THE Digi-Science TEAM

Key Personnel and information

Address:  ULIKOOLI 18, 50090, Tartu, Estonia

Web: www.ut.ee

Contact Person: Leo Aleksander Siiman

E-Mail: leo.siiman@ut.ee

Partner Telephone: +372 737 64 43

University of Tartu

Established in 1632, the University of Tartu (UT) is the oldest and largest university in Estonia both in terms of staff and student numbers, as well as the volume of its teaching, research and development activities. As Estonia’s only classical university, UT embraces a wide variety of academic fields, including medicine. Today, UT comprises four faculties (Faculty of Arts and Humanities, Faculty of Social Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, and Faculty of Science and Technology) with 13,400 students (incl. ca 1500 foreign students) enrolled in its 197 research-based graduate and postgraduate degree programs. UT is the only university in the Baltic region that belongs to the top 1.2% of the world’s best universities, ranking 301st in the QS World University Rankings 2019, and within the 301–350 range in the Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings 2019. UT is placed 4th in the QS University Rankings: Emerging Europe and Central Asia (QS EECA University Rankings 2019). As Estonia’s national university, UT places great importance on international co-operation and partnerships with reputable research universities all over the world. Institutional cooperation with 80 partner universities in 31 countries extends from the Baltic Sea area to North America, East Asia and Australia. As a member of several high-level research university networks such as the European University Association (EUA), the Coimbra Group, The Guild of European Research-Intensive Universities, and an associate member of the League of European Research Universities (LERU), UT actively participates in the formulation of European science policy. UT also participates in the EU higher education programme Erasmus (since 1999). As of 2017, UT has signed around 1000 Erasmus+ bilateral exchange agreements (K103) with more than 500 HEIs across Europe and 93 bilateral agreements HEIs outside Europe (within Erasmus+ International Credit Mobility K107). UT is currently contributing as a partner to 34 Erasmus+ “Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices” projects and performing the role of a leading partner in 12 projects. The Centre for Educational Technology at the University of Tartu has expertise in the pedagogical knowledge related to technology-enhanced learning. The studies of the research group focus on improving learners’ problem solving and inquiry skills in web-based learning environments and in using smart technologies. The researchers involved in the current project have participated actively in international R&D projects, e.g. in EC 7th Framework projects Ark of Inquiry (as coordinator), Next Lab and Go-Lab, EL STEM and Comenius project Quantum Spin-Off. The results of all these projects have been distributed among teachers of Estonia and other countries, as the group has direct links with local and international teachers’ organizations.

Key Personnel and information

Address:  Ellinogermaniki Agogi, Research and Development Department, Dimitriou Panagea St. 15351 Pallini Greece

Web: http://www.ea.gr

Contact Person: Eleftheria Tsourlidaki

E-Mail: eleftheria@ea.gr

Partner Telephone: +30 213 007 0547

Ellinogermaniki Agogi

Ellinogermaniki Agogi (EA) is an educational organization of private law, officially recognized by the state. Established in 1995, the Research and Development Department of EA provides the test bed for research applications for the design, development and implementation of the research activities in education. The R&D Department acts therefore as an interface between the pedagogical research, the technological innovation and the school community. It focuses on the design, implementation and support of pedagogical and technological innovation in educational practice, both through internal research as well as through collaborations
with numerous educational, research and commercial institutions in Europe and the world. EA is an institutional member of EDEN (European Distance Education Network), of STEDE (Science Teacher Education Development in Europe), of ECSITE (European Network of Science Centres and Museums) network and a partner school of the German Excellence Network of STEM Schools “MINTEC”. The work of the R&D Department which currently employs 15 full time researchers (7 PhD level, 8 MSc) focuses also on the following areas:
a) Development of methodologies and empirical research to investigate processes of learning and knowledge acquisition in various subject matter areas (physics, mathematics, biology, history, etc.);
b) Design and development of educational learning scenarios based on the concept of inquiry learning, which has been developed and tested in various EU projects and applied within European educational communities;
c) Cooperation and collaboration with Universities, research centers, museums and private companies for the development and testing of educational material and software, using virtual and augmented reality;
d) Collaboration with computer science departments and artificial intelligence labs for the development of computational models and AI learning systems;
e) Design of technology-supported learning environments.
 

