Join the "Bioeconomy for Educators: Cultivating a Sustainable Future" online course and learn how to explore sustainable economic solutions with your students! Bioeconomy uses renewable biological resources to produce goods, energy, and services, making it a critical area for students to understand in the 21st century. As a driver of economic growth and job creation, bioeconomy equips students with the skills to tackle future societal challenges. However, it’s essential to address its associated challenges, such as resource competition and environmental impacts, to ensure a sustainable transition. How can you integrate these vital aspects into your classroom to prepare students for the bioeconomy?
Despite its potential, bioeconomy remains underrepresented in the public consciousness. Teachers have a key role in raising awareness of both the benefits and limitations of bioeconomy among future generations. This course introduces the concepts of bioeconomy and circular economy, showing their relevance to everyday life. You’ll learn how to incorporate these topics into various subjects and educational settings, creating innovative and adaptable learning experiences. The course will also help you raise awareness of future job opportunities in bioeconomy and develop the essential 21st-century skills needed in this field. You will conclude by constructing a Learning Scenario to effectively implement bioeconomy topics in your teaching.
The course includes materials developed through GenB and other bioeconomy projects, offering lesson plans, educational games, job profiles, and more from the GenB Toolkit. You will also be introduced to the 7-Steps of Eco-Schools Methodology, a guide to making schools more environmentally sustainable by involving the whole school community.
You can follow the course at your own pace. We will open one module at the beginning of each week, and there are only a few deadlines you need to pay attention to (those for the quizzes and/or the peer-review activity).
Join us in the Facebook group or share your thoughts on X (formerly Twitter) using the hashtag #Bieconomy4Educators.
The course is aimed at practicing teachers with all levels of experience and across all subject areas, as well as student teachers preparing for entry into the profession. It also appeals to other educational professionals, researchers and bioeconomy stakeholders interested in implementing the topic of bioeconomy into their actions. No previous experience or knowledge about bioeconomy is needed to take this course.
In order to receive the certificate, the participation in the quizzes will count for 5%, and the learning scenario together with the peer reviews will count for 95%. The overall passing grade is 95%. The final deadline to complete all activities is 20 November 2024, 23:59 CET.
If you have completed this MOOC and you want to become a Scientix Ambassador, please read more details about the Call and the application procedure here: https://www.scientix.eu/news/news-detail?articleId=1819859
Note to teachers from Castilla y León: Si eres profesor de Castilla y León, y además del certificado de la European Schoolnet Academy, quieres recibir un certificado oficial de parte de la Consejería de Educación de la Junta de Castilla y León inscríbete en la página web del CFP Idiomas de Castilla y León http://cfpidiomas.centros.educa.jcyl.es/sitio/
Note to teachers from Portugal: You can get your successful participation in a European Schoolnet Academy course formally recognised as a valid continuous professional development, and thereby acquire the relevant number of training hours, by sending your certificate to the Conselho Científico e Pedagógico de Formação Contínua (CCPFC) at Rua do Forno, nº 30, 1º andar - apartado 2168, 4700 - 429 Braga, Portugal. For more information, please contact the CCPFC.
Note to teachers from Emilia-Romagna: Per i docenti della regione Emilia-Romagna iscritti alla piattaforma regionale https://iscrizioni.istruzioneer.it/ è possibile ottenere, oltre all’attestato rilasciato da European Schoolnet Academy, anche l’attestato rilasciato dall’Ufficio Scolastico Regionale per l'Emilia-Romagna (Servizio Marconi) che attua un'azione di facilitazione ed accompagnamento a questa attività. Maggiori informazioni al link: https://bit.ly/EuroSmooc21.
Note to teachers from Ireland: It may be possible to count the completion of this course as part fulfilment of any discretionary CPD hours, subject to your school management's approval. Therefore, please enquire with your school management if your participation in this course can be formally recognised.
Isidora works as a Project and pedagogical coordinator in the Science Education Department of European Schoolnet (EUN). Isidora currently coordinates the STEM Discovery Campaign, and supports the coordination of the GenB project.
Eirini is a physicist with over 10 years of experience as a secondary teacher, currently working at the Hellenic-American Educational Foundation (Athens College). She is a research and development professional specializing in European project management and scientific research. Eirini excels in securing European and national funding, organizing scientific events, and fostering interdisciplinary collaborations. She has successfully led Erasmus+ R&D projects and collaborated on various projects with European Schoolnet. Eirini holds a master’s degree in education, Technology, and Society from the University of Bristol, and a bachelor’s in physics from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. She actively participates in European projects, contributing to the development and dissemination of innovative teaching resources and practices
This MOOC has been developed as part of the GenB project, funded by Horizon Europe, the European Union’s funding programme for research and innovation, that runs from November 2022 until April 2025. It is focused on educating and empowering the Generation Bioeconomy (GenB), aware, sensitive, and interested in environmental issues, sustainability and circularity. It aims to raise awareness on Bioeconomy building on communication and education that encourage and reward young BIOVOICES to take a role in steering the transition towards more sustainable lifestyles.
Scientix®, the community for science education in Europe, promotes and supports a Europe-wide collaboration among STEM teachers, education researchers, policymakers and other STEM education professionals. Scientix® is an initiative of European Schoolnet (EUN).
Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.
All content on this course unless specified otherwise is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License