PUBLICATION INFORMATION
TITLE OF PUBLICATION
HOUSE OF SCIENCES - THE GULBENKIAN PORTAL FOR SCIENCE TEACHERS (CASA DAS CIêNCIAS – PORTAL GULBENKIAN PARA PROFESSORES EM CIêNCIA)
NAME OF AUTHOR(S)
Elisabete Fernandes Linhares
NAME OF PUBLISHER
Educação, Formação & Tecnologias (julho, 2013), 6 (1), 99‐103
LANGUAGE OF PUBLICATION
Portuguese
PUBLICATION TYPOLOGY
Research
TARGET GROUP OF PUBLICATION
Young People, Researchers, Teachers, Policy Makers
SIZE OF THE PUBLICATION
3 – 10 pages
DESCRIPTION OF CONTENTS
This publication describes the portal Casa das Ciências (“House of Sciences”) that results from a project promoted by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation and it is destined to Science teachers, from primary school to secondary school, that teach in Portuguese.
According to the author, this project aims to integrate the use of information technologies in the teaching and learning processes of the diverse educational actors. To accomplish this, the portal provides a space for sharing and publishing resources, developed by many education professionals, that are scientifically and pedagogically validated.
Some numbers are presented regarding the portal, registered in February 2013:
- 1939 published materials;
- 1337690 visitors;
- 276429 downloads of materials.
One of the largest advantages pointed out is the process of peer revision that certifies the materials made available at the portal. Another important feature is the revision of international resources that are translated and adapted by specialized teams so that they are available in Portuguese.
In the second section, the structure and organization of the portal is described. In the third section, the type of available resources is detailed: documents, multimedia, hypertext, applications and presentations. They are classified in a given subject (e.g. Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics) and a brief description of the resource is accompanied by its characterization in terms of interactivity, duration, thematic and school year.
Two other features that complement the portal are also described:
- The scientific encyclopaedia in Portuguese, WikiCiências.
- A database of images that can be freely used by teachers in the classroom context.
Finally, the author concludes with some final considerations related to the importance of the project in providing a library of digital resources that are reliable, diversified and free. The significance of the peer-reviewing process is also stressed. Among other aspects, the author also mentions the importance of the strategies used by teachers when integrating the resources in the classroom so that a positive impact in the teaching/learning process is achieved.
REVIEWER’S COMMENTS ON THE PUBLICATION
This paper describes a very successfully experience in supporting the use of information technologies by Portuguese science teachers. The portal “Casa das Ciências” presents specific features that are very useful and user friendly. The following are highlighted:
- the organization and easy access to materials for a given topic/subject.
- the available materials are peer-reviewed.
- the availability of international resources that are translated into Portuguese and adapted by specialized teams.
Two other tools that complement the portal are also very useful, organizing science information both for teachers and students:
- The scientific encyclopaedia in Portuguese, WikiCiências.
- A database of images that can be freely used by teachers in the classroom context.
NAME OF THE REVIEWING ORGANISATION
Instituto Politécnico de Bragança
Comments about this Publication
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