Problem based learning through Science Shops

Curriculum Development through Science Shops Paper presented at ICEEM2, Iasi, Romania, Sep 2004 Reprinted (2004) in Environmental Management and Engineering Journal 3 (3), pp. 549-560 FOKKINK, Arie1 and MULDER, Henk A.J. 2 1 Green Grid Consultancy, P.O. Box 545, NL-7500 AM Enschede, The Netherlands ([email protected]); 2 Chemistry Shop, University of Groningen, Nijenborgh 4, NL-9747 AG Groningen, The Netherlands ([email protected]) Summary More and more, European higher education is oriented towards the future role of students outside university, in society. The priority of higher education therefore shifts to teaching students how to continue to acquire new knowledge and to use knowledge in a societal context. Science shops offer one method to include experiences with these aspects in the curricula. Science shops are university units that do research for civil society, they are present in many countries. Students under staff supervision do much research. Students learn valuable skills, such as communicating with non-experts and solving a problem in context. Students can earn credits for their work, which count towards their degree. There are various ways of including science shop projects in the curriculum. One can award credits to projects as such, or students can do projects as part of an existing course or practical period. A much used option is the MSc (or BSc) thesis; this can be based on a science shop request. To increase the benefits of science shop projects for the curriculum, science shop cases can be used as example in many other courses. Experiences from science shop work can also be used in methodological courses, teaching students in general on science and society. Finally, there are now examples of how science shops have advanced new master programs. The value of the Science Shop approach is acknowledged by the EU and by the Netherlands' Minister of Education. Also in Romania, Minister Andronescu in 2001 committed herself explicitly to making Science Shop a structural element in higher education and research. Based on the experience acquired since 1998, science shops can be made a regular university activity in Romania; not only in environment, but also in other societal themes. Both university and civil society would benefit from this; on the short term through the results of individual projects and on the long-term by students that have learned to apply their knowledge in social context. Key words of this paper Science Shop; Curriculum development; Science and Society; Science policy 1 Background European Higher Education is changing to meet the needs of a rapidly changing society. The current buzzwords are “enterprising universities” (universities with a modern management, seizing opportunities and looking forward; not to be confused with profit driven, commercial universities), "problem-based learning", “life long learning”, and the “Bachelor-Master” structure (e.g. as discussed at the three conferences University in Society (UNISO), 2002-2004, organised by APART, www.apart.ro and at IEM 2003). All these concepts have in common the notion that the value of certain knowledge decreases in time, thus continuous actualisation and acquisition of new knowledge and the capability to apply knowledge in a professional (including non-scientific) practice have become equally important. Also, we now see that knowledge should not be focussed too narrow - contexts should be taken into account as well.

"In a knowledge society that aims to be more than a knowledge economy, science shops have a special place", according to the Dutch Minister of Education, Culture and Science Maria van der Hoeven. "By supporting citizens in their quest for knowledge, people are given more possibilities to take responsibility for shaping their own life and their living environment", she says. "Citizens' demands for knowledge also provide an important input for research that complements other scientific or commercially-driven ways of finding research topics". (Source: European Commission (2003): Science Shops - Knowledge for the Community, http://www.scienceshops.org/scienceshopbrochure.pdf.) In this paper we want to present the benefits that Science Shops have for modern higher education curricula. We will start with a brief introduction on science shops and their links to university. Next, we will describe the impact of projects on university education. We will describe the integration of science shop experience (community-based research) in the overall curriculum. To conclude, we will summarise the short en long-term benefits Science Shops A science shop is a unit that provides independent, participatory research support in response to concerns experienced by civil society. For the most part, these units belong to universities. Civil society organisations can simply approach a science shop with their problems and/or research requests; the science shop staff will then transfer these into research projects and find students and/or staff to work on these projects, in close contact with the "client". The results are handed over to the client and the science shop staff will support the use of these scientific results by the client and will help to formulate follow-up proposals, both those relevant to the client and those relevant for scientific reasons. In the European Commission's Science and Society Action Plan, civil society organisations are defined as those whose members have objectives and responsibilities that are of general interest and who also act as mediators between the public authorities and citizens. They may include trade unions and employer’s organisations, NGOs, professional associations, charities, grass-roots organisations, organisations that involve citizens in local and municipal life, churches and religious committees. Example: Synthetic vs. natural dyes? Farmers in the North of The Netherlands are looking for additional crops to grow and sell. Some crops can be used as feedstock for production of chemicals, such as dyes or pesticides. The environmental NGOs in the north wanted to know if they should support the farmers; in other words: is the green route more environmental friendly? The answer they got from the chemistry shop Groningen showed that currently, in contrast to popular belief, the chemical production routes were more efficient and had less environmental impact. The green routes would need a lot of research and improvement. This lead to a neutral position for the environmental NGOs in the discussion; one of the students involved received the award for best thesis in environmental chemistry from the Royal Dutch Chemists Association and a project was set up with the Ministry of Agriculture, Agrochemical Industry and some university departments to look further into a sustainable future for the north. C 90: Science of fiction. Visie op duurzame ontwikkeling van Noord Nederland tot 2015, Albert-Jan Abma (1999); C 86: De groene kant van rood: Milieugerichte levenscyclusanalyse van rode textielkleurstoffen: alizarine uit meekrap en synthetische kleurstoffen, Albert-Jan Abma (1998); C 77: Milieugerichte levenscyclusanalyse van kiemremmingsmiddelen voor aardappelen (1995), R. Kerstholt. - Chemistry Shop, University of Groningen, The Netherlands www.fwn.rug.nl/chemshop

