Articles for category "Education and Outreach"

The TROP ICSU project has been funded by the International Science  Council (ISC) during the first phase (2017-2019). The accomplishments of TROP ICSU, feedback from various stake-holders and future plans have been featured by ISC in an online article published in February 2020. Representative feedback received from various stake-holders such as participants of educators workshops, undergraduate students, members of partner unions and the motive behind the TROP ICSU project are included in this article. The article can be found here.

The Gender Gap project has been funded by the International Science  Council (ISC) during the first phase (2017-2019), along with several international science unions. The motive, accomplishments and key findings of the project have been featured by ISC in an online article published in February 2020.  The article can be found here.

The TROP ICSU project was represented at three sessions on climate education at the UN Climate Change Conference COP 25, held in Madrid from 2 December to 13 December 2019 under the Presidency of the Government of Chile and with logistical support from the Government of Spain.

TROP ICSU was invited to participate in 3 sessions on climate education at COP 25: at the IPCC-WMO pavilion, at the EU pavilion, and at the French pavilion.

The 'Conference on Global Approach to the Gender Gap in Mathematical, Computing and Natural Sciences: How to Measure It, How to Reduce It?' presented the results of a three-year collaborative project (2017-2019), funded by the International Council for Science, of eleven major scientific international unions and organizations including IUBS. Final meeting meeting included findings and acheivements, discussions over the resutls, conclusions and recommendations.

Presentation and reports of the conference are avaialble at: http://indico.ictp.it/event/8731/other-view?view=ictptimetable

Other information related to the project and the conference is available at:

https://gender-gap-in-science.org

https://www.ictp.it/about-ictp/media-centre/news/2019/11/gender-gap-science.aspx

The third TROP ICSU Working Group Meeting was held at the French Academy of Sciences (Académie des sciences, Institut de France), Paris, France on October 14 and 15, 2019. The meeting was attended by 21 participants, including Working Group members, collaborators, partners, and the Implementation Team members. Over two days, the project and its implementation were presented and reviewed, suggestions for further enhancement were discussed, and possible ideas for the continuation of the project in its next phase beyond December 2019 were discussed.

(Photo: IUBS)

On 1 August 2019, a Memorandum of Understanding for collaboration on climate change education was signed between the IUBS (as lead partner of the TROP ICSU project) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the United Nations system’s specialized agency for meteorology (weather and climate), operational hydrology, and related geophysical sciences.

On the occasion of the 33rd General Assembly and Centenary Year celebrations of IUBS at Oslo, Norway,the collaboration between IUBS/TROP ICSU and WMO was formally announced and cemented through the signing of an MoU between the two parties. The aim of the collaboration is to achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of Quality Education (SDG 4) and Climate Action (SDG 13) and to enrich the implementation of the One UN Climate Change Learning Partnership (UNCC:Learn).

This formal agreement for partnership is a significant and key milestone in achieving TROP ICSU’s goal of providing high quality, scientifically accurate educational resources for teachers to integrate climate change education with existing curriculum of all disciplines including Science, Mathematics, Social Sciences, and Humanities.

IUBS Climate Change Education Project TROP ICSU  participated at the United Nations High Level Political Forum 2019 (HLPF 2019) on Sustainable Development at the United Nations Headquarters on 11 July 2019 in a three-hour joint session with the International Federation of Social Workers (IFSW) and Harvard University. This session is titled "Practices and Approaches on quality education towards environment and climate action."

The TROP ICSU team facilitated a teachers workshop in Orsay, France on 28 June 2019 in collaboration with Paris-Sud University (Université Paris-Sud). The workshop was attended by 25 teachers.

The TROP ICSU team will conduct three teachers workshop in  Australia in May 2019. The first workshop will be conducted on 24th May with Monash University, the second one on 27 May with University of Melbourne and the third workshop will be conducted on 30th and 31st May with University of Adelaide.

(Image credit: Encyclopedia Britannica)

TROP ICSU was represented in two side events at the Forth Science, Technology and Innovation Forum for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) on 14th and 15th may 2019, held at United Nations Headquarters New York.

