Abstract:

The rapid changes in science and society during the last decade have demonstrated the need for readiness to address the uncertain future. This need has been conceptualized as “future-oriented skills” are a set of skills that students should be able to acquire through formal and informal educational settings in order to address future challenges. Current as well as future challenges involve a wide range of misinformation being propagated about issues related to science and socio-scientific issues. For example, there are individuals who claim that the earth is flat, and that climate change is a hoax. Contemporary educational landscape is thus in a position to put more emphasis on secondary students’ acquisition of skills where the credibility of claims are evaluated relative to evidence and rigorous justification. Future-oriented skills such as critical thinking skills are increasingly important for regular citizens to function in society including how people deal with major health emergencies like the Covid-19 pandemic. Argumentation, or the justification of knowledge claims with evidence and reasons, is one aspect of critical thinking skills and it has emerged as a significant educational goal, advocated in international curricula, and investigated through school-based research. In this presentation, we will review educational research focusing on interdisciplinary investigations conducted as part of the funded OARS, FEDORA and SciKids projects in England. OARS Project funded by the Templeton World Charity Foundation is a 3-year project in engaging science and religious education teachers in a continuous professional development programme about argumentation. The teaching and learning of science and religion in schools have often been positioned in opposition to each other. Yet, both subjects address big questions such as “what is the origin of the universe and life?” and as such, both subjects lend themselves for cross-curricular consideration. Argumentation is one example that applies to the curricula and syllabi of both science and religious education in England. Data from secondary school science and RE teachers as well as their students have been collected to investigate the impact of the programme through qualitative and quantitative methodologies. Findings will be shared which will include how teachers and students interpret argumentation in both science and RE contexts. FEDORA Project, funded by the European Union Horizon 2020 Programme has been investigating future-oriented skills which are part of what are often called the “twenty-first century skills” in the context of several European countries. The ability to foresee future scenarios, anticipate potential problems and critically engage with problem-solving strategies are skills that students need to function effectively in their everyday lives. Interdisciplinarity is a key element of the FEDORA project whereby educational scenarios demand perspectives from different disciplinary orientations including STEM as well as humanities and social sciences. SciKids Project in partnership with the United Arab Emirates University has been exploring the professional development of teachers more broadly about nature of science. All projects have collected and analysed data through qualitative and quantitative methodologies to illustrate how interdisciplinary investigations can enhance the quality of education particularly with respect to future-oriented skills including argumentation. Findings from both projects will be shared.

Keywords:

Interdisciplinary, future-oriented skills, educational research, STEM, humanities.