Science shops originated in The Netherlands in the 1970s, but are currently present in many countries (www.scienceshops.org). In Romania, there are currently eight science shops operating under the name Intermediu, focusing on environmental issues (www.intermediu.ro). Science shops use the term “science” in its broadest sense, incorporating the social and human sciences, as well as natural, physical, engineering and technological sciences. Science shops seek to: i) provide civil society with knowledge and skills through research and education; ii) provide their services on an affordable basis; iii) promote and support public access to, and public influence on, science and technology; iv) create equitable and supportive partnerships with civil society organizations; v); enhance understanding among policymakers and education and research institutions of the research and education needs of civil society vi) enhance the transferable skills and knowledge of students, community representatives and researchers. Since universities host most science shops, we will elaborate on that just a little more: Science Shops as an element in the service structure of university Universities have many relations with society, which can be structured as shown here. Five generic target groups can be distinguished, which all have their own dynamics and require specific attention (Mulder, 2001). Target Group Individuals (e.g. students, seniors, pupils, other individuals, general public)

Community Groups NGOs Non-profit sector Local authorities (Small and Medium Enterprises) Small and Medium Enterprises Regional Authorities National authorities Industry

Facility Courses Public Courses, Lectures, Science Week, Open House, High-school pupil's Information Desk PR Department, University Museum Science Shop

(Internship Service) (Internship Service) Transfer Bureau/Business Service Centre Business Incubator/Science-Business Park National Science Foundation Contracts Paid chairs

Towards individuals, there is a supply of existing information from university to society. Concerning service to organisations, science shops generally take care of non-commercial contractresearch, whereas transfer bureau's or business service centres cover commercial research. The largest sums of money find their own way to national authorities and industry, through the National Science Foundation and its funding programmes, or through paid research contracts or by industry paying a professorial chair at university. The entrances for industry and social groups are separated and thus the risk for conflicts of interests is diminished. Moreover, serving these different sectors requires different ways of working and likewise requires different persons to do the job properly.

