Research
Fanny Seroglou's research interests focus on:
a) The contribution of history and philosophy of science in science education (for her research she was awarded the Volta Medal from the IHPST group in 1999),
b) Scientific literacy (for her postdoctoral research she got scholarship from the Greek Scholarships Foundation in 2002),
c) Science for citizenship (also published a book titled "Science for Citizenship" in greek in 2006),
d) Science and culture in education (designed and developed a teacher-training course and an educational wiki supporting the course, held as Conference Chair the "Science and Culture" IHPST2011 conference and edited the "Science and Culture" Book of Proceedings in 2011)
e) Website, web-based learning environment and instructional e-material design (the most recent ones are: http://atlaswiki.wetpaint.gr, http://hipstwiki.eled.auth.gr)
f) Science education research models (design and evaluation of research models such as the SHINE research model for the interaction between history of science and science education, the three-dimensional cognitive, meta-cognitive and emotional research model for recording the proposal for the use of history of science in science education, the GNOSIS research model for an nature-of-science approach to scientific literacy, the 3D-5I model for the combination of skills, attitudes and intelligences in science teaching and the ATLAS_WBLE model for the meeting of scientific literacy and digital literacy
Since 2003 Fanny Seroglou has founded and is the head of the ATLAS research group (ATLAS is the acronym of A Teaching and Learning Approach for Scientific literacy) and with her colleagues (nowadays the ATLAS group consists of more than 30 researchers and educators) they have participated in a series of international research projects concerning the use of history and philosophy of science in science education and the development of instructional e-material, multimedia and activities for the science classroom such as The MAP prOject, STeT, IPP, HIPST, that also led to the development of websites that the ATLAS research group has highly contributed such as http://atlas.eled.auth.gr, http://ppp.unipv.it/MAP, http://www.ucy.ac.cy/stet.
Fanny Seroglou with the ATLAS research group have been carrying out researches concerning the following topics:
1) The aims of teaching science in the context of science literacy.
2) The definition(s) of the scientific literate citizen.
3) Science for citizenship.
4) A three-dimensional cognitive, meta-cognitive and emotional approach of teaching and learning science.
5) The contribution of history of science in science education.
6) Design, development and evaluation of instructional material
7) A series of traditional and innovatory teaching strategies in science literacy such as group work, lab work, theatre in the classroom, debate, role-play, poster design (using the collage technique), poster session, study and analysis of texts coming from works of philosophy, poetry and literature, discussion based on newspaper articles, website design etc.
8) Concept maps as an alternative evaluation device.
9) Design, development and evaluation of instructional e-material, website and web-based learning environments.
10) Gender and science education.
11) Teaching science to the visually impaired
12) Pre- and in-service teacher training in science education
The results of the research work, carried out by the ATLAS group, are communicated to pre- and in-service teachers attending undergraduate and postgraduate courses and seminars (8 seminars all over Greece).
Fanny Seroglou has participated in the following international research projects as scientific responsible for AUTH and Head of the ATLAS Research Group:
2002-2004 The International Pendulum Project (IPP). Prof. Michael Matthews from the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia was the coordinator of this international project that was funded by the Australian Ministry of Education. Researchers from 30 countries all over the world participated in this project. During the research project Fanny Seroglou was invited to stay in Sydney and teach and work in the University of South Wales and all travel and accommodation expenses were covered by the IPP project.
2004-2006 The MAP prOject: A teacher training program based on science education and history of science. Prof. Panagiotis Kokkotas from the University of Atthens was the coordinator of this COMENIUS 2.1 Research Project that was funded by the EU. Five research groups from four european countries worked for the MAP project..
2006-2008 Science Teacher e-Training (STeT) – Teaching science using case studies from the history of science. Prof. Panagiotis Kokkotas from the University of Athens was again the coordinator of this COMENIUS 2.1 Research Project that was funded by the EU. Five research groups from four european countries worked for the MAP project.
2008-2010 History and Philosophy in Science Teaching (HIPST). Dr. Dietmar Hottecke from the University of Hamburg (Scientific Lead) and the GTZ in Berlin (Management) were the coordinators of this FP7 (Science in Society) Research Project. Eight research groups from eight universities from seven european countries joined the programme. Fanny Seroglou was the scientific responsible for two work packages of the programme concerning HIPST evaluation and the development of the website and the wiki of HIPST. (http://hipst.eled.auth.gr, http://hipstwiki.eled.auth.gr).
