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.

  • NBS Academy: A European Academy for integrating Nature-based Solutions (NBS) in teacher education

    • Start: 06/2023
    • End: 05/2026

    Local Principal Investigator
    Maria Evagorou

    Participants
    Iris Charalambidou

    Ref.
    ERASMUS-EDU-2022-PEX-TEACH-ACA

    Budget
    1500000 EUR

    Agreement No.
    101104412

    NBS Academy sets to create a European Community of Practice (CoP) of teacher education and training providers, teachers, policy makers and other education experts focused on developing and testing new professional learning programmes for improving teachers’ competences on Education for Environmental Sustainability by utilising Nature-Based Solutions (NBS). By creating a new NBS Education Framework, NBS Academy will acknowledge the innovative aspect of NBS Education and supplement the theoretical research on NBS’ educational potential. Innovative ITE and CPD programmes will be developed and pilot implemented by in six different countries, covering different geographical, cultural and linguistic areas of the EU. The cultural diversity and multilingualism will be celebrated by implementing the training programmes via a blended mobility approach (including a Summer School as well as distance VR mobility training). This will result in raising the appeal of the teaching profession and its internationalization by increasing the opportunities for both teachers and teacher trainers to interact and learn from peers across the EU.

  • Active Citizenship Through Dialogue in Virtual teacher Communities

    • Start: 12/2022
    • End: 11/2024

    Participants
    Maria Vrikki, Maria Evagorou

    Coordinator
    Christiana Karousiou

    Ref.
    Erasmus+, KA2

    Budget
    250000 EUR

    Website
    https://actdiv.weebly.com

    Citizenship education became a highlighted priority within the strategic framework for European cooperation in education and training towards the European Education Area and beyond (2021-2030) following the so called Paris Declaration. ACT-DI-V aspires to promote responsible citizenship through dialogic and argumentative pedagogies and offer opportunities to individuals to express their ideas freely, evaluate ideas critically and engage in meaningful discussions. Specifically, ACT-DI-V’s objectives are to:
    1. raise awareness about the importance of promoting active and responsible citizenship education through dialogue and argumentation
    2. build the pedagogic competences of teachers on active and responsible citizenship education
    3. develop hands-on resources on promoting active and responsible citizenship education to improve the students’ critical thinking and decision making skills
    1. support teachers in reflecting on their practices within a VCoP
     

  • ENSITE: Environmental Socio-Scientific Issues in Initial Teacher Education

    • Start: 09/2019
    • End: 08/2022

    Local Principal Investigator
    Maria Evagorou

    Coordinator
    University of Education in Freiburg, Germany

    Ref.
    Erasmus+, Strategic Partnership

    Budget
    449738 EUR

    Agreement No.
    2019-1-DE01-KA203-005046

    Website
    https://icse.eu/ensite/

    The project aimed to develop pre-service teachers pedagogical skills to enable them to deal with environmental socioscientific issues.

  • STEMkey: Teaching standard STEM topics with a key competence approach

    • Start: 09/2020
    • End: 08/2023

    Local Principal Investigator
    Maria Evagorou

    Participants
    Efi Nisiforou

    Coordinator
    University of Education in Freiburg, Germany

    Ref.
    Erasmus+, KA2

    Budget
    450000 EUR

    Agreement No.
    2O2O-I-DEO1.KA2O3.OO5671

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

    The main purpose of the project is to prepare pre-service teachers to teach STEM related topics with an emphasis on key competences (critical thinking, argumentation, digital skills). The research group will prepare specially designed professional development materials that will be tested with pre-service teachers in partner countries.