaches in Science
Education.
§
Hands-on active learning of Science.
§
Constructivism.
§
Conceptual Learning of Science.
§
Developing basic investigative skills and the
scientific method.
§
Teaching and training language and communication
skills, maths and reasoning based on S&T issues.
§
Science and Society.
§
Perceptions of Science: students, school, society.
§
Linking students’ life to Science or “where S&T
meets our every day life”.
§
Communicating S&T research.
§
Scientific literacy.
§
The access of women to science.
§
Life-long learning of science.
§
Science, citizenship, ethics and social responsibility.
§
Science and development. Constraints and perspectives.
§
The European dimension in Science Education.
§
EU’ diversity in Science education.
§
Science Education and the development of the enlarged
European Union.
§
Science education in primary schools.
§
How is Science learned in secondary schools?
§
Science education and technical/vocational studies.
§
Science fairs and festivals. For motivation and much
more…
§
§
The Information Society and Science education
§
School’ Science education and scientific research
§
Environment and sustainable development
§
Hands-on experiments
§
Reports on in-classroom hands-on experiences
§
Support material for in-school hands-on experiments
§
Computer simulations as complement and inducer of
hands-on experiments
§
Multimedia ICT and virtual tools for school’s science
education
§
Technologies and Science
§
Science and art.
§
Collaboration projects and positive cooperation
experiences in school’s science education.
Types of communications
Oral presentations
Poster presentations
Remote videoconference
Case study informal presentations
Demonstrations (including experiments, theatralisations,
computer simulations, virtual experiments or multimedia material)
Experiments’ presentation at the Science Fair
Workshop communication
Oral
and poster presentations
Oral
presentations may be between 10 and 40 minutes in duration. Presentations using
video conference links are possible. We expect that poster presentations will
be available for the full duration of the meeting. An abstract of up to 300
words describing the main points and conclusions of the presentation should be
provided as soon as possible and no later than
Discussion workshops and
hands-on experiments demonstrations
Sessions
will be scheduled for the discussion of particular topics (such as scientific
literacy, women and science, science and society, ethics, R&D, life-long
learning, science museums and informal learning) presentation and demonstration
of experiments (hopefully, also presented in the Science Fair). Proposals for other
workshops’ topics are encouraged. A short abstract of no more than 500 words
(with affiliation and figures) describing the activity must be submitted by
Science fair and robotics
festival
Schools,
research institutions, commercial companies, science clubs, teams and or groups
of students or teachers, and individuals may prepare a booth to present their
work at the Conference’ Science Fair. A short abstract of no more than 500
words (two pages including affiliation and figures) describing the activity
must be submitted by
Informal discussions are
considered of utmost importance.
An extensive and diversified social and
cultural program will be provided.
Parallel events
Several major events will run in parallel and will
partially overlap:
· Regular HSCI’2006
conference
· Socrates/Comenius Contact Seminar “Building Bridges. Towards an improved Science Education”
· Conceptual
Learning of Science (CoLoS) meeting
· Workshops:
International Workshop on “Science Education and Research”
Joint HSCI/On-the-Edge Workshop on " The
theory-practice gap: building a sociological bridge"
Joint HSCI/AMONET, 2nd International Workshop on “The Access of Women to
Science”
2nd International Workshop on “Science literacy and life-long learning”
· 1st
European Science Fair
· Robotics
Festival and “2º Encontro de Desporto
Robótico”
· Tutorials
and hands-on training courses for school’ teachers:
Joint HSCI/AESTITI training course on "School' Robotics"
Joint HSCI/AESTITI training course on "Elementary Optics"
Joint CoLos/HSCI training course on "How to
prepare SCORM compliant e-learning courseware"
Joint CoLos/HSCI training course on "Using
and Adapting OSP- and Physlet-Based Materials for an
Interactive Classroom"
Training course on “Data Acquisition and Processing in School Laboratories
Using Virtual Instrumentation”
Training course on “Computer Graphics and Virtual Reality in Science
Education”
· Seminar (portuguese): Seminário “Educação para a Ciência em Portugal” (joint organization of the “Fundação Rotária Portuguesa” and the “Hands-on Science
network”).
Conference Fee
Regular fee
…………......................................................................................................
150€ (200€ for registrations
after May 15)
Reduced fee for school’ teachers and
students.........................................................100€
Reduced fee for school’ teachers and students presenting a communication
........50€
(These fees may be fully
waived, upon early request)
Accompanying person fee …………………………………………………………………..….80€
Further
conference fee reduction and other financial support (travel, lodging…) may be
awarded upon request for works of exceptional quality and significance. All
requests should be made as soon as possible before
Regular
registration includes: lunch (the 4th to the 8th) and coffee breaks (the 4th to
the 9th), transfer to and from Vila do Gerês,
welcome and farewell dinners; CDROM and or DVD and paper copy of the conference
proceedings; Access to all sessions, workshops and tutorials (subjected to
previous registration -email
Reduced
fee registration does not include paper copy of the conference proceedings.
Saturday's
seminar (in Portuguese) requires a separate registration (www.hsci.info/hsci2006/seminarioFRP.htm,
available late June).
Deadlines
Abstract’ submission deadline:……………………….…..……...……May
29, 2006
Until June 24 late
submissions might be accepted depending on space availability and on the
quality of the work submitted.
Notification of
acceptance: …… up to one week from submission, from
Deadline (final) for
submission of manuscripts: . ….………………...…..
Language
English is the official language of
the Conference. Real-time translation (from French, German, Italian, Spanish
and from and to Portuguese), will be available for the opening session some
workshops and discussion groups.
Abstracts
received before the 12th March will also be translated into English,
as it will happen with a selection of the best manuscripts submitted.
Contacts
Inquiries
should be addressed to the Conference Chair, Professor Manuel Filipe Costa, Universidade do
Phone:
+351253604334/20, Fax: +351253678981, Email: hsci2006@hsci-pt.com or