Although they are commercial, Small and Medium sized Enterprises are sometimes served by science shops as well, depending on the organisation of the specific university, and depending on the type of the questions asked by this group of clients. In Romania, we decided to also accept questions from SMEs, because the current economic situation in Romania makes them a suitable target group as well. In the social segment served by science shops there is generally little financial backing and little subsidies exist. There is much to be said about science shops (see e.g. Fokkink 2004, Fokkink and Mulder 2003, Mulder 2003, INRO 2004, Teodosiu and Teleman, 2003). We will focus this paper on their role in education. 2. Problem-based learning: Science shop projects in the curriculum Most university students in Europe will not choose an academic career after graduation. Thus, higher education has to prepare its students in a flexible way, for many different kinds of jobs. Key elements in education thus must be “acquiring knowledge” and the competence “to apply knowledge in context, in a rapidly changing society”. Higher Education in Romania is still quite theoretical. The introduction of science shops in Romania (as supported by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs since 1998) already gave firsthand practical experience in curriculum modernisation. This ranges from small student projects, which students either do as volunteer or for credits, to integrated project-courses and spin-off, such as distant-learning or master programs. Doing science shop projects teaches students valuable skills, such as communicative, social, managerial skills and the ability to work in a multidisciplinary setting. All this will help them be able to produce scientific results in response to social concerns, which will be actually useable. Most science shop work is done in students’ projects, often in the later years of the study, when the student already has good knowledge of his discipline. For the scientific value of his project, the research question could have come from inside as well as from outside university. The educational value of working on projects from outside, compared to projects from inside university however is much higher. The student develops extra competences, like project management, oral and written communication with a non-expert audience, translation of a societal problem into a scientific problem and translating the results back into the societal problem context. They are thus better prepared for a job outside the scientific community. Students that work on projects for the science shop can -in many cases- receive credits for this. The credits form part of their required amount of credits to obtain a degree, such as a BSc or MSc. It can also be part of their PhD work. Now, how can one introduce these projects in the curriculum? There are some options that are used by science shops widely: 1. Creating a novel "course" or practical period called "science shop project" and awarding credits to this "course". This is what is possible e.g. at the Groningen Chemistry Shop; the course "chemistry shop project" is an optional course for final year BSc students or MSc students. The amount of credits awarded is 5 or more European Credits. These credits count in the "free space" that every student has (depending on their discipline they have from 1030 credits to obtain at their own choice during their studies, which count towards their required totals of 180 for the BSc or the additional 120 for the MSc).

2. Incorporating the projects in existing courses or practicals, as a case study. At the Groningen Physics Shops, first year students work on noise measurements for clients of the science shop. They have to learn to get and process data ; the noise measurements are a good case simultaneously helping out many neighbourhood organisations. The students in the Master program Science Communication regularly work on finalising science shop projects in natural sciences, by making a brochure or website to make the results widely accessible. This is their final (assessment) project for the 10 EC course Communication and Presentation. A mix of 1 and 2 was applied e.g. at Bacau university, where a new course was set up called "Science and Society" in which all biology students also work on a project for the science shop. This course changes now from an optional one into an obliged one, in the second year of studies (Pricope, at INRO 2004) 3. Using a science shop project as the subject for a thesis, such as the MSc (or PhD) thesis. The MSc thesis is a very regular way of doing science shop projects. The PhD projects are only occasionally used. The Science Shop Tilburg (Netherlands), however, offers these regularly - they can co-finance PhD projects from their (university- allocated) budget (www.uvt.nl/diensten/dsz/wewi/). In all these cases it is important to see that the supervision on these projects can be seen as standard supervision/teaching time for the professors, as long as the total length of the curriculum is not longer than without science shop projects. When introducing a new course it means that something else has in the curriculum to be removed or reduced. When using existing courses or practicals, or modifying the subject of a thesis, there is absolutely no extra task involved: the student and the professor are doing what they would be doing anyway. Initiating contacts with social beneficiaries (the clients) and assisting in the process are the job of the science shop staff; appointing such staff can thus be seen as the only additional (overhead) costs to university. Sometimes integration in the curriculum is not (yet) possible. In those cases, there are still students that want to volunteer as an investment their society and in themselves (learning important skills and obtaining (international) contacts). Within the increasing demands to finish their studies fast and their need to work next to their studies this is not a sustainable route, as was seen in both the UK and The Netherlands. Increasing the impact on curricula I: cases in regular courses In many cases one sees that science shop cases are used in regular courses (cf. Jorgenson and Hende, 2001). At the Chemistry Shop Groningen this is done in various courses relating to environmental management. To give just one example: A case on dry-cleaning (research done for Greenpeace Netherlands) is used to demonstrate the environmental innovation problems in an economic sector. Dry-cleaners were very much focused on end-of-pipe techniques while they continued the used of perc. Given the harmfulness of perc, a change to cleaner technologies was required. Water-based techniques were possible, though more labour-intensive. The environmental benefit was overall not so high, however. The evaporation of water still required a lot of energy. Techniques using supercritical carbon dioxide in a closed system offered the best option (Alternatieven voor perchloorethyleen voor de reiniging van textiel, J.N. Bottema - Mac Gillavry, C.M. Ree, Chemistry Shop, University of Groningen (1998)). The reactions of all stakeholders to this research is an integral part of the class-room teaching; the

