biotechnology in our life Erasmus Project

Project Title

biotechnology in our life

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for school education

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2015

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Natural sciences; Open and distance learning; EU Citizenship, EU awareness and Democracy

Project Summary

“Biotechnology in our life” is a project that enables pupils and teachers to develop and qualify on a personal, scientific and pedagogical level. Biotechnology is the use of organisms for technical applications.
These applications have a long tradition (producing beer, wine, cheese …), a high everyday relevance (wastewater treatment, medicines, plant breeding, detergents, medical diagnostics …) as well as a high potential for future challenges for our society (bioplastics, biofuels, biomedicine …). Some of the biotechnological applications are made using organisms whose genetic information has changed. The students` laboratory teutolab-biotechnology, which is affiliated to the University of Bielefeld, has found that the knowledge of the importance of biotechnology is low (compared to the relevance of biotechnology) both among high school students and in society.

The topic gains international relevance because international cooperation is essential in research and development as well as in production. At the same time, various laws, e.g. the handling of genetically modified organisms (GMOs), are decided at EU level.

Representatives of the following project partners have joined forces in the three project years to learn and conduct research on biotechnology: Koidula High School (Pärnu, Estonia), Coornhert Lyceum (Haarlem, the Netherlands), IES JOSE DE RIBERA (Xativa, Spain), Liceo Scientifico Statale Galilei (Verona, Italy), St. Neots Learning Partnership (St. Neots, England), Öffentlich-stiftisches Gymnasium Bethel (Bielefeld, Germany).

Joint learning and research activities during the “learning teaching and training activities” included a large proportion of international team work on biotechnology research topics, but also visits to expert lectures, visits to biotechnology companies, experimentation in the laboratory or discussions on bioethical topics (in an international team or with representatives from politics and science).

To guarantee that not only the project participants benefit from the project, pupils and teachers organized a public exhibition, which concluded each school year (= project year). At this exhibition, the students presented to the interested public the results of their work in the form of exhibition materials, posters and PowerPoint presentations.

In total there were two meetings without students (one before the project for planning purposes, one during the project for organisational and evaluation purposes). In addition, meetings were held with teachers and students (three times in Germany: with parallel teacher training, twice in the Netherlands, one each in the other partner countries).

The didactic method was developed by the project team itself. It is an international group puzzle (jigsaw) with national core groups and international expert groups. This method, in which individual and cooperative learning are closely interlinked, is particularly well suited for heterogeneous groups and is characterized by a tremendous development of not only professional but in particular social competences by the learners.

The chosen project form (internationality, cooperative forms of learning, stimulating critical thinking…) made an important contribution to the students’ personal development. Ultimately, the aim of education is not only the accumulation of knowledge, but also the development of young people into mature personalities who are able to position themselves in society.

The project experiences a long-term benefit from the cooperations established in the project (school-university, school-school, school-company, university-company, university-university), which will also be maintained and expanded over the duration of the project. Furthermore, the newly developed didactic method of the “international group puzzle” represents a model for imitators. Last but not least, the qualification of the participating teachers (personal, didactic, scientific) will also benefit subsequent years at the partner schools.

The project and its results were/will be disseminated on various channels (homepages, regional press, YouTube videos, conferences) and were rated positively by both observers (press articles) and project participants (evaluation). Last but not least, the three public exhibitions offered interested parties the opportunity to gain an insight into the project results. These exhibitions were visited by a total of several hundred guests.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 256590 Eur

Project Coordinator

UNIVERSITAET BIELEFELD & Country: DE

Project Partners

• Coornhert Lyceum
• Koidula Gymnasium
• St Neots Learning Partnership
• IES JOSE DE RIBERA
• Liceo Galilei
• Öffentlich-Stiftisches Gymnasium Bethel