The TROP ICSU team conducted a teachers workshop in Cairo, Egypt in April 2019. This workshop was conducted in collaboration with our partner Academy of Scientific Research and Technology (ASRT), Egypt.

The TROP ICSU team conducted a teachers workshop in Pretoria, South Africa in April 2019. This workshop was conducted in collaboration with our partner International Science Council – Regional Office for Africa (ISC-ROA).    

A coordination meeting of the Gender Gap Project took place on 18 and 19 February 2019 in Berlin at the  Einstein Center Digital Future. The partners  presented the results of the different tasks and prepare The International Conference that will be held from 4th to 8th November 2019 at ICTP Trieste.

The TROP ICSU team conducted a workshop for teachers at Bhutan on 14th-15th February 2019, in collaboration with Center for Disaster Risk Reduction and Community Development Studies (CDRR&CDS), Royal University of Bhutan, Rinchending, Bhutan and Commission on Education and Outreach, IASPEI. Over 60 high school and undergraduate colleges/university teachers from Bhutan participated in this workshop.

ACT is a H2020 project for supporting “Communities of PrACTice for Accelerating Gender Equality and Institutional Change in Research and Innovation across Europe” running from 2018 to 2021.

We have prepared a short feedback channel for interested practitioners, academics and experts to form part of the ACT Communities of Practice. 

ACT is a H2020 project for supporting “Communities of PrACTice for Accelerating Gender Equality and Institutional Change in Research and Innovation across Europe” running from 2018 to 2021.

We have prepared a short feedback channel for interested practitioners, academics and experts to form part of the ACT Communities of Practice. 

The TROP ICSU project was represented at four sessions on climate change education at the 24th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP 24) in Katowice, Poland, on 13 and 14 December, 2018.

IUBS is one of the partners for a global project on "Gender Gap in Science : A Global Approach to the Gender Gap in Mathematical, Computing, and Natural Sciences: How to Measure It, How to Reduce It?"

IUBS is the Lead Partner and Implementation Agency for a global project on Climate Change Education - "TROP ICSU"

The first TROP ICSU workshop for teachers was held in collaboration with Sri Venkateswara College (University of Delhi), New Delhi, India, on October 13 and 14, 2018. The objective of the workshop was to introduce the participants to digital teaching resources for teaching topics in the Sciences, Mathematics, Social Sciences, and Humanities using climate-related examples, case studies, and activities.

In addition, participants would be invited to review the educational resources of the TROP ICSU project and to provide their feedback on the appropriateness and ease-of-use of the teaching tools and lesson plans.

80 undergraduate-level teachers participated in the workshop.

The meeting took place at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS) and at the Institut Henri Poincaré. Photo: IUBS

Members of the project "A Global Approach to the Gender Gap in Mathematical, Computing, and Natural Sciences: How to Measure It, How to Reduce It?" met in Paris, France, and representatives of the partner unions gathered in Paris on June 11-12 2018. They reflected on the project’s status and discussed the next steps and actions to be taken.

The TROP ICSU project (Trans-disciplinary Research Oriented Pedagogy for Improving Climate Studies and Understanding) is conducting a preliminary survey to understand how topics in climate science are currently discussed in the classroom in different parts of the world. It would take approximately 8-10 minutes to complete the short survey available in several languages (English, Catalàn, Chinese, Français, Deutsch, Hindi, Italiano, Japanese, Español).

Please participate in the Survey:

The TROP ICSU project (Trans-disciplinary Research Oriented Pedagogy for Improving Climate Studies and Understanding) is conducting a preliminary survey to understand how topics in climate science are currently discussed in the classroom in different parts of the world. It would take approximately 8-10 minutes to complete the short survey available in several languages (English, Catalàn, Chinese, Français, Deutsch, Hindi, Italiano, Japanese, Español).

Please participate in the Survey.

The 2018 Global Survey of Mathematical, Computing, and Natural Scientists as been launched on May 1^st, 2018. The survey in the project "A Global Approach to the Gender Gap in Mathematical, Computing, and Natural Sciences - How to Measure It, How to Reduce It?" will be open for answers until October 31^st, 2018. You are welcome to forward this link to the survey to your colleagues, men and women.