sector was angry because they found they had done enough (the usual first reaction in environmental management), and Greenpeace found the water-based technologies easier to explain than a "high-tech"(in their view) solution using supercritical carbon dioxide (a good example of the restraints in science communication). All in all, this case gives first-hand insight information that is very valuable to students. Cases are used in the courses "Industrial Innovation and Environment, a 10 EC 3rd year optional course, and in "Chemistry, Environment and Sustainability, a 5 EC 3rd year semi-obliged course". The science shop coordinators, who are also lecturers in their departments, give both courses. Cases are also used in other courses, such as the ones given in the Master program Science Communication (see below). From these examples it is clear that the regular curriculum also benefits from experience gained through science shops. Increasing the impact on curricula II: methodological courses The science shops work closely together with their "clients" (participatory research). The participation ranges from intake and final presentation only, to full co-operation. The staff of the science shop gains much insight in the dynamics of doing research on social issues. There are usually many stakeholders involved, and often political implications are present (a change is required from a stakeholder). To put this experience to wider use, the science shops in Groningen started in 1999 with a course called "Research for Society". This course is an optional course of 5 EC for students from all faculties, in their final year for the BSc. In this year, they are obliged to take one course on "general formation" from a accredited list of courses. In this course, given by the nine science shops of Groningen University together, the research for society is discussed in four phases: problem-definition, outside influences, data-interpretation and publicity. Next to an introduction and closure session, it has four classes with examples from science shop practice, and four classes based on a hot-topic in which much research has been done. For these, guests are invited to present their views, such as high-ranking civil servants, researchers, politicians, journalists and other stakeholders. Previously, these topics have been the fast train connection Groningen - Amsterdam/Schiphol (with many economic, spatial and environmental consequences, and many options to choose from: magnetic train, high-speed train, regular intercity on new tracks); the research into cockle fisheries in the (protected) Wadden Sea, also with many economic and nature aspects; and the Footh-and-mouth disease disaster in The Netherlands. In the four phases we ask the students to see whether the right research questions have been posed (in relation to the "real" social issue); whether the research was done independently or whether there have been (possible) conflicts of interest, pressure, etc; whether the writers of executive summaries and politicians have interpreted all the data correctly (what are "facts"); and finally how they asses the way that the media deal with the research. The first-hand experience from the science shops makes this a high-valued course; the multi-disciplinary setting only adds to it; students range from sports to physics and psychology to history. The University of Utrecht runs a similar course, which is combined with an actual project (this course is also much longer, approx. 12 EC) (De Bok: INRO 2004). In the Groningen course, the students are assessed on the report they write on how they value the research done in the hot-topic case (next to 20% of the mark being allocated for short assignments).

