New Perspectives in Science Education

The undergraduate years are crucial for students to broaden their horizons and learn about new research areas. However, most of the times the training opportunities that students could resort to to complement their academic education are not specifically designed for them, for being too advanced, significantly expensive or ocurring during the week, overlapping with academic commitments. With this in mind, the Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes (cE3c), based at the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Lisbon, Portugal, joined efforts with the Association of Biology Students of the Faculty to create an offer of brief training opportunities aimed at undergraduate Biology students: the Short Courses. During the academic year 2017/2018, thirteen Short Courses were organized (corresponding to 215 vacancies), spanning areas as diverse as ecology, taxonomy, programming and science communication, and putting in direct contact researchers, PhD and Post-Doctoral students from cE3c - as trainers - with undergraduate students - as participants. Furthermore, to meet the students’ needs the courses had the duration of 1-2 days, were scheduled for public holidays and weekends, and the inscription cost was kept at a minimum possible to ensure just logistic needs and the payment of the trainers’ work. In this first edition, the Short Courses registered a global occupancy rate of 83%, with several courses sold out. As expected, the majority (70%) of participants were undergraduate Biology students from the Faculty, but the Short Courses also welcomed master and doctoral students, and participants from other faculties across the country. The evaluation surveys reveal that all participants rated the initiative as either "Very Good" (maximum) or "Good", with very positive appreciations about the organization and the pertinence of the courses to their academic education. Trainers also praised the initiative, emphasizing its importance for communicating their work and inspiring a new generation for their research area. Evaluation results and suggestions will be used for improving future editions of the Short Courses.

Keywords: Science education; Science Communication; Undergraduate education; Soft skills;