The ATLAS research group has developed instructional e-material and activities for the classroom in the context of a series of research projects. Many eduactional websites and wikis have been developed till now trying to make the research results transformed in teaching scenarios to reach teachers in greek schools and help them inform their teaching. Since 2003, the following websites and educational wikis that support research in science education and research informed teaching proposals concerning ATLAS’ research interests:
http://atlas.eled.auth.gr (2003-2007, greek)
http://atlas.eled.auth.gr/pendulum (2004-2007, english)
http://atlas.eled.auth.gr/freefall (2006-2007, english)
http://atlaswikigr.wetpaint.com (2008-today, greek)
http://atlaswiki.wetpaint.com (2008-today, english)
http://atlaswikiar.wetpaint.com (2010-today, spanish under development)
http://atlaswikiwork.wetpaint.com (2008-today, private working space)
http://hipst.eled.auth.gr (2009-today, english)
http://hipstwiki.eled.auth.gr (2009-today, english)
Among the many multimedia research-informed instructional material of ATLAS group the following stand out:
a) the educational atlaswiki (in greek, english and spanish version) designed by Vassilis Koulountzos and Fanny Seroglou (http://atlaswiki.wetpaint.com)
b) A series of videos for teaching electromagnetism designed by Vassilis Koulountzos, Giorgos Primerakis and Fanny Seroglou and uploaded at the http://ppp.unpv.it/stet
c) An animation movie titles "From the geocentric to the heliocentric system" developed and designed by the pupils of the 6th grade of the 101 Primary School of Athens and with the guidance of Spyros Siakas, Panagiotis Piliouras and Fanny Seroglou.
d) An educational film titled "Greenhouse" about climate change that is designed and developed by Zoe Tsarsiotou, Odysseas Knavas and Fanny Seroglou and realises the GNOSIS model in the development of multimedia instructional material.
Fanny Seroglou likes to create research models in her work, test them and evaluate them and them use them to produce new research projects and instructional material or activities for the classroom. Fanny Seroglou's research models are often used by other fellow-researchers with encouraging results. Some of this research models are:
a) the SHINE research model (for the interaction between history of science and science education)
b) the three-dimensional cognitive, meta-cognitive and emotional research model (for recording the proposal for the use of history of science in science education)
c) the GNOSIS research model (for an nature-of-science approach to scientific literacy)
d) the 3D-5I model (for the combination of skills, attitudes and intelligences in science teaching)
e) the ATLAS_WBLE model for the meeting of scientific literacy and digital literacy
Fanny Seroglou has been awarded the Volta Medal from the IHPST group in 1999 in Como Italy for her ground-breaking research and the high quality of her publications that actually opened the way for the interdisciplinary field of history of science and science education.
Fanny Seroglou has also been awarded the following scholarships:
1. Scholarship from the Research Committee of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki for her PhD research (1997-1999).
2. Scholarship from the Greek Scholarships Foundation (IKY) for her postdoctoral research (2003-2004).
3. Fellowship by the Australian Research Council of the Australian Ministry of Education for her research for the International Pendulum Project (2003).
4. Fellowship by the Canadian Ministry of Education for her research for the International Pendulum Project
Fanny Seroglou's work has been pioneering and has inspired research projects and even Phd thesis in Greece and abroad (2005).
Fanny Seroglou has been invited fellow researcher and/or invited professor at the following universities:
1. Alessandro Volta Physics Department, University of Pavia, Italy (1997, 2001, 2006)
(working with Prof. Fabio Bevilacqua and the History of Science, Science Education and New Technologies Research Group)
2. School of Education, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia (2003)
(in the context of the International Pendulum Project)
3. School of Science Education (CEFIEC), University of Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina (2007)
(working with Prof. Agustin Aduriz-Bravo and the GEHyD research group - Grupo de Epistemologia, Historia y Didactica de las Ciencias Naturales)
4. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, University of Catamarca, Catamarca, Argentina (2007)
(Fanny Seroglou was given the title of Professor of the University of Catamarca in Argentina by the University Council of the University of Catamarca in June 2006 for her innovative and inspiring research work).
Fanny Seroglou has been elected Director in the Council of the International History, Philosophy and Science Teaching Group in 2007 and served for two years till 2009. In 2009 Fanny Seroglou was appointed Program Chair in the Council of the International History, Philosophy and Science Teaching Conference and was asked to organize the 11th International History, Philosophy and Science Teaching Conference in Thessaloniki. The Conference was organizes successfully in Thessaloniki in June 2011.
Fanny Seroglou is in the editorial committee of the Greek Scientific Journal "Science Education: Research and Practice" and a reviewer of the International Journal "Science & Education".