Increasing the impact on curricula III: master programs With the introduction of the Bachelor-Master structure in The Netherlands, and based on general thoughts relating to the labour market for students, all Dutch universities agreed in a covenant with the Ministry that there should be master-profiles that would not lead to a PhD/academic future, but towards a more direct career in society. Two different profiles were set-up: An M-profile (M denoting "maatschappij", society in Dutch) and the EC-profile (Education and Communication). The experience accumulated by science shops in working on the interface of science and society was well made to use in many cases when these profiles were set up (from 2000). The M-profile in Groningen, called "Beta in Policy and Enterprise" benefited from the experience of the course "Industrial Innovation and Environment" as organised by the Chemistry Shop. It also uses science shop projects for the internship of their students. The master-program consists of a 20 EC course and a 40 EC internship. Additionally, the students need to take 60 EC in one of the scientific disciplines of the faculty of mathematics and natural sciences. The EC-profile existed already as far as the training of future science-teachers was concerned. The C-profile was newly created. This profile takes one full year (60 EC); also in this case the students need to take 60 EC in one of the scientific disciplines of the faculty of mathematics and natural sciences. The science shop participated actively in structuring this master. Students do a two week final project during the course "Presenting and Communicating", in which they can make a brochure or website to popularise results of science shop projects. In the course "Science, communication and society"(10 EC) they are confronted with aspects of knowledge transfer, the role of university in society, risk communication and public debate. Many case examples are based on science shop work, the course is taught by a science shop coordinator. The final project (10EC) forces students to work (like a free-lancer) for an organisation to make a communicative product. Sometimes these organisations are science shop clients (like musea). All in all, the experience from the science shop complements the knowledge and skills from the department of communication sciences at the Arts faculty and together a good master program is delivered. If we oversee these options to include community based research (CBR) in the curriculum it shows that an integrated approach is possible, in which students get confronted with society's research requests in various parts of their studies. As Caspar de Bok from Utrecht University described this (at INRO 2004) for the Biology curriculum: In year 1 CBR is used to give examples, in year 2-3 it is used as practice and in the master-phase (year 4 + 5) is a goal for some thesis's. At other universities this integration it is also done but maybe less well described. A nice example from Romania was presented by Erwin Ten Meer, Dana Perniu and Camelia Draghici (at INRO 2004): Some 25 students from 5 faculties, ranging from first year to PhD level, participated in a research for the Energy and Environment Plan of Brasov. To achieve this, a matrix (spreadsheet) was made of professors (with dates and number of students in courses and practical/thesis's periods), specialities (subjects, disciplines). This "supply" of knowledge could then be matched with the demand from the "client" (beneficiary). This seems like a very good way to start the integration process. 3. Benefits and perspective of Science Shop work to society and university Benefits to society. Because Science Shops exist, society groups have a place to have their problems analysed and solved, which they could not have solved in another way. Finance will be no barrier for acceptation or refusal of a request. Especially in a country in transition, like Romania, where many things change relatively quickly and very few support mechanisms exist for civil society, SME’s and

institutions, this Science Shop service mechanism is of big use, because there is no alternative in the first place, but also because they are independent and guarantee quality of projects due to staff supervision. The output of science shop work leads to direct impact of science on society. A second -long term- benefit to society is that students which have done science shop projects will be better prepared for jobs outside the scientific community and thus work better. In our practice since 1998 we have noticed that students who do Science Shop projects in Romania are better prepared for jobs in a non-scientific community. An example was given by Hermes Clipa at INRO 2004, who explained how is experience in a water management project for the science shop at Cuza university Iasi now helped him in his work for the Romanian Water Agency (Apele Romana). Benefits of Science Shops to university We showed that science shop cases help to introduce modern and currently needed elements in the curriculum. Still, science shop projects are a little more work to organise than textbook cases, which can give problems within the decreasing university budgets and trends towards commercialisation of science. Students learn valuable skills from projects (next to the disciplinary and technical knowledge involved in the project): -Direct interaction with stakeholders, communication with non-specialists -Reflection on the use of scientific knowledge in the societal problem setting -Research in context, from definition to implementation of results, working in a multi-disciplinary setting Science shops have a special place in linking all three university missions: education, research, and knowledge transfer to society. Science shops combine research and teaching with service to society. Questions from civil organisations are rephrased to scientific research projects. Students, under supervision of a professor then perform the research, or a researcher does it. Students obtain credit points for their research. The research will lead to a report (or other product), which is made to be of use to the client. The student will have gained valuable competences related to project based working, like problem definition, communication with both a scientific and a non expert audience, planning, production of practical applicable results and reflection on the use of scientific knowledge in a societal problem setting. The professor and/or the researcher will have case material for either direct publication or further theoretical analysis. Moreover, for the professor involved this supervision is part of the teaching obligation. So, in fact all actors are doing what they are supposed to do: teaching, learning and researching. This is why a science shop can be implemented at relatively low additional costs and why science shops can also serve the non-profit sector. Challenges and perspectives on the development of Science Shops in Europe The competences developed in Science Shop projects and methodology have to smaller or larger extend been included in the Bachelor/Master structure and combine well with concepts as enterprising university and life long learning. For university renewal it is interesting that in principal Science Shops can exist in all university faculties where societal need can be met by university expertise. For instance in the Netherlands we have Science Shops on environment but also law, health, pharmacy, physics, social affairs. The status of science shops in the EU has been booming in the last five years. The EU has funded three projects to develop the European science shop network. Romanian Science Shops have been involved in all three projects. Rainer Gerold (2001), Director for Science and Society, DirectorateGeneral of research explains that there are five reasons for EU support:

