News Raising the Science Capital of Boys

On Wednesday evening, 30th August 2023, the 'It’s not just Science!' Project team (from the School of Education; and the Centre of Pedagogy and Public Engagement Research (CoPPER)), led by Dr Veronica McCauley, is holding a Teacher Training Seminar.

Twelve DEIS school Science teachers from the Northwestern Region are being taught to deliver the SCIENCE4SURVIVAL TY module, which is an educational initiative to ignite non-traditional male students’ interest in Biology and consider progression to higher education.

Postdoctoral researcher Dr Carmen Kealy, who coordinates the project says: ‘SCIENCE4SURVIVAL, which is based on the Science Capital Teaching Approach, was developed and initially implemented as a pilot educational intervention earlier this year.

Having incorporated feedback from students and teachers, we are now scaling the programme to a regional level with the aim to encourage more male senior cycle DEIS students to consider study at higher education afforded through Biology at leaving certificate.

The project is funded the Department for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science (DFHERIS) under the Programme for Access to Higher Education - Pillar 3 (PATH 3) from 2021-2024. The programme of work is carried out in conjunction with the Access Centre at the University of Galway and the Atlantic Technological University.