Conference on scientific literacy

A three-day conference on scientific literacy and improving science standards opened yesterday in St Julians.

The conference is being organised by the EU Comenius 3 network HSci Hands on Science, whose aim is to contribute to the innovation and improvement of science and technology teaching at primary, secondary and vocational schools by hands-on experimental practice in the classroom.

The project strives to bring the active learning of science into the classroom and into the soul and spirit of the European schools.

Suzanne Gatt from the Faculty of Education, University of Malta, and Charles Sammut, from the Education Division, are the local partners in this EU-funded project. The conference is also being supported by the Ministry of Education and the Malta Council for Science and Technology.

HSci is coordinated by Manuel Filipe P.C.M Costa from the University of Minho, Portugal, and the partners come from Belgium, Cyprus, Greece, Malta, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Spain and the UK.

HSci is now in its second year and this is the second workshop being organised.

Last year a number of local schools participated in hands-on science activities and the network hopes to have more schools joining this year.

Further information about the network can be found at www.hsci.info/