Research and Teaching of Science: Improving the Synergy

PhD course organised by the Department of Science Education (IND) and the Graduate School of Education (FUKU), University of Copenhagen.

Course dates: September 30-October 1, 2010, November (TBA) 2010, January 21, 2011

Improve the synergy between research and teaching - PhD course at DSE 

The course aims to introduce participants to a number of perspectives on a closer relationship between faculty research and teaching. A variety of strategies relevant to this nexus as well as potentially useful pedagogies to help navigate it will be addressed via experts and prominent literature.

The course will actively integrate participants' PhD projects and their teaching into the work. Moreover, international specialists will participate as lecturers and advisors during parts of the course.

The literature and examples will mainly come from tertiary research and teaching. The course is designed to be accessible to doctoral students and faculty with an interest in finding useful ways to associate research and teaching agendas. A goal is to facilitate a discussion of the application of synergy and didactics to university teaching/research environments.

Among the perspectives to be considered are:

  • Engaging students through research connections
  • Research-based teaching at universities
  • Inquiry teaching methods which facilitate an integration of research and teaching
  • Undergraduate student research publications as vehicles for the synergy
  • The nature of student research and inquiry

We shall read both "basic theory" and related but more specialised research articles. All of the required readings will be in English. The course language will be English.

Organisers:

Jens Dolin and Robert Evans, Department of Science Education, University of Copenhagen.

Invited specialists:

  • Mick Healy, Emeritus Professor University of Gloucestershire, Director NTFS Project: Creative Honours Project (Creative-Hops), Co-Editor of International Journal for Academic Development
  • Carl Winsløw, Department of Science Education, University of Copenhagen
  • Camilla Rump, Department of Science Education, University of Copenhagen
  • International scholar in research and teaching (to be announced)

Timeline of the course

A. Deadline for registration: September 29, 2010

B. Mid September 2010: The first texts are sent to the participants, along with an assignment to interview three collegial faculty about the reality of teaching and research for them.

C. September 30 - October 1 2010: 2 full days, including workshops (involving lecture and exercises) by IND-teachers:

  • Short introductions by participants of their PhD projects, research interests and teaching responsibilities
  • Overview by Jens Dolin, including a discussion of the perspectives based on the first texts and participant faculty interviews
  • Camilla Rump: Engaging students through research and inquiry
  • Carl Winslow: Extent to which teaching is based on research at the university level
  • Bob Evans: Inquiry teaching methods which facilitate an integration of research and teaching
  • A new package of texts (research articles based on the perspectives) will be distributed after this session. These will, as far as possible, be related to the projects and interests of participants.

D. November (probably 29, 30) 2010: 2 full days. Participants work in smaller groups, led by teachers (from IND), in order to design a personal project combining teaching and research, of one of the following three types (all as closely related as possible to the research project of the participant):

  • Design a research and study course for undergraduate students and analyse (a priori) the practices and knowledge which could be developed by the students
  • Design a teaching module in which students get to work with (preferably ON) elements of a current research project of the participant
  • Investigate empirically the teaching-research nexus at the department of the participant, e.g. through a concrete instance of students' involvement in a research project

    Three hour workshop with international scholar on successful strategies for increasing synergy between teaching and research

E. January 21, 2011: Third and final session (one full day), a "mini-conference" where each participant will present a paper on their plans begun in November for a personal project which combines teaching and research.
Mick Healey will conduct a concluding workshop to summarize our search for ways to increase the connection between tertiary teaching and research as well as contribute feedback to each participant's project.

Venue:

All sessions will take place at the Department of Science Education, University of Copenhagen. Travel and lodging must be organised by participants.

Prerequisites:

Participants are expected to be doctoral students or faculty members with both research and teaching responsibilities.

Workloads and credits:

The course will require about 200 hours of work, corresponding to a course credit of 7.5 ECTS points (pre-approbation of course credits must be obtained from home institution). The work includes readings, oral presentations and final project (of about 10 pages). Course assessment will be based on the final project. Absence for other reasons than documented illness will result in no credit for the course. A statement of satisfactory completion will be issued.

Financial issues:

There is no participation fee. It is possible to apply for covering of travel and living experiences for PhD students from the other Nordic institutions/countries.

Registration is made by completing the form below AND send a one page description of a research project and a one page CV including current or anticipated courses taught, by email to: Robert Evans (evans@ind.ku.dk).

Deadline for application: Please fill in the registration form prior to September 29, 2010