New EU project will develop natural science teaching for the future

How do we discover new things about the world around us? How do we know what we know?

These are questions that Lydia Schulze Heuling, professor at the Department of Sport, Food and Natural Sciences, is absolutely passionate about. We are used to thinking that there is a sharp distinction between the methods in natural science and arts subjects: for example, that natural science is about facts and is a subject for the head, while arts are about intuition and are a subject for the heart. But when we take a closer look, that is simply not the case, Heuling believes. The two ways of exploring the world are based on many of the same things.

“Knowledge production in natural science is largely about creativity. You look for patterns, create new connections. It is exactly the same as what artists do,” says Heuling.

With a background both as a physicist and performance artist, she certainly knows what she’s talking about.

Wants to make natural science accessible to more people

For the whole of last summer, she and research consultant Guillaume Lapeyre were working closely together to prepare a Horizon Europe application for the EU. This framework programme is fairly new. They have now been awarded NOK 17.5 million to conduct a three-year research project, and the project has now started.

Lapeyre’s background is as a project officer in the EU system, and she is an expert in what it takes to write successful research applications. Heuling has a network of colleagues from countries including Scotland, England, France and Germany. She currently lives in Flensburg in Germany, but will be moving to Bergen with her family this summer.

“According to the European Commission, changing the way natural science is taught is important and essential. By gaining a broader understanding of what natural science actually is, we will be laying a foundation to allow new generations to find good solutions to some of the major challenges facing society, such as digitalisation, the green transition, equal opportunities and social inclusion,” says Lapeyre.

Heuling and her partners have created a bold and innovative proposal on how this should happen. This could be an important step towards making natural science more inclusive.

And this is something about which Heuling herself is very passionate. Natural science is one of the most popular subjects, but students have a tendency to lose interest and enthusiasm in it, the higher up the school system they get. Europe does not have enough workers with natural science qualifications, which is why it is vital to make changes. She particularly wants women and minorities to know that there is a place for them in natural science.

Choreographies mixed with physics lectures

“There has been something wrong with the way we have been teaching natural science. The trend is very clear. That is why we must make a radical change, and build in art and sensory thinking”, says Heuling.

As a female scientist, she has an original background. This includes dropping out of school after the 10th grade to work in a bookshop, resuming her studies and completing masters’ degrees in both physics and performance art, then working for a while as a performance artist before once more returning to academia. For a while, she created choreographies combined with physics lectures – a type of performance art for which she received awards.

“When I am on a stage, I need to have a physical knowledge of what I doing. Much of the same thing is needed in the laboratory. When we do experiments, the knowledge we create is something that is stored in the body,” says Heuling.

“Knowledge development in natural science is thus very physical and sensory, just like in art – although not many natural scientists tend to have recognised this. When you learn to paint pictures, you learn to look at things, and to become aware in a deeper way. I have the same awareness in laboratory work.”

Heuling has a wide range of collaborators – academics from many different countries, the organization "Women engaged for our common future" in Georgia, artists, architects, digital designers and Musèe du Louvre in Paris, among others.

The plan is that the new didactic methods will not only take root in schools, but also in many other types of institutions. The science center VilVite in Bergen will play a special role. The consortium wants to reach out to most people with this new understanding of the natural sciences, among other things through events.

About the SENSE. project

The SENSE. project launched in September 2022, and it is scheduled to run for three years.

• The SENSE. project seeks to develop the ‘New European Roadmap to STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Maths) Education’, addressing the learning continuum from school to work life.
  
  
• The SENSE. consortium, coordinated by Western Norway University of Applied Sciences, includes 17 partner organisations across 14 different European countries that will establish 13 ‘STEAM Labs’ across Europe.
  
  
• The project was awarded funding by Horizon Europe and launched in September 2022, and it is due to run until 2025.

Click here for more information about the SENSE. project