2nd National Workshop for Professional Development on IBSE successfully held in Isfahan, Iran – Iran Minister for SR&T witnessed the Activities
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The 2nd National Workshop for Professional Development on IBSE in Iran was successfully held from 25-29 November 2018 at University of Isfahan, Isfahan, Iran. The workshop was jointly organized by ECOSF, University of Isfahan, Ministry of Education and Ministry of Science, Research and Technology (MSRT) of Iran in collaboration with La main a la pate Foundation (LAMAP) of France, with the moral support of IAP SEP and ISTIC. The Workshop was the follow up of the 1st Workshop which was held in January 2017 at the same University. There were 38 participants and 8 observers from all over Iran, mainly the educators. LAMAP provided two trainers for this review workshop as was done last year.
A simple ceremony was organized to open the workshop on 25 Nov 2018 and the Director General of Ministry of Education of Iran Dr. Mahmood Amani Tehran formally opened the workshop. In his remarks, he thanked the ECOSF, LAMAP, University of Isfahan and MSRT for conduct of this follow up workshop. He also made a detailed presentation on “IBSE in Iran: Trends and Issue” wherein the ongoing activities on IBSE such as; training, curriculum and material development etc. and the challenges faced, were shared.
Dr. Hassan Hazarkhani of Ministry of Education Iran in his presentation informed the audience how IBSE was initiated in Iran when as ECOSF nominee, Dr. Amani participated in 6th LAMAP International Seminar held in Paris (June 1-6, 2015) followed by participation in ECOSF workshop in Astana-Kazakhstan on June 22-25, 2015 wherein, Prof. Manzoor Soomro proposed to initiate IBSE in Iran through organization of a capacity building workshop. As a result, the 1st workshop was successfully organized in January 2017 in Isfahan-Iran, followed by this 2nd workshop.
Earlier, Director International Scientific Cooperation University of Isfahan Prof. Seyed Komail Tayebi made an opening speech and briefly introduced the University, its history, programmes and activities.
Prof. Amir Rozatian of the University was the Chairman of the workshop Organizing Committee and looked after everything related to the workshop organization.
Ms. Anne Goube, Trainer of LAMAP in her presentation shared the brief history of IBSE programme in France and its evaluation. She also shared that after the successful implementation in France, the programme was expanded to other 60 odd countries of the world where it is also running successfully.
Ms. Goube also read a message of Prof. Pierre Lena, Co-Founder of LAMAP during the opening ceremony. In his message, Prof. Lena appreciated the Iranian authorities for organization the follow up workshop and shared his goodwill for the success. Ms. Albine (Trainer of LAMAP) also read a message of Ms. Laurence Constantini of LAMAP during the opening.
Mr. Ghulam Abbas, Assistant Director of ECOSF made a presentation as well and highlighted the activities of ECOSF pertaining to IBSE for STEM. He shared that the IBSE programme of ECOSF was launched in ECO region in 2015 from Astana-Kazakhstan. After the launch, more capacity building workshops have been organized in Pakistan and Iran with the support of national and international partner organizations. He shared that the Policy Makers of any country play a vital role for decision making, keeping this in view, some add-on activities/seminars have also been conducted in Pakistan with high ups/policy makers for better understanding of the IBSE. In his recommendations, he said that the role of Scientists, Artists, Educationists, Religious Scholars, Parents, Teachers, Civil Society, Policy Makers and the Media and collaboration of R&D Industry, Academia and other related institute is very much important for sustainability of the programme.
It is important to share that on 2nd day of the Workshop, H.E. Mr. Mansour Gholami, Minister for Science, Research and Technology of Iran visited the workshop and witnessed the ongoing activities. He lauded the efforts of University of Isfahan, Ministry of Education and ECOSF for the excellent work in the field science education. He reiterated the support of his ministry in this regard.
After the opening, the technical sessions of the workshop commenced for next five days.
On 1st Day after the opening, a hands on activity in biology “fruit and vegetable” was done. During this activity, a debriefing and analysis of the fruits and vegetables were carried out and the trainees were tasked to different the properties of the fruits and vegetables. After this activity, a presentation of LAMAP module about seeds was done.
On 2nd Day, hands on activity titles “salty water” was performed with the participants and the presentations on interdisciplinary teacher unit about dirty water, assessment tools commonly used in Iranian schools and neurosciences learning were made. Group work for producing some questions based on IBSE was also done.
On 3rd Day, the presentation of the modules and assessment tools prepared by trainees were carried out and a detailed healthy discussion was triggered among the trainees and trainers. Second half of the day was dedicated for excursion.
On the 4th Day, the analysis of class sessions of teachers starting implementation of IBSE in class and hands on activities such as “criminal inquiry” and “animated cards” were done.
On the last Day (5th Day), the presentations by the trainees on their tasks were done and next steps for the Iranian IBSE programme were discussed. Dr. Hassan of Ministry of Education of Iran shared that the ministry is working on the curriculum to add more hands on activities in the syllabus and a plan for the training sessions on IBSE throughout Iran is under way.
Glimpses of Hands-on activities during the workshop:
The Workshop was ended with the commitment to meet again and share the progress of IBSE in Iran.