Universidad de Almería – Sensociencia

Sensociencia Team at the University of Almeria.

A research group focus on teachers professional development to design, implement and evaluate STEM Model-based inquiry instructional sequences in the University level and Primary and Secondary Schools. We also research about Teaching Core Practices and its application to Pre-service and in-service teacher training.

SensoCiencia is a Spanish research group from the University of Almeria framed within the current recommendations of integrating understanding the ideas of science with engagement in scientific practices, as they build citizens’ proficiency and appreciation for science, imply a richer and more complex reasoning, give an opportunity to reflect on the status of their own knowledge and their understanding of how science works, and can be more inclusive and motivating by embracing an instruction encompassing gender, culture, and emotions aspects.

Generally, these practices are not widely implemented in science classrooms, and, if they exist, are limited to hands-on activities but forgetting minds-on activities. Accordingly, the aim of SensoCiencia Team is promoting scientific practices by focusing on the design, implementation, and evaluation of micro-sequences of activities “Sens-pills” (1.5 hours) that are implemented in different contexts:

• in (Primary and Secondary School) pre-service teacher training programs to promote hands-on and minds-on activities in their future teaching. Learning and emotional self-reflection are incorporated in the sequences, letting pre-service teachers to perceive and self-regulate their learning and emotions, making them aware of what they feel when they are experiencing this approach.
• in (Primary and Secondary School) in-service teachers’ classrooms, with their own students, to give them the opportunity of recognizing the effect of scientific practices on students’ learning, engagement and emotions.

Different instruments have been designed to test the Sens-pills efficiency. Our research results show pre-service teachers learn scientific contents from real contexts that make sense to them, and reflect on the emotions and experienced learning. Furthermore, in-service teachers are aware of scientific practices effectiveness regarding learning scientific contents (key ideas and epistemic knowledge) and their students’ engagement and motivation, so it’s reasonable to assume that Sens-Pills implementation can work as “evidence” of the advantages of developing scientific practices in their classrooms. This has relevance, when considering that being aware of the real advantages of teaching approaches, is essential for teachers to decide to incorporate them into their teaching practice.