2018

Science and Humanities teacher from 7th to 12th grades, private education, in Porto.

He developed the “CSS Program”, which is a program aimed at training transversal skills that can enable students, currently between 9th and 12ht grades, to successfully adapt to the labour market. As a result of research and development work based on varies fields and models of Psychology (e.g. Positive Psychology, Performance Psychology, Cognitive-Behavioural and Constructivist approaches), grounded on updated knowledge from Neurosciences, and complemented with experience in the context of Education, this program consists of 30 sessions, one 90-minute session per week, taking place after school hours and throughout the school year. Focusing on the personal and academic development of students, the CSS Program is guided by the enhancement of six specific objectives: emotional intelligence, self-esteem and self-confidence, empowerment, resilience, personal well-being and academic performance. The results are extraordinary and very differentiating.

Watch the summary video HERE

Science and Robotics teacher from 7th to 7th grades, public education, in Torres Vedras.

The teaching of sciences and technology, namely computer science and robotics, in addition to the multidisciplinary knowledge that this field encompasses, is on its own a motivator for the curiosity of today’s youngsters. The development of technological projects is also a way to integrate students with more difficulties of integration at school, who are shier, sometimes with behavioural issues, and also as a form of motivation for school success. The fact of having students winning national and international competitions since 2008, namely students awarded in the Science at School prize of the Ilídio Pinho Foundation, as well as students consecutively (since 2007) becoming national champions in several robotics competitions, and some have become world champions for thirteen times at the RoboCup – World Robotics Championship, contributes to the dissemination of the good practices developed, which is a catalyst for fostering responsibility and success in new students. The possibility of creating projects in which students feel useful in the society, as well as providing students with the possibility of becoming the main actors in the construction of materials and knowledge to be developed in the projects, is highly transformative in the way students perform and how they look at school.

Watch the summary video HERE

Science teacher in secondary school, public education, in Chaves. (WINNER OF 2018 EDITION)

He created the “Science Experimental Teaching Club” (CEEC) in 2006, for secondary school students. CEEC works in conjunction with formal education and its main objectives are to deepen experimental knowledge by solving problems in the community and promoting student entrepreneurship. Several projects with impact on the community were developed, with reduced costs, such as “Avoiding Fires in Portugal”, “Irrigating with Air Humidity” and “Experimental Physics and Chemistry for the Little Ones”. The articulation of content from preschool to university education is fostered. The activities carried out made them win several prizes, promote the training of teachers, improve students’ exam scores and inspire students to pursue scientific careers, and some of them are currently working in world-class companies.

Watch the summary video HERE

Primary teacher, private education, in Lisbon.

She develops an approach based on the fusion between Science and Creativity: it all starts with adopting an attitude, regardless of the students or the context, that values the ability to create unexpected connections between different contents. It involves creating an almost utopian environment in the classroom, based on respect and freedom, encouraging students to propose hypotheses, experiment with theories, debate ideas, invent solutions. It merges science with literature and arts, in an emotional, creative and passionate learning process governed by imagination and the ability to engage with subjects in a multidisciplinary way. Under this concept, several specific strategies and activities were developed. She believes that it is increasingly important to speak the same language, tear down the walls of predefined content. One cannot talk about maths and ignore its links with biology, language and even emotion. If, on the one hand, technological tools should be used when they are available (blogs, interactive board, etc), on the other hand one should take a step back and look at the way learning was seen at the time of the Renaissance: polymathy, as a broad area (and not strict) of several fields of knowledge, even if apparently unrelated, will be more and more present. In addition, autonomy, questioning and entrepreneurship should be encouraged by using emotional tools and practical intelligence. Summarising what she believes that the education of the future should be: polymathy; creativity; emotional and practical intelligence; entrepreneurship; fascination; love; respect. The results of her work are widespread and highly recognised.

Watch the summary video HERE

Preschool teacher, public education, in Ponta Delgada.

As a kindergarten teacher, he developed research-action in classroom, taking into account the issues he faced with students. Issues related to gender and citizenship enter the school through the children, being part of everyday school life. However, there are still difficulties in approaching them, and this subject is often “forgotten”. To address these issues, he created a set of activities, aimed at deconstructing gender stereotypes. Faced with the reduced number of children books, in order to dismantle stereotypes with children, he wrote a story, called Pipi e Popó – Apenas para quem educa! and gathered a set of objectives and proposed activities to explore the story. The application of these contents has had a great impact and has proved to be very transformative.

Veja vídeo resumo HERE