Welcome to the Global Survey of Scientists: English

Bienvenue dans l’enquête mondiale destinée aux scientifiques: French

Welcome to the Global Survey of Scientists: Chinese

Welcome to the Global Survey of Scientists: Russian

Bienvenido/a a la Encuesta mundial de científicos y científicas: Spanish

Welcome to the Global Survey of Scientists: Arabian 

Please participate in the Survey

The 2018 Global Survey of Mathematical, Computing, and Natural Scientists as been launched on May 1^st, 2018. The survey in the project "A Global Approach to the Gender Gap in Mathematical, Computing, and Natural Sciences - How to Measure It, How to Reduce It?" will be open for answers until December 31st 2018. You are welcome to forward this link to the survey to your colleagues, men and women.

Welcome to the Global Survey of Scientists: English

Bienvenue dans l’enquête mondiale destinée aux scientifiques: French

Welcome to the Global Survey of Scientists: Chinese

Welcome to the Global Survey of Scientists: Russian

Bienvenido/a a la Encuesta mundial de científicos y científicas: Spanish

Welcome to the Global Survey of Scientists: Arabian 

Please participate in the Survey

Participants of the 2nd Working Group meeting (f.l.t.r.): Daniel Waiswa, Rahul Chopra, Boram lee, France Caron, Aparna Joshi, sigbert Huber, Anita Nagarajan, Chris King, Nathalie Fomproix, Daniel Ramos, LS Shashidhara. Photo: IUBS

The 2^nd Working Group meeting of the "Trans-disciplinary Research Oriented Pedagogy for Improving Climate Studies and Understanding (TROP-ICSU)" project took place in Paris on 25-26 April 2018.

The implementation team presented the pedagogical resources developed so far and the information about teachers workshop. WG members further discussed enhancements in the resources and suggestions about wider dissemination of the TROP ICSU platform.

Meeting in Geneva. Photo: IUBS

The team of the "Trans-disciplinary Research Oriented Pedagogy for Improving Climate Studies and Understanding (TROP-ICSU)" project had a meeting with WCRP and WMO in Geneva on 21-22 February 2018. It presented the project and seeked partnership especially for the quality control of the teaching tools.

Sub-commitee meeting at the Royal Society, London (f.l.t.r.): Rahul Chopra, LS Shashidhara, France Caron, Iain Stewart, Anthony Turner, Chris King. Photo: IUBS

The sub-committee meeting within the "Trans-disciplinary Research Oriented Pedagogy for Improving Climate Studies and Understanding (TROP-ICSU)" project took place in London, UK, in December 2017 at the Royal Society, London.

Discussion

The sub-committee discussed design of teaching tool kits that are being developed, nature and duration of pilot workshops for educators on the use of tool-kits and changes/modifications to be made to questionnaire and ways to analyze responses.

IUBS sent expert to the following workshops to discuss the project "A Global Approach to the Gender Gap in Mathematical, Computing, and Natural Sciences: How to Measure It, How to Reduce It?" and the preparation of the survey Workshop in Taipei, Taiwan, 7-8 November 2017. IUBS supported the participation of Noriko Asumi (Japan) and Tien HuynH (Australia). 

IUBS supported the participation of Alejandra Gonzales (Chile) in a workshop in Bogota, Colombia, 22-24 November 2017.

IUBS supported the participation of Dianah Nalwanga (Uganda) and Heather Marco (South Africa) in a workshop in Cape Town, South Africa, 1-2 December 2017.

IUBS is one of the ten partners in the project with the title "A Global Approach to the Gender Gap in Mathematical, Computing, and Natural Sciences: How to Measure It, How to Reduce It?"

Rationale

Mathematical and natural sciences have long and honorable traditions of participation by highly creative women contributors. However, the percentages of women scientists remain shockingly low and there is a significant gender gap at all levels between women and men. Barriers to achievement by women persist, especially in developing countries.

Objectives

The project will produce sound data to support the choices of interventions that ICSU and member unions can feasibly undertake. It will provide evidence for informed decisions, including trends – since the situation for women continues to change around the world, with some negative developments – and will provide easy access to materials proven to be useful in encouraging girls and young women to study and work in these fields. Regional information about careers, jobs and salaries will be provided. The Joint global survey is planned to reach 45,000 respondents in more than 130 countries using at least 10 languages, while the Joint study on publication patterns will analyze comprehensive metadata sources corresponding to publications of more than 500,000 scientists since 1970. Contrasts and common ground across regions and cultures, less developed and highly developed countries, men and women, mathematical and natural sciences, will be highlighted.

