Welcome to the website of
the MTA-SZTE Science Education Research Group

The MTA-SZTE Science Education Research Group was set up in September 2016 as a research unit of Content Pedagogy Research Programme of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences hosted by the Institute of Education, The University of Szeged. The research group is led by Erzsébet Korom associate professor, Head of the Department of Learning and Instruction. Our research programme focuses on the fostering of scientific reasoning skills throughout the primary school and secondary school years using methods of skill development embedded in the content of science subjects. You can find out more about the research group on the  Hungarian pages of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.

Research programme

Our research project Teaching materials for public education and teacher training undertakes to develop exercises, lesson plans and other teaching materials used for the fostering of scientific reasoning while being incorporated into primary school and secondary school classes or used on their own as after-school science activities.

Our objectives are:

• to incorporate the results of research on the development and fostering of reasoning skills into everyday teaching practice by constructing teaching materials for teachers and trainee teachers;
• to develop and pilot exercises and lesson plans suitable for the fostering of reasoning skills;
• to develop and pilot intervention programmes for the fostering of specific fundamental reasoning skills, and assess the effectiveness of these programmes;
• to devise diagnostic assessment instruments, and teacher and student questionnaires allowing the measurement of the success of intervention programmes.

The results of our research and our practical manuals of instruction methods may increase awareness of the significance of skills and help incorporate skills instruction into education. The exercises and lesson plans and the case studies and analyses of the trials of these activities can be embedded in teacher training materials for courses in educational psychology and instruction methods. Our 30-hour accredited in-service teacher training programme Fostering scientific reasoning skills in primary school (6 to 12 years) and short workshops may enhance the professional development of educators and may assist in the building or strengthening of professional connections.