University of Southampton, UK

PARRISE focuses on developing best practices of professional development programmes for pre-service and in-service science teachers with an aim to promote responsible research and innovation in science education both at the primary and secondary school levels.

The PARRISE project aims to raise young people’s awareness of responsible research and innovation (RRI) through socio-scientific inquiry-based learning (SSIBL). The goals are to train pre-service and experienced science teachers to develop authentic, meaningful inquiry opportunities for their students which blend RRI with citizenship, SSI and inquiry learning. Students ask amazing questions about SSI and want their inquiry learning to make a difference.

Leading the work package associated with developing teacher professional development programmes at the secondary school level

SOTON webpage [en]

SOTON PARRISE brochure [en]

During the first year of the project, we have developed our network of science education researchers, teacher educators and pre-service and in-service teachers. We have worked closely with the Secondary Science PGCE team at Southampton Education School, in developing and trialling activities and resources that operationalise effectively the SSIBL framework. For instance, we have used different contexts, both specific to the UK such as the badger cull and global such as climate change, in order to model strategies for mapping the controversy of an issue and for unpacking how teachers can deal with these issues in their science classrooms in a way that not only promotes conceptual understanding but also citizenship education. We have worked with both provider-led and School Direct trainee teachers in developing these activities and are also keen on working with in-service teachers on ways of teaching science in and for society.