SciCar

University of Tartu

Miia Rannikmäe

Head of the project, professor

Centre for Science Education, University of Tartu (Estonia)

Biography

Miia Rannikmäe  is professor in Science education in Centre for Science Education in the Institute of Earth and Life Sciences within the Faculty of Science and Technology. She has considerable experience in science education in Estonia, Europe and worldwide (Fulbright fellow – University of Iowa, USA). She has a strong school teaching background, extensive experience in pre- and in-service teacher training and has strong links with science teacher associations worldwide. She has been a member of an EC high-level group associated with the publication of a 2004 report on ‘Europe needs more Scientists’.
Her research interests cover areas such as cognitive learning in sciences, relevance of science education, scientific and technological literacy, context based teaching in inquiry based science classroom. She has published over 160 articles (47 articles in international journals, 20 articles in books).

CV: Miia Rannikmäe (etis.ee)

Jack Holbrook

Visiting professor

University of Tartu, Centre for Science Education (Estonia)

Biography

Jack Holbrook  is visiting professor at UT, with considerable experience in science education worldwide. His PhD is in Chemistry, but he also has a strong school science teaching background, extensive experience in pre- service teacher training; added to expertise from running in-service training workshops in a range of countries in Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, Africa and Europe. He acts as an education consultant in a number of Asian and African countries. His research covers curriculum development in science subjects, teacher education and assessment and evaluation, as well supervising PhD students in use-inspired research, scientific literacy, inquiry learning and changing teacher beliefs. He has written and adapted numerous classroom teaching materials and published books for teachers, as well as science textbooks for use in school. He has been working since 2009 as curriculum and assessment consultant for the Ministry of Education in Bangladesh and from 2013 for
the World Bank on a competence-based curriculum project in Kuwait. He is past president of ICASE and headed ICASE involvement in FP7 projects – PROFILES and ENGINEER.

CV: Jack Holbrook (etis.ee)

Regina Soobard

Researcher, Programme director for Science Teacher Education

University of Tartu, Centre for Science Education (Estonia)

Biography

Regina Soobard is a research fellow in science education in University of Tartu, Faculty of Science and Technology, Institute of Ecology and Earth Science, Centre for Science Education. She received her PhD in science education 2015 in University of Tartu. Her main research interests are linked with scientific literacy, science-related career awareness and assessment. During her PhD studies, she got an award for semester abroad for visiting Monash University in Australia. After her PhD studies, she got BAFF Research Scholar program grant for being a visiting scholar in Michigan State University. She is also OECD PISA study science expert in Estonia. Additionally, she is a Professional Coach, certified by International Coach Federation’i (ICF).
In this project, she will be mainly working with WP 4 ja WP 5.

CV:  Regina Soobard (etis.ee)

Anne Laius

Anne Laius

Call: +372 737 5084

Email: anne.laius@ut.ee

Anne Laius

Assoc. professor

University of Tartu, Centre for Science Education (Estonia)

Biography

Assoc. Prof. Anne Laius is holding the position of associate professor in biology didactic in The Centre for Science Education. Her PhD is in the field of creativity and reasoning in science education. Her current research interests cover besides biology education also the area of sustainable development and teaching in an informal environment. She keeps working part-time as a practicing biology teacher and has also experience in teaching based on the International Baccalaureate (IB) curriculum.  In SciCar  she takes the responsibility of coordinating the work with science museums and centers.

CV:  Anne Laius (etis.ee)

Tapashi Binte Mahmud Chowdhury

Research Fellow

University of Tartu, Centre for Science Education (Estonia)

Biography

Tapashi is working as a Research Fellow in Centre for Science Education in the Institute of Earth and Life Sciences within the Faculty of Science and Technology. In her doctoral studies, she emphasised the transference of science learning to the society, for a wider societal development. In her post-doctoral work, she is focusing on trans-disciplinary approaches to science teaching-learning. She is also teaching science at the secondary level.

Her responsibility in SciCar project as a communication lead, is to handle all internal and external communications, organise events, and manage the SciCar website.

CV: ETIS