REDESIGNING SCIENCE CLASSES THROUGH THE E-CLASSES PROJECT’S INITIATIVES

Abstract

The article is a study based on the e-Classes project (Ref. no.: 2017-1-RO01-KA202-037344), a project funded by the European Commission (under the Erasmus+ programme) for the years 2017-2019, which is being developed within an international partnership including institutions (schools, teacher training centres, non-governmental educational organisations and IT centres) from Bulgaria, Italy, Spain and Romania. The project aims to help both VET teachers to revise and strengthen their professional profile and young people to increase their motivation to study science and improve their academic performance. The project has created a collection of videos illustrating basic scientific concepts from science school subjects, on which the project's method relies. The method, the flipped classroom, highly encourages a student-centred learning environment, maximizing students' participation in online and offline activities. By implementing the flipped classroom method teachers empower students to take the responsibility for their learning process and help them develop higher forms of cognitive skills by solving problems, debating or discussing controversial issues (application, analysis, synthesis, and/or evaluation). The paper presents the method, which uses the videos that teachers previously made as the main channel of content delivery, and discusses its benefits and challenges. The paper focuses on the findings of the flipped classroom experiment carried out with students studying at several vocational high schools in Iasi as well as the new roles that the participants, teachers, students and companies, may have in the educational process. It also gives details on how teachers can design their own flipped lessons, implement the flipped methodology and integrate ICT (Information and Communication Technology) and OER (Open Educational Resources) in traditional teaching.