Research Jelle De Schrijver

Abstract

How can secondary school students learn to reflect about science? A widening gap between scientific consensus and public opinion on topics such as climate change, vaccine safety or evolution, makes this question ever so relevant. Misconceptions about science contribute to the skepticism towards scientific knowledge and the rise of fake news. Science education can play a key role to turn the tide. The question is which classroom approach is effective. This PhD-project focuses on what the effect may be of allowing students to participate in dialogues about science. Because learning science is more than grasping scientific ideas such as evolution or the molecular structure of a virus. It also entails learning about the building processes of scientific knowledge. This knowledge about science is known as 'Nature of science' (NOS). A dialogue-based approach is poorly implemented or studied in NOS education. In particular, a dialogue technique from the field of humanities seems an interesting instrument to stimulate reflection about NOS in this context: the philosophical dialogue. This teaching method helps students reflect about big questions and clarify the meaning of concepts. The aim of this PhD project is to investigate and evaluate the effect of the implementation of philosophical dialogues on the NOS understanding of third grade secondary school students. First, the current didactic practices with regard to NOS in secondary science education are charted through a document study and teacher interviews. Then, a systematic literature review allows categorizing and analyzing current approaches towards NOS education. These steps will allow formulating the conditions for implementing dialogue-based NOS education in the scienceclass. Lastly, a quasi-experimental intervention study will allow introducing the philosophical dialogues about NOS in secondary school classes. This explorative study will allow measuring the effect of the intervention on the NOS understanding of students. Thus, the study increases our understanding of the impact of dialogue-based NOS-education. This longitudinal study is unique in its combination of two different didactic paradigms in the field of humanities and science didactics. The study allows studying and evaluating a new didactic approach and sharing the findings in the research community. In turn, the study can contribute to empower students in recognizing and debunking fake news about science.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: De Schrijver Jelle
• Co-promoter: Pinxten Annie
• Co-promoter: Van Petegem Peter

Research team(s)

• Didactica

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

This project studies how to make children (8-12 years old) more resilient against disinformation by focusing on media literacy, both on the side of (youth) journalists and on the side of children. For journalists, we develop a child policy and conversation guide: recommendations for responsible reporting on disinformation tailored to children. These recommendations include ethical guidelines on how to report on fake news tailored to children and how to respond to questions that come in around disinformation. On the children's side, we provide innovative educational materials focused on how children deal with disinformation. These methodologies and teaching aids can be used in the Media Literacy Curriculum in primary education. In addition, the project includes a checkpoint for disinformation on social media, to which children can send messages about which they have doubts. This checkpoint supports journalists, children, and researchers alike, as it allows disinformation to be monitored and countered via reactions and news reports. This research project is a collaboration between research groups (Arteveldehogeschool, Odisee, University of Antwerp), the news media sector (VVJ), the media wisdom field (imec-Mediawijs), knowledge institutions (Scivil, KeKi) and development partners (gameWise and Het Geluidshuis).

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: De Schrijver Jelle

Research team(s)

• Didactica

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

In secondary education, lessons on global warming can be quite challenging. Scientific ideas and ideological beliefs of pupils and teachers do sometimes clash. The confrontation of ideas can also be an opportunity. It is an opportunity to train young people's citizenship skills, especially the ability to dialogue with each other and understand people with different beliefs. Here, philosophical dialogues are a promising tool to channel the conversation between students. In this study, we identify the design criteria for managing dialogue on climate in a school context.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: De Schrijver Jelle

Research team(s)

• Didactica

Project website

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

This project strenghtnens teacher education by developing, implementing and evaluation an online platform that supports the learning, evaluatiing, and knowledg-sharing of in-service teacher-students, and their teacher-educators from the school they work in, and the college or university they study at. The oevrall aim of the project is to support and foster self-regulated learning of in-service teacher-students, as well as to optimize the guidance the in-service teacher-students receive from the school they work is and the university or college they study at.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Cuyvers Katrien
• Co-promoter: Casteleyn Jordi
• Co-promoter: De Schrijver Jelle
• Co-promoter: Smits Tom

Research team(s)

• EduBROn

Project type(s)

• Research Project