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You are here > Home > Events > CaSE Final Conference 9 September 2010

Citizenship and Science Exchange (CaSE) Schools Project

Final Conference
26 October 2005
Share Centre, Lisnaskea, County Fermanagh

Over 100 education officials, teachers and students from the 16 schools involved in the Citizenship and Science Exchange (CaSE) project came to the Share Centre in Lisnaskea, Co Fermanagh, on 26 October for a conference to launch the final report of this innovative cross-curricular, cross-border initiative. The conference was opened by Mr Martin Higgins, Chief Executive of safefood, and Ms Brenda Hegarty, Programme Manager of the Special EU Programmes Body, whose organisations jointly sponsored the conference.

This 2003-2005 project, involving around 400 12-14 year olds in 16 secondary schools on both sides of the Irish border, aimed to enable students to critically evaluate the inter-related roles of science and citizenship and to raise awareness of the interdependencies that exist between communities in the border region. It was funded by the EU Peace and Reconciliation programme.

The areas of science and citizenship were selected because of the growing emphasis on them in second-level curriculum and their contrasting uses in facilitating North/South communication. At present, science presents itself as universally valid and neutral, while citizenship is a culturally more challenging topic.

The partners in this project were the Centre for Cross Border Studies (project manager), Dublin City University, the Southern Education and Library Board and the Western Education and Library Board. The project’s two action researchers, Ms Charlotte Holland and Dr Peter McKenna, were from the School of Educational Studies at Dublin City University.

Brian Trench, Head of School of Communications, DCU presenting certificates
to the teachers and students who took part in the CaSE Conference

Also presenting certificates was Dr Gerard McNamara, Head of School of Education Studies, DCU

In Northern Ireland, the participating schools were: Banbridge Academy, Banbridge, Co Down; Drumglass High School, Dungannon, Co Tyrone; Fivemiletown High School, Fivemiletown, Co Tyrone; Kilkeel High School, Kilkeel, Co Down; Lismore Comprehensive School, Craigavon, Co Armagh; Lurgan Junior High School, Lurgan, Co Armagh; St Aidan’s High School, Derrylin, Co Fermanagh; St Mary’s High School, Newry, Co Down; and St Patrick’s College, Banbridge, Co Down.

In the Republic of Ireland, they were: Beaufort College, Navan, Co Meath; Beech Hill College, Monaghan; De La Salle College, Dundalk, Co Louth; St Macartan’s College, Monaghan; St Mary’s College, Dundalk, Co Louth; St Oliver’s Community College, Drogheda, Co Louth; and St Vincent’s Secondary School, Dundalk, Co Louth.

The project centred on joint teachers workshops, curriculum materials and a shared Web resource – www.caseschools.org - where students and teachers could interact in discourse and debate on the roles, rights and responsibilities of the citizen in societies which are increasingly science-dependent.

The CaSE Project utilised the Dundalk Wired For Learning Network, a collaborative network between the Department of Education and Science and IBM, which provides a secure web environment aimed at developing the use of ICT for the entire school community including teachers, students, parents and mentors.

The project was organised around the delivery of three modules entitled ‘Environmental Perspectives’ (delivered in winter term 2004), ‘Food and Nutrition’ and ‘Energy’ (to be delivered in autumn term 2004 and winter term 2005).

Teachers and education officials North and South taking part in an informal discussion
on the advantages of cross-curricular learning

These modules contained background information, experiments, activities, worksheets and other useful resources from science and citizenship perspectives in the areas of air pollution, water pollution and waste management. The materials can be used with students studying in their first year of Key Stage 3 Science in the North or first year of Junior Certificate in the South. On completion of the practical experiments and class-based activities, students published their findings online and entered into a dialogue with their peers from the participating schools on issues that had arisen in the course of their examination of science and citizenship. The online dialogue was mediated by teachers, the CaSE design team and other experts in science and citizenship.

See the programme and further details of the CaSE Schools Project.