USE Center summit lays groundwork for ambitious research plan: “A seminal moment” 

During 24 hours in Copenhagen, education researchers from the USE Center and teaching faculty from Danish universities came together to define the greatest challenges for education in their discipline– and to lay the foundation for research that address those challenges.  

The knowledge shared and the ideas generated will give the collaborative work of the USE Center the best possible start, says center leader, Professor Jan Alexis Nielsen.  

“The USE Summit gave us the opportunity to learn from experts in their respective teaching disciplines. I’m deeply grateful to them for generously sharing their knowledge and experience,” said Jan Alexis Nielsen. 

“I’m truly impressed by the dedication of everyone involved. Their contributions have set the USE Center firmly on the path to fulfilling part of its mission: strengthening science teaching and learning at Danish universities.” 

Lightning rod 

To Dr. Michael Seery – Deputy Director of Centre for Academic Learning and Development at the University of Bristol and member of the USE Center advisory board – the summit felt like a seminal moment.  

“It’s a genuine opportunity to reform and transform science education for the 21st century and beyond,” he said. 

“Seeing educators from different disciplines, countries, and systems — and realizing so quickly that there were central themes in common — really says something about the potential of the USE Center. It can act as a kind of lightning rod for the issues that shape science education globally.” 

Reimagine STEM education 

The engagement of the teaching faculty along with the ideas generated, creates high expectations for the impacts of the USE Center, says Anna Danielsson, Professor of Science Education at the University of Stockholm, one of three international partners in the USE Center.  

“The USE Center represents a fantastic opportunity to reimagine and reshape higher education in STEM subjects on a scale we haven’t seen before—at least not in this part of the world,” said Anna Danielsson. 

“The major challenge will be to think beyond the typical boundaries of a research project, which we’re used to, and to imagine ideas that are both longitudinal and interdisciplinary. To be ambitious and imaginative enough to break with standard practices and conventional science curricula.” 

Almost moving 

Faculty at the USE summit represented each of the disciplines covered by the center: Physics, Biology, Mathematics, Geoscience, Chemistry and Computer Science. The commonality between disciplines was striking, said Rikke Frøhlich Hougaard, executive consultant at the University of Aarhus.  

“It’s been wonderful to see how much agreement there is — on both the challenges and the goals. That sense of synergy has been very powerful — almost moving.” 

It was especially good to see so many educators present, Rikke Frøhlich Hougaard stressed. 

“What I hope most of all is that educators will see the relevance of the USE Center and be inspired. For that to happen, we need a deep understanding of what it takes for our research to really make a difference in practice.” 

In the coming months, the research ideas developed during the summit will be refined into actual project descriptions. In august this work will lead to a research strategy guiding the future efforts of the USE Center.