TEACHING AND DISSEMINATION OF SCIENCE

GENERAL DESCRIPTION

The Doctoral Programme in Science Education and Dissemination aims at providing advanced training for science teachers and communicators. This doctoral program results from the combined participation of faculty staff from the Science Teaching Unit of the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Porto and from its thematic departments, in areas such as Mathematics, Physics, Astronomy, Chemistry, Biology and Geology. This diversity and range of experiences, skills and subject areas is a major advantage to secure a solid and balanced range of opportunities for advanced training through research in science teaching and outreach. Notably the close connection to research in the science fields covered by the faculty of sciences ensures a productive and highly innovative approach to active topics of research in science education and outreach.

The program addresses issues associated with education, communication and/or public outreach, but it deliberately remains closely linked to the each of the corresponding scientific areas in any of the physical and natural sciences. The students of this degree have an initial semester with common curricular units on teaching and science outreach and also with curricular units on specific field-related subjects (both teaching and outreach). In a second semester the students prepare a project (in any of the two main specializations) which, after approval by the course committee on a public session, establishes the basis for the research work leading to the thesis. The research plan and the preparation of the thesis are undertaken in the second and third year of the Doctor’s degree course under the supervision of experienced researchers/faculty staff. The students are expected to acquire specific, multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary skills, related with teaching and popularization of Mathematics, Physics, Astronomy, Chemistry, Biology and/or Geology. The training offered by the program ensures the acquisition of competencies that are important for the long-term building of a scientifically literate society, through actively improving the training on teaching at all levels, as well as teaching practices, and also towards expanding and strengthening the impact and quality of the role of museums and science outreach institutions.

STRUCTURE

The cycle of studies leading to the Doctor’s degree in Teaching and Dissemination of Science consists of:

• a set of units of study, with 60 ECTS credits, corresponding to a “Specialization”, which doesn’t confer a degree;
• the elaboration and defense of a thesis, with 120 ECTS credits.

CURRICULAR PLAN

Click here to view the complete version of the latest study plan.

ADMISSION REQUIREMENTS

Students with a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree – or a 5-year long Bachelor’s degree – in the area of Exact or Natural Sciences, or in Teaching of these areas, can apply to this course.

SELECTION CRITERIA

• A – Bachelor’s and master degree course average(40%);
• B – Curriculum Vitae of the candidate, in terms of experience in science teaching and/or science communication, including research activities (20%);
• C – Letter of Intent in which the candidate, briefly, projectively and prospectively (40%):
  • explains the reasons why he/she is interested in carrying out the PhD Program;
  • submits a research proposal that he/she intended to develop,describing explicitly the problem and its context, the research questions and the methodology to be used;
  • presents other aspects that he/she considers to be important for the application (document to be submitted in pdf format, with 2 to 6 pages);

Candidates with a weighted final mark of less than 15 (criteria A, B and C) will be excluded.

Tiebreaker Criteria:
• Interview results (not mandatory: only in the case of a tiebreaker and, if necessary, for curricular clarification).