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PUBLICATION INFORMATION

TITLE OF PUBLICATION
SETTING UP A SCIENTIFIC SCHOOL PROJECT AS A METHOD OF INCREASING STUDENTS’ MOTIVATION FOR STUDYING NATURAL SCIENCES AND ECOLOGY
NAME OF AUTHOR(S)
Maria Nikolova
NAME OF PUBLISHER
KREDO 3M, Gabrovo, Bulgaria
YEAR OF PUBLICATION
2013
LANGUAGE OF PUBLICATION
English
PUBLICATION TYPOLOGY
Conference Article
SIZE OF THE PUBLICATION
3 – 10 pages
DESCRIPTION OF CONTENTS
The paper reports the experiment of a team from the National Aprilov High School (Gabrovo, Bulgaria) to increase the motivation of students interested mainly in the humanities for the natural science subjects through the development of a school project.
The aim of the project entitled “Science from Granny’s Chest Drawers” is to build a bridge between present days’ science and technology and the history of Bulgarian crafts of the mid and the late 19th century. The old technology of braiding and dyeing woolen threads is interpreted attractively and unconventionally on modern scientific level. The project activities include the use of the authentic “chark” equipment for braiding woolen threads. It has been restored to the way it looked in the 19th century when it was used. Woolen threads are coloured with natural dyes obtained from plants and herbs gathered by the project participants. A small model of the wool-braiding workshop shows how the equipment works driven by the mechanical force of water.
The final outcome of the project has been identified as positive with regard to students’ attitude towards natural sciences and motivation to learn. Students developed ability to deal with scientific literature, to work in a team, extended their knowledge of chemistry and developed deeper interest in natural sciences, acquired knowledge, skills and competences that will benefit their future development.
REVIEWER’S COMMENTS ON THE PUBLICATION
The development of the project proved to be a good practice and a successful method of enhancing students’ motivation and altering their attitude towards natural sciences and ecology.
WHERE TO FIND IT
Proceedings of International Conference on Innovative Learning in Chemistry, 5th of December 2012, Prague, Czech Republic
NAME OF THE REVIEWING ORGANISATION
Technical University of Gabrovo

Comments about this Publication

Your comments are welcome


Date: 2014.05.16

Posted by Rose Lawlor (Ireland)

Message: Science From Granny’s Chest Drawers
This paper is about a team in a secondary school that set out to grab the interest of students that would otherwise study the humanities and try and get them interested in natural science.
In Bulgaria students’ uptake of science subjects has reached an alarming low.
The team set out to draw attention to the everyday application of the natural sciences. The project wanted to include physics chemistry and biology.
The project developed between 2011 and 2012 and involved 15 students aged 16 to 18.
They studied old methods of dyeing wool using an assortment of locally-grown plants and herbs.
They used old methods to make the threads and spin the threads onto spools.
The physics of the machinery was studied and the chemistry of the yarns and their reactions with the various dyes was investigated.
The students ended up making bracelets and what I understand to be coats-of-arms from the yarns produced.
They made a multimedia presentation of their work. Put on a play to tell the story of yarn production and dyeing.
They set up an exhibition for a local museum.
They have a website www.projectsosnag.uni.me
The students showed great interest in all aspects of the program – from fund-raising which proved difficult to learning about the various plants and tools to making website, producing plays etc.
The paper does not let us know if the program was successful from the point of view of increasing interest in the natural sciences.
I found this story very interesting and I thought it was a very clever way of catching the students’ attention – definitely the culture and historical aspects would get the attention of those with a leaning towards the humanities. But I think that doing a study like this with only fifteen students is not a sufficient number to make an argument for its success.

Date: 2014.04.09

Posted by Helena Strýčková (Czech Republic)

Message: The paper named Setting up a scientific school project as a method of increasing students’ motivation for studying natural science and ecology was presented during International Conference on Innovative Learning in Chemistry at ICT Prague by Maria Nikolova.
The paper reports the experiment of a team from the National Aprilov High School to increase the
motivation of students interested mainly in the humanities for the natural science subjects through the development of a school project.
I like the idea to connect local and traditional workmanship with sciences in an interdisciplinary manner. There were involved biology, chemistry as well as physics disciplines. Students learned how to deal with the bibliography, how to created a website, how to work in groups and many many more.
I find it relevant and useful.

