InSSTER

InSSTER, Innovative STS (Science, Society, Technology) Education Research Centre, is a dynamic multidisciplinary research hub that brings together passionate educators and scholars from diverse fields within the field of education. Our collaborative team includes faculty members and researchers from the Department of Education at the University of Nicosia. Together, we explore the intersection of inclusive research education, science, society, and technology, with a strong emphasis on innovative and inclusive practices.

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Vision

InSSTER promotes research in education focusing on innovative and inclusive practices in Science, Society, Technology education. This involves transforming schools to cater to all children, including marginalised groups, aiming to eliminate exclusion. It also emphasises cultivating skills for global problem-solving, ensuring inclusive education, and addressing gender equality in digital skills. InSSTER aligns with the Digital Education Action Plan for comprehensive and high-quality digital instruction and training (European Commission, 2020).

Objectives

  • 1

    Conduct state-of-the-art research under the umbrella of innovative and inclusive education with links to science, society and technology;

  • 2
    Participate in competitive EU calls and receive external funding for projects
  • 3
    Establish a national and international network with relevant, researchers, schools, and policy makers;
  • 4
    Engage with society on issues related to inclusive science and technology education, and
  • 5
    Offer continuous training on skills, methodologies and technologies to its members and beyond.

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Research

The members of InSSTER are involved in funded research under the umbrella of Innovative and Inclusive education with links to science, society and technology.

  • DRONE

    • Start:
    • End:

    Local Principal Investigator
    Kyriakos Demetriou

    Participants
    Maria Vrikki, Christiana Karousiou, Efi Nisiforou, Maria Evagorou

    Coordinator

    Ref.
    KA2, Erasmus+

    Budget
    EUR

    Agreement No.

    Website

    DRONE is an Erasmus+ KA2 research project that emphasises the inadequacy of current one-size-fits-all digital literacy education for teachers and vulnerable adolescents. It proposes a threefold ecosystem approach: examining disinformation spread within digital and human ecosystems, exploring how young people's ecosystem parameters affect their digital literacy, and engaging school leaders and parents to integrate digital literacy into crisis management. The project aims to fill literature gaps, conduct field research, develop training materials, pilot test them, and scale up training across the EU and Ukraine. It seeks individual, organisational, and systemic impact by creating innovative materials, integrating them into curricula, offering policy guidelines, and establishing a network of ambassadors for sustainability. The project is coordinated by the Hellenic Open University and engages partners from Italy, Hungary, Netherlands, Greece, and Cyprus.

  • IncluSME: Intercultural learning in STEM (mathematics and science) initial teacher education

    • Start: 01/2016
    • End: 12/2019

    Local Principal Investigator

    Participants
    Maria Evagorou

    Coordinator
    University of Education in Freiburg, Germany

    Ref.
    ERASMUS +, Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

    Budget
    448195 EUR

    Agreement No.
    2016-DE01-KA201-002910

    Website
    https://icse.eu/international-projects/prior-projects

    IncluSMe (2016-2019) is an Erasmus+ project focussing on intercultural learning in mathematics and science initial teacher education. IncluSMe (Intercultural learning in mathematics and science education) offers a constructive contribution for tackling one of Europe’s greatest challenges: education for an increasing number of refugee and immigrant youth, to integrate them into European educational systems and to provide for stable, socially cohesive societies. The project aims to increase the quality of higher education curricula for prospective maths and science teachers by linking maths and science education with intercultural learning – and thereby strengthening students’ social, civic and intercultural competences. Core to IncluSMe is the design and implementation of open access teaching modules on intercultural learning for prospective maths and science teachers.

  • VRinHE: Integrating Virtual and Augmented Reality in Higher Education Curricula

    • Start:
    • End:

    Local Principal Investigator
    Efi Nisiforou

    Participants

    Coordinator
    UNIVERSITY OF RUSE ANGEL KANCHEV

    Ref.

    Budget
    259015 EUR

    Agreement No.
    2021-1-BG01-KA220-HED-000032128

    Website

    VRinHE aims to build the capacities of HE institutions and their staff, to integrate Virtual and Augmented Reality in teaching and learning, targeting key EU priorities. The project will sustainable promote digital transformation of the HE sector, by providing relevant stakeholders with innovative methods, approaches and guidelines to increase the participation rates, improve the quality of HE, and foster university learners’ digital, 21st century skills. A discussion on the importance of following coherent strategy and policy will also be initiated.

  • InterED

    • Start:
    • End:

    Local Principal Investigator
    Maria Vrikki

    Participants
    Evi Konstantinidou

    Coordinator

    Ref.
    KA2, Erasmus+

    Budget
    EUR

    Agreement No.

    Website

    InterEd is an Erasmus+ KA2 project which aims to integrate a pedagogical methodology for secondary education, utilizing interdisciplinarity and PhenoBL, in order to help students develop transversal skills. In parallel, it aims to develop ready-to-use resources of interdisciplinary teaching for teachers of History, STEAM, Culture & Economics classes. Both aims will be achieved via a number of activities, such as a Virtual Learning Lab, Interdisciplinary Pedagogical Micro-Unit Lesson Plans, roundtables, video podcasts and webinars. Relevant target groups will be engaged in the process of material development.