| Abstract: | PARSEL Project emerged from the urgent need to overcome the problem of lack of scientific literacy in the population, which
should be a priority in a society where science occupies a central place. Indeed, nowadays for any citizen to participate
in a responsible and informed way in society he has to be scientifically acknowledgeable. Nevertheless, not only are scientific
levels low in the general population, but also there is an increasing number of students who avoid science and technology
courses and related professions. Within this context, PARSEL aims at raising science and scientific courses’ popularity and
relevancy as well as at enacting teachers’ professional development. In order to achieve these goals, the PARSEL group developed
54 pan-European modules, which were tested and evaluated by several teachers in several European countries and Israel. Teachers
maintained a close relationship with the university, were highly encouraged to appropriate the modules and to adapt them to
their local conditions and, also to discuss and share their experiences. In Portugal, modules were tested by a group of eight
teachers, and their students. This paper presents data concerning teachers’ evaluation. Data was collected by means of interviews,
observation and written documents and reveals that teachers positively evaluated PARSEL’s impact on their own professional
development. Furthermore, they considered modules as well as the teaching-learning approach essential for making science learning
relevant and popular for their students. |
