Interdisciplinary Science Education, Technologies and Learning: Terms of Reference

Focus and Scope

One key feature of the ‘Interdisciplinary Science Education, Technologies and Learning’ (ISETL) group will be opportunities to work in ‘interdisciplinary’ ways. This includes doing leading edge research and knowledge transfer where ‘fields converge’, taking our expertise beyond traditional disciplinary boundaries, and communicating our innovations to colleagues in other professions and contexts. At the same time, some of the biggest challenges we face, as scholars in Education, are located around Science and Technology because they are more than a focus for our educational work and intellectual endeavours; they have become ‘paradigms’ of our culture. The thinking and ‘systems’ they have developed over three hundred years have come to dominate our political, personal, social and professional lives, in complex ways. Deeply permeating our moral and ethical lives, and yet so often ‘incommensurable’ with them.

A second key feature of the Group will be the cultivation of a critical take on these issues, and challenging our students, collaborators and partner institutions to do this alongside us, in a wide range of endeavours. This will be a major ‘project’ of the group, as it is a major pragmatic and intellectual project in our culture. The Group will support and foster action/practitioner research, opportunities for experience of preparing funding applications, for collaborative writing and publishing, for the development of innovative research-related high quality teaching programmes, and for doctoral and post-doctoral work. Learning and Education with technologies is also a central interest of the Group, and provides a strong added dimension to the scholarship opportunities available to members. The scope of the Group will be higher education and schools; our vision will be international and inclusive. There will be opportunities to link curriculum, research, and CPD expertise, and participate in the development of a new open access e-Journal focused on the intellectual and practitioner interests of group members as these evolve.

Research, Knowledge Transfer, and Public Engagement

The Interdisciplinary Centre for Research and Teaching in STEM Education (ICRTSE) is the Faculty research centre with interests closely related to those of ISETL. It has well-established links with government, research councils, commercial companies, SSERC, and our own DACE and SCRE. It is engaged in knowledge transfer, research and public engagement, as well as doctoral and postgraduate teaching.

The Centre provides an exciting opportunity to build upon and co-ordinate the University's existing international reputation in the fields of the contributing disciplines, as well as establishing a new international reputation for research in STEM Education. By bringing these activities together it creates a nexus of academic expertise to address its research aims, including:

1. To research, innovate, develop and sustain STEM Education, with a coherent interdisciplinary focus, within the University of Glasgow, across Scotland and internationally
2. To undertake, and publish internationally, innovative funded research and evaluation in STEM Education across all sectors, and including professional education.
3. To research develop and evaluate Public Engagement and Communication in STEM
4. To undertake critical and innovative policy analysis and development in relation to STEM Education, in the wider context of STEM Research and Education, nationally and internationally
5. To contribute to capacity building in the area of STEM Education through courses and programmes of postgraduate, doctoral and postdoctoral work in these areas (taught and research-based).

The Centre has made significant progress towards these aims with major success in ESRC’s prestigious ‘Technology Enhanced Learning’ call. The project (‘Inter-Life: interoperability and transition’) will investigate the use of leading-edge three-dimensional online technologies to support skills development by young people to enhance their management of life transitions. The award is a major achievement for the Centre, the Faculty and the University, and will help us to attract further funding in this area. Research capacity has been significantly developed through PhD scholarships within the Centre. For example, in obtaining RKT funding from Glaxo Smith Kline to establish a three-year PhD studentship to investigate innovative health education work being developed by the Glasgow Science Centre.

Teaching Activities

The Centre has already established RKT and Teaching links with Lund University in Sweden, University of Cape Town, South Africa, Mzuzu University, Malawi, and the Catholic University of Malawi. These links will help ISETL members with international Research and Knowledge Transfer activities that are planned for the year ahead. Research related teaching opportunities are also available through the MSc in Interprofessional Science Education and Communication, and the Postgraduate Certificate in Primary Science. Our expanding PhD student group offers a vibrant area to gain experience of supervision. Our Teaching and CPD can also serve as ‘evidence’ to inform our research.

Please note that the above was written as an initial indication of the likely scope of the Group. In the light of developments about Group membership, potential collaborations and other developments, the details of the actual scope and intentions of the Group may change and evolve.