EMBO is organizing the workshops in conjunction with first-class European scientific institutes as local partners, ensuring that participants will gain insights into state-of-the-art methods and knowledge on hot scientific topics. The workshops will be held in Hamburg, Copenhagen, Madrid, Prague, Hinxton, Warsaw, Szeged and in Jerusalem in the native language of each country. The series will start with an international teachers workshop in English in Heidelberg (23-24 May 2003) aimed at widening the platform for international exchange.
"Improving the training opportunities for teachers is critical, and should occur increasingly at international level because of the vast benefits that can be gained by an exchange of experience and best practice between nations," says Andrew Moore, EMBO Science and Society Programme Manager. "As Europe becomes increasingly integrated at a scientific and economic level, it also has to become more integrated at the educational level, given the importance of professional mobility in the European work force today."
A second goal of the collaboration is to create a training programme that will bring teachers into the lab for hands-on activities, train scientists to work with them, and develop new assets for biology teaching. A facility will be established at the EMBL in Heidelberg putting in place staff that will perform practical activities with small groups of teachers in conjunction with scientist/trainees. The project will include an on-line resource centre and archive that will offer practical classroom materials to teachers and students. "One goal is to make projects developed within the facility and during the workshops accessible to teachers throughout Europe," says Russ Hodge, head of the Office of Information and Public Affairs at EMBL. "Another is to identify high-quality resources that already exist, encourage the development of new ones, and make those accessible as well."
Not only will the project put teachers in direct contact with cutting-edge science, but it will address the ethical and social issues connected with the impact on society of new advances in the science, and how to integrate these topics into the classroom. "We believe this initiative will contribute significantly towards establishing a pan-European platform that will raise the standards of biology education through the exchange of best practice and the latest media aids. It will also strengthen collaborations between schools, scientists and companies to develop new teaching resources for science," adds Andrew Moore.
Andrew Moore, PhD
EMBO Science & Society Programme Manager
Meyerhofstrasse 1,
D-69117 Heidelberg
Germany
Tel.: 49-6221-8891-109 (switchboard 117)
Fax: 49-6221-8891-200
e-mail: andrew.moore@embo.org
http://www.embo.org
Ellen Peerenboom (PhD)
EMBO Press & Public Relations Officer
Communication & Web
Meyerhofstrasse 1
D-69117 Heidelberg
Tel: 49-6221-8891-108
Fax: 49-6221-8891-200
ellen.peerenboom@embo.org
www.embo.org
Russ Hodge
Office of Information and Public Affairs
Meyerhofstrasse 1
D-69117 Heidelberg, Germany
Tel: 49-6221-387252 or 452
Fax: 49-6221-387525
Email: inf@embl.de
www.embl.de