Project's website

https://icsugendergapinscience.org/

TROP ICSU: Climate Change Education across the Curricula, across the Globe

Together with the International Union for Quaternary Science (INQUA) IUBS is the leading the Climate Change Education project TROP ICSU. The project was funded by the International Science Council (ISC) during the first phase 2017-2019.

Importance

Understanding the dynamics of Earth’s ecosystem and identifying measures to sustain it for the future requires immediate action with multidisciplinary approaches. Research efforts to identify key factors that affect the biodiversity and ecosystem functions and services need to be scaled up substantially and rapidly, requiring a whole new generation of multidisciplinary scientists/policy makers/administrators, whose education should start now. Educating forthcoming generations about the causes and effects of global climate change is also imperative as implementing solutions depends on an informed public. In this context, we need to develop education and science communication modules in such a way that every future citizen would be better equipped to identify appropriate solutions for sustainable and equitable development.

Objectives

The project aims to identify, through a consultative mechanism, most relevant curricula and efficient pedagogical tools, and outreach and citizen science programs to study the impact of climate change on biodiversity and ecosystem function and services and human health and diseases; and ways to address these problems in the coming years.

What makes the project unique is its focus on those education and citizen-science modules that are locally rooted yet globally relevant for much wider outreach. The project envisages developing online learning materials such as lectures (videos embedded with animations), interactive exhibitions/museums, mobile apps etc.

Project Websites:

https://tropicsu.org/

https://climatescienceteaching.org/

Participants - Front row (from left): Jean Taylor (ICIAM), Sayara Berg (ICIAM), Danielle Gondard-Cozette (IMU), Mustafa Sozbilir IUPAC), Igle Gledhill IUPAC), Marie-Francoise Ouedraogo (IUM), Anne-Sophie Godfroy (IUHPST), Anita Rampal (IMU), Bétül Tambay (IMU), Ernesto Fernández-Polcuch (UNESCO). • 2nd row: Maria Esteban (ICIAM), Siujatha Ramdorai(IMU), Mei-Hung Chiu (IUPAC), Guadalupe Lozano (Expert), Anathea Brooks (UNESCO), Francesca Primas (IAU), Lucilla Spini (ICSU), Maria Rosaria Dantonio (IAU), Catherine Goldstein (Expert), Merrilyn Goos (IMU), Helena Mihaljevic-Brandt (IMU). • 3rd row: Mark Cesa (IUPAC), Alice Abreu (GenderInSite), Clémence Perronnet (Expert), Nathalie Fomproix (IUBS), Marie-Francoise Roy (IMU), Elena Bagryanskaya (IUPAC), Benedikt Loewe (IUHPST), Bill Barton (IMU). • Back row: Lucía Santamaría (Expert), Lisa Frehill (IUPAC), Silvina Ponce-Dawson (IUPAP), Tonya Blowers (OWSD), Fernanda Arraes Hertelendy (UNESCO), Rachel Ivie (IUPAP).

On June 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd, 2017, partners of the project "A Global Approach to the Gender Gap in Mathematical, Computing, and Natural Sciences: How to Measure It, How to Reduce It?" met in Paris, France, for the first time to discuss project management and related issues.

Participants (f.l.t.r.): Chris King (IUGS), Mika Rekola (IUFRO), Lily Rodriguez (IUBS), Raymond Katebaka (AUC), Simon Hodson (CODATA), Nadja Pernat (IMAGINARY), France Caron (IMU), Allan Ashworth (INQUA), Nathalie Fomproix (IUBS), Catherine Jami (IUHPST), Barbara Birli (IUSS), LS Shashidhara (IUBS)

On April 20^th and 21^st, 2017, the partners of the project "Trans-disciplinary Research Oriented Pedagogy for Improving Climate Studies and Understanding (TROP-ICSU)" met in Paris, France, for the first time to discuss project management.