Key Personnel and information

Address:  Núcleo Interactivo de Astronomia, Largo dos Topazios, 48 – 3F, 2785 - 817 S. D. Rana, Portugal

Web:  http://www.nuclio.pt

Contact Person: Priscila Doran

E-Mail: priscila@nuclio.org

Partner Telephone: +351 214 537 440

Nucleo Interactivo de Astronomia

NUCLIO - Núcleo Interactivo de Astronomia (NUCLIO) is a non-profit association of professional astrophysicists, geologists, scienceteachers and amateur astronomers devoted to public outreach and science education. NUCLIO is an official training centre recognized by the Portuguese Ministry of Education. NUCLIO’s activities include: training teachers in the use of new technologies, innovative methodologies, promotion of real research in classroom where students are introduced to the scientific methods using robotic telescopes , data mining, and other advanced tools for science learning. In the last years NUCLIO has gained expertise in the use of serious games for science education and the integration of real science experiences in classroom environment, for example, the search for asteroids, the use of robotic telescopes, etc. This experience was part of an important programme, Universe Quest, an NSF funded project, devoted to inspire girls to take science careers using the construction of serious games as a tool to debate science. NUCLIO has been involved in several EC projects as national coordinator for Portugal and more recently as coordinator of international community building efforts, with the mission to support teacher in the uptake of innovative approaches for science learning and the use of more student centered approach such as the use of inquiry based learning methodology. NUCLIO is the coordinator of one of the largest astronomy education efforts in the world, the Galileo Teacher Training Program, a legacy of International Year of Astronomy 2009 endorsed by the International Astronomical Union and UNESCO and part of the Cosmic Light cornerstone of the UN endorsed International Year of Light 2015. The program reached since 2009 over 100 nations and 30 000 teachers. NUCLIO is the coordinator of the Portuguese Language Expertise Centre for the International Astronomical Union where, among other roles, has the responsibility of bringing innovation and capacity building to Portuguese speaking nations.

Key Personnel and information

Address:  University of Cyprus, Department of Educational Sciences, P. O. Box 20537, 1678 Nicosia, Cyprus

Web: http://www.ucy.ac.cy | http://www.ucy.ac.cy/resciteg/en/ 

Contact Person: Marios Papaevripidou

E-Mail: mpapa@ucy.ac.cy

Partner Telephone: +35 722 892 957

University of Cyprus

The University of Cyprus is a public University with approximately 4,000 undergraduate and 1,000 Master’s and PhD students. There are approximately 350 members of the faculty. The Department of Educational Sciences at the University of Cyprus is a large department with 22 members of the faculty, and 35 associate or assistant personnel. There are two undergraduate (primary and pre-primary school education) programs, a pre-service postgraduate secondary education program (across all subject domains taught in secondary education) and seven postgraduate programs at the Masters and PhD level (including science, math and technology education). In science education it’s active in research into inquiry learning, computer supported collaborative learning, physical and virtual laboratory experimentation, modelling, science curriculum development and  assessment, conceptual understanding and educational evaluation.xz

The Research in Science and Technology Education Group (ReSciTEG) at the University of Cyprus conducts a co-ordinated program of research, curriculum development and instruction. The group includes faculty, research associates, post-doctoral students and graduate students (both at the Master's and PhD level). The ReSciTEG members have a lot of experience with designing technology enhanced curriculum in the area of science education and with designing and implementing online inquiry oriented environments for science teaching and learning purposes. Additionally, the ReSciTEG members have a lot of experience with evaluating skills related to the cognitive and affective domain. The group is taking a leadership role in the efforts of the Ministry of Education of Cyprus to implement its eLearning strategy through a series of projects including topics, such as designing multimedia environments for science teaching and learning. 