Date: 2014.04.07

Posted by Laurent Gruber (Belgium)

Message: This publication exposes the successful results of a school project aimed at building a bridge between new technologies and the history of Bulgarian crafts and at increasing humanity students’ interest towards scientific subjects. It is very relevant because it shows how it is possible through new technologies to give students accessibility to the detailed mechanical and chemical processes of various experiments. This can be included in the new approach of teaching the cultural and educational aspects of sciences.
The critical aspect of this project is the fund-raising, which is not easy in this period of economic crisis, and the lack of interest of private businesses for children creative development. This anyways has been solved by raising money through sponsors and charity campaigns run by students.
The publication provides teachers with all the information about the building up of the project, by following a step-by-step procedure describing every point. This example can be applied to all humanity subjects, such as history of art, literature, languages at secondary school.
Concerning the use of ICT tools, the publication introduces as the two last steps of the procedure the preparation of a multi-media presentation of the projects and the suggestions on how to build the website project; all this is useful for implementation of future projects by school teachers.

Date: 2014.04.03

Posted by Anna Fedešová (Slovakia)

Message: This publication describes very interesting teaching approach based on experiential learning as active involvement of a 15 small group of students and their physics, chemistry and biology teachers in the realization of a school project. Project consists in recovering traditional craft techniques typical of the Gabrovo area, their in-depth study through the scientific topics as physics and chemistry, the production of hand made crafts and finally the setup of a show, an exposition and a website about the experience. This is a good example of a teaching approach of scientific subjects which it can be successful in stimulating students’ interest, increase their motivation and create positive attitudes towards science. Positive characteristics of this type of teaching approach are its interdisciplinary character, its historical aspects and the active collaboration with a non-formal educational structure and publication presents very clearly the multiple project goals which involve the development and cultivation of numerous abilities and qualities of the students. We have not very much information about teaching methodologies or about usiong ITC but the students built up a website ans from this point of view is project sucessfull.

Date: 2014.03.31

Posted by Sanakis Ioannis (Greece)

Message: In the present work, an interesting approach to increase the motivation of students for the natural science is described. The project, carried out by a Bulgarian high school team, was based on the idea to connect local and traditional workmanship with sciences in an interdisciplinary manner. Basic disciplines such as Biology, Chemistry and Physics were involved. Environmental issues were also considered. The project was carried out in a period of one school year and involved 15 high school students.
In principle, this approach is very attractive and it is applicable to societies and communities with specific local traditional expertise. Apart from the work carried out by the school community (teachers and students) a number of additional conditions should be fulfilled for successful results. The issue of funding is mentioned and the collaboration of out of school organizations such as an open-air museum is acknowledged. It appears that the local governmental authorities were not significantly involved.
The publication constitutes a useful contribution although it does not give details regarding several aspects of the project. For instance, it specifies the scientific fields covered by the project: Biopolymers and their mechanical properties, natural chemical extracts, physical principles of the machineries etc. This requires that the science teachers involved in such specialized topics are well prepared. It is not clear how that was achieved.
The science and technology related to a specific traditional and local craft might not be fully explored and understood. Such projects may serve to develop the inquiring skills of the students, a major task of the educational process and the essence of scientific research.

Date: 2014.03.29

Posted by Stamatis Kappatos (Greece)

Message: This paper refers to an \'experiment\' carried out in Bulgaria, and describes an alternative teaching method and approach to what we call ‘meaningful knowledge’ in High School students .This \'experiment \' was conducted using the ‘project’ method in “National Aprilov High School-Gabrovo”. The same learning approach is applied to the Greek Educational System for the last three years, with results that are scaled across the range from \' less \' to \'more satisfactory\' and the assessment and evaluation of this is expected to happen in the next years as, more data have to be gathered. Nevertheless, I believe that in Greece, we can use the example of implementation this - neighboring country’s -‘school project’ and (why not?) introduce a customized version of it! The title of the project is \'Science from Grandmother Drawers\' and its multidisciplinary approach (through cooperation of teachers of Physics, Chemistry , Biology ) aims to familiarize graduate students with the (very large in extent ) world of Natural Sciences through their interest in Human Sciences (History , Literature , Art , Tradition etc). The objective is to expose students to how much attractive Natural Sciences can be, how dealing with Natural Sciences can create long -term empirical knowledge and how this can be achieved even if their main interests are not associated directly with them - at least at first sight .
Specifically, the students practiced in:
1) Traditional knitting and dyeing wool yarns. At the same time, they got able to learn how people used them in the past and to \'interpret\' how technology is developed (in this era) from past until today.
2) Weaving yarn using old time equipment called \'Chark\'.
3) Participating in new activities, so they developed new skills and abilities such as: finding sponsors (which is especially difficult in times of economic crisis, where interest in child / adolescent creativity is certainly not a prior interest !), working in groups, in collaboration with their teachers and with the population of the city of Gabrovo, showcasing their work , expressing themselves artistically , constructing a website ....
The effort is ultimately characterized as positive, as it is thought to increase the motivation of students in relation to the Natural Sciences ,as for example :
- They learned how to deal with the bibliography that is required by a project
- They expanded their knowledge in Physics, Chemistry and Biology ( eg finding dyes from local herbs , processed yarn thereon , equipment operation etc)
- They expressed themselves artistically
- They created a website
- They understood the direct relationship between Natural Sciences and everyday life , in nowadays and in the past as well
- They learned to work in groups
- They got strongly interested for the environment and ecology .
I recommend it for immediate use (after the necessary modifications)!

