On 1st October 2018 ODYSSEY project started officialy.
The main goal of the ODYSSEY project is to increase the reasoning skills in STEM by participating in Oxford debates among students (13-19 years) taking part in the project from schools: in Poland, Estonia, Serbia and Greece.
Additional goals:
1) To increase the interest in STEM and encourage students to undertake a scientific career in this area
2) Development of communication skills in mother tongue, argumentation and public speeches
3) Development of the ability to use Oxford debates in school practice
In addition, the project will contribute to development of the ability to successfully convince, argue, reason and speak correctly, it will improve the ability to compose texts and use rhetoric apparatus in oral statements, speak in accordance with the rules of language culture, interpret texts, it will also improve following skills: public presentation and presentation of texts, discussions and negotiations, and participation in debates.
The project includes 5 phases:
1) Preparatory phase – development of a desk research report, preparation of project implementation methodology for institutions / scientists, national project implementation framework, guide on the rules of Oxford debates, educational packages for use in STEM school practice (5 packages in Polish, Estonian and Serbian , Greek, 19 packages in English), elaboration of competition regulations for school debates;
2) Recruitment of at least 32 schools in 4 countries;
3) Testing phase will begin with a workshop for teachers, during which the rules for conducting the debates will be presented and the proposed topics will be discussed. Next, the teachers will prepare their students for the competition using the prepared materials for the debates. Each school will use “expert mentoring” – meetings with scientists. At the end of the test phase, in each partner country, there will be a competition in which two winning teams will be selected.
4) Dissemination phase, during which national conferences and workshops for teachers in partner countries are planned. The conferences will allow to present the experiences gathered by schools, present materials, discuss the role of the debate in STEM education. During the conference, the final debate of the winners will take place. During the workshops, the teachers will play “mini-debates” and get acquainted with the materials prepared within the project.
5) Wrap-up phase includes the preparation of reports on the implemented activities, as well as practical possibilities of using the materials and the proposed method in school practice, including in other European countries.
It is assumed that participation in the project will positively affect both students and teachers, as well as institutions participating. Among pupils there will be an increase in interest in natural sciences and of reasoning in STEM. Students will be more eager to look for information about natural phenomena. The increase of rhetoric skills will be extremely important – the freedom of oral expression, selection of arguments, principles of debate, discussion culture.
STEM teachers, thanks to ready-made tools to work with students, will begin to use the Oxford debate in school practice, also within science clubs, extra-curriculum activities etc.
Scientific institutions will become more open to presenting the results of their research to a wider audience, including recipients who do not yet use professional scientific vocabulary. Representatives of the institutions involved in the implementation of the project will enrich their tools base and develop skills in using modern information technologies in scientific and didactic work.