Key Personnel and information

Address:  Ksiecia Janusza 64, Poland

Web: www.igf.edu.pl

Contact Person: Agata Goździk

E-Mail: gozdzik@igf.edu.pl

Partner Telephone: +48 226 915 650

Institute of Geophysics Polish Academy of Sciences

The Institute of Geophysics PAS (the highest evaluation category A+ received in 2017) is a scientific institution representing the mainstream of Polish basic research in Earth sciences. It is the only institution in Poland that performs monitoring of geophysical fields in seismology, geomagnetism, and selected areas of atmospheric physics. The main statutory tasks of the Institute include scientific research, development, monitoring and educational activities, as well as dissemination of the results of the research and their implementation in the economy.  The Institute manages the Polish Polar Station Hornsund, which is located on the coast of Isbjørnhamna in the southern part of Spitsbergen, the largest island of the Svalbard archipelago. It was established in 1957 and has been in operation year-round since 1978. It is the only year-round polish research observatory in the Arctic. The Station carries out monitoring programmes aimed at improving the understanding of the functioning of Arctic nature and the changes it undergoes. The programmes cover climatology, glaciology, hydrology, oceanography, seismology, geomagnetism, physics of the atmosphere, permafrost and geomorphic processes. The main objectives of the research are related to the evolution of the High Arctic environment with respect to Climate Change.

Key Personnel and information

Address:  Universidad de Deusto Avenida de las Universidades 24, 48007 Bilbao (Biskaya, País Vasco), Spain

Web:  http://www.deusto.es

Contact Person: Iratxe Mentxaka Sierra

E-Mail: iratxe.mentxaka@deusto.es

Partner Telephone: +34 944 13 90 73

Universidad De La Iglesia De Deusto

The University of Deusto is a private and fully recognized university with 997 members of staff and more than 12,000 students. Academic excellence of the University of Deusto is reflected in its commitment to innovative methods of learning, particularly in the new methodology of competence-based learning, own methodology of teaching, learning and assessment in a learner-based approach, and incorporation of new technologies as tools for quality education with an emphasis in meaningful learning and efficiency.

Since 2004, the Faculty of Engineering provides a remote laboratory WebLab-Deusto for technical curricula. The remote lab is integrated in the current teaching/learning with LMS, Facebook, and mobile devices. WebLab-Deusto offers different experiments in physics and technologies including logic games and one related to embed systems development. The group participates in many national and international projects, among others OLAREX, CLIPFLAX, E-Pragmatic, RexNet, CITA2, SocialTechBook, PiP-PDI, and sLabs. The Mobile Communications Research Group hosts SmartLab, a mobile and pervasive computing laboratory, where prototypes of ubiquitous computing and ambient intelligence scenarios are designed, deployed and tested in order to experiment with future environments where intelligence is provided by surrounding objects, especially mobile phones. The group has a strong background in the application of Semantic Web and Artificial Intelligence techniques to middleware for embed and mobile system in order to foster context-aware reactivity. MORElab participates in multiple projects, such as MUGGES, uService, CBDP, SABESS, PIRAmIDE, and ACROSS.

- ASSOSIATED PARTNERS - 

Key Personnel and information

Address:  Dimokratias 1, Rhodes 85132, Greece
Web: https://www.pre.aegean.gr/ 

Scientific Coordinator: Prof. Dr. Alivisos Sofos M.A. (Head of Department of Primary Education)

Contact Person: Panagiotis Kanichis

E-Mail: p.kanychis@aegean.gr 

Partner Telephone: +30  22 410 99 293

University of the Aegean - Department of Primary Education

The University of the Aegean was founded in 1918, was reestablished in 1984 and it is one of the newest Universities in Greece. Today, almost thirty years later, the University has 16 different active departments, 33 graduate programs and 1 curriculum by choice. It is ranked among the largest Universities in Greece. The University Unit of Rhodes hosts the School of Humanities consisting of the Departments of Primary Education, Sciences of Pre-school Education & Educational Design and Mediterranean Studies.

The objectives of the study program of the Department of Primary Education of the University of the Aegean are:

- To offer modern, innovative and flexible studies in Science of Education, tailored to the wider scientific, social and business needs
- To cultivate in the students and future teachers the spirit of search of knowledge, collective effort and democratic behavior.
- To contribute positively to the development of humanistic education, respect for human rights, as well as social and ecological awareness of tomorrow's teachers and citizens.