1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Trust of citizens in science is advanced by science shops; Science shops shorten the communication lines Citizens-European Research Policy; Beneficiaries are open to scientific approach (Raising Public Awareness) Science shops influence on young researchers & research institutes (Raising science’s awareness) Social themes of research by science shops fit well with European ideals.

Challenges and perspectives of Science Shop development in Romania In the Romanian context science shops proved to be successful because they were able to adapt to local circumstances and issues and they proved to be a tool to reform education by development of problem based learning. Many achievements cannot be addressed in this paper: important spin-offs like distant learning courses, master programs, and many projects. Example: Appreciation at other Romanian universities A students’ research project on surface water quality, carried out at the Science Shop of Bacau, was presented at the national biology students’ seminar in Cluj. The students won the first prize. The novelty of Science Shop work, and especially the applicability were highly appreciated by the other biology departments of Romania.

The success of Science Shops as bottom up approach for education renewal in Romania was recognized by the Minister of Education and Research already in 2001 by a support letter from then-minister prof. Andronescu. The coming year will be important for further extension of this method throughout Romania. There is much that universities can do autonomously and at relatively low overhead costs they can achieve quite some modernisation of their curriculum. National support is valuable for the networking of science shops and generally facilitating their development and integration in universities. Next to office facilities, recognition of science shops as regular university activity, of science shop coordinator as a regular university job, and science shop project supervision as regular staff activity are needed. In principle the potential for Science Shops is large. The concept is applicable in all scientific domains where a potential that can be tapped to respond to societal demands (social issues, law, health, etc.). This will increase the problem solving capacity in these areas and also give an impetus to educational renewal/actualisation in these domains. This way civil society is served and a practical start is made with education renewal by problem-based learning. 4

References:

Arie Fokkink (2004): Science Shops As Tool To Provide Functional Knowledge And Skilled Students To Society, Uniso 2004, Galati, Romania, 20-25 July 2004 Arie Fokkink and Henk A.J. Mulder (2003), Problem based learning through science shops in Romania –putting wisdom into practice, paper for ‘Education on Sustainable Development’ (Materials, Product, Environment) in the New Information and Communication Society, Bramat, Brasov, March 14th 2003. Rainer Gerold (2001): European Union Support for Science Shops, Wetenschapswinkel Courant, Vol. 3 (nr. 6), 2001, p. 1 (www.fwn.rug.nl/chemshop/06gerold.html)

Merete Hende and Michael Søgaard Jørgensen (2001), The impact of science shops on university curricula and research, Scipas report nr. 6, University of Utrecht (www.scienceshops.org) IEM 2003: International Expert Meeting on Institutional Entrepreneurial Management and Entrepreneurial Studies in Higher Education, organised by “University of Applied Sciences Gelsenkirchen” and European Centre for Higher Education (UNESCO- CEPES)” (2003): Gelsenkirchen declaration on Institutional Entrepreneurial Management and Entrepreneurial Studies in Higher Education in Europe. INRO 2004: Towards sustainable partnerships between university and societal groups, Brasov, Romania, 9-11 June 2004, www.intermediu.ro Henk A. J. Mulder (2003): Science shops as a University – Society interface, paper presented at Uniso 2003, Curtea de Arges (proceedings published by APART, Bucharest, 2003). Henk A.J. Mulder (2001): Science shops: An overview of improving public access to science. Conference "Living-Knowledge", Leuven, 26 January 2001. Carmen Teodosiu and Daniela Teleman (2003): Interacts, Improving Interaction between NGO’s, Universities and science shops: Experiences and Expectations. Romanian case studies report, Intermediu, Gh. Asachi University, Iasi