40 teachers on innovative cross-border science and citizenship exchange project to be trained in Monaghan

Press Release 27 November 2004

The Centre for Cross Border Studies and Dublin City University have set up Citizenship and Science Exchange (CaSE), an ICT-based cross-border schools project aimed at deepening understanding of similarities and differences between science and citizenship education in secondary schools in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.

40 teachers from this project will be meeting in Monaghan Education Centre (from 9.30 am to 3.30 pm) this Thursday and Friday (27 and 28 November) for a two-day training session (They will be in St Macartan’s College laboratories from approximately 2.15-3.30 on Thursday).

The teachers come from 17 schools in Monaghan, Dundalk, Drogheda and Navan in the South, and in Craigavon, Banbridge, Kilkeel, Newry, Bessbrook, Fivemiletown and Derrylin (Fermanagh) in the North.

This highly innovative two and a half year project, which is funded by the EU Peace Two programme, will see around 500 12-14 year olds learning about ‘citizen science’ subjects like water pollution and food nutrition. They will use a shared website (provided by the Dundalk-based Wired for Learning project) to discuss their findings with their fellow students in the other jurisdiction, access curriculum support materials and use ‘ask the expert’ services.

Two Dublin City University researchers, Charlotte Holland (formerly a science teacher at Beech Hill College in Monaghan) and Dr Peter McKenna have been employed to run this project under the management of the Centre for Cross Border Studies in Armagh.

Further information from:

Dr Patricia Clarke, Project Manager, or Charlotte Holland, Researcher

Dr Patricia Clarke, Centre for Cross Border Studies, 39 Abbey Street, Armagh
Tel. 048-37-511550 Fax 048-37-511721
Charlotte Holland, Dublin City University Tel. 01-7008243
Emails: patricia.Clarke@qub.ac.uk; charlotte.Holland@dcu.ie