Date: 2014.03.25

Posted by Papatheodosiou Kalliopi (Greece)

Message: The publication describes an experiment of a student team. The purpose of this project is to increase the students’ interest in natural sciences. There is an attempt to connect science and technology to everyday life and tradition. The most positive aspect of this project is its interdisciplinary character between biology, physics and chemistry. The students work cooperatively. The outcome of the project is that the students understood the importance of natural sciences and the relation between science and everyday life. Students acquired knowledge, skills and competences that will be useful for their future. They also have studied scientific literature and applied what they had learnt in their experiment. The publication describes in detail the methods that were used so that it could be relatively easily by applied with students in our own classes as well.
The course “project” has also been introduced in the Greek educational system during the last 3-4 years. It requires a lot of organizational skills from the teacher(s) involved as well as the ability to inspire students to work cooperatively. In my opinion, even though it can be difficult at first, it is worth trying to involve students in small scientific projects via which they can develop several skills, as long as the work to be done is carefully checked and meticulously organized.

Date: 2014.03.04

Posted by Anna Pitto (Italy)

Message: The publication describes a project that consists in recovering traditional craft techniques typical of the Gabrovo area, their in-depth study through the standard school subjects (physics, chemistry), the production of hand made crafts and finally the setup of a show, an exposition and a website about the experience. 15 secondary high school pupils together with their teachers in scientific subjects took part in the project.
The most relevant aspect, for me at least, is the application of common school discipline to the understanding of everyday facts and phenomena; this way one can discover interest in the subjects and improve their skills by having to explain specific facts.
The critical point the project started from was the little motivation and even less scientific competences on the part of the students.
In carrying out the activities, the difficulty in finding funds is mentioned; this was solved thanks to fundraising and by finding sponsors.
There is nothing explicit about teaching methodologies nor about recent developments in chemistry; nor there is anything explicit about ICTs, but in the latter part of the project the students built up a website: this experience, if carried out properly, is probably much more meaningful than the simple use of computers.
This publication, not showing much in detail, is not immediately useful, but can be useful food for thought about an approach that might prove effective.

Date: 2014.02.25

Posted by Doumkou Fotini (Greece)

Message: This publication provides a good example of a teaching approach of scientific subjects which, if properly designed and executed, it can be successful in stimulating students’ interest, increase their motivation and create positive attitudes towards science.
It is a teaching approach based on experiential learning via the active involvement of a small group of students (15 in total) and their physics, chemistry and biology teachers in the realization of a school project, named “Science from Grandmother’s Drawer”. Some of the positive characteristics of this type of teaching approach are its interdisciplinary character, its historical aspects and the active collaboration with a non-formal educational structure, namely the “Etar” ethnographic open-air museum.
What I found very useful in this publication is that gives quite detailed information on the different project phases and their contents. In addition, the publication presents very clearly the multiple project goals which involve the development and cultivation of numerous abilities and qualities of the students. The project implementation seems to have been quite successful in increasing students’ motivation for engaging in natural science studying and further learning. Some more concrete evidence justifying the projects’ success (e.g. analysis of students’ questionnaires or reference to specific testimonials) would be greatly appreciated.
Overall, this is a very nice and useful publication, closely relevant with the Chemistry is All Around Network objectives.

National Reports on successful experiences to promote lifelong learning for chemistry The national reports on chemistry successful experiences to promote lifelong learning for chemistry are now available on the related section of the project portal. The reports presents examples of successful experiences in the partner countries and the results of testing of ICT resources with science teachers.

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