Events
Public Meetings
Instituto de Estudos Avançados/USP – Alfredo Bosi Hall, 109 Rua da Praça do Relógio, São Paulo
The creation of scenarios for science teaching: two comparative case studies involving Brazilian teachers and Italian pupils
In an era of rapid technological change and environmental uncertainty, the ability to imagine and navigate possible futures is an essential skill. This seminar presents a comparative analysis of two distinct case studies, focusing on the methodology of scenario-building within the context of science education. By bringing together two different geographical and educational contexts — Brazil and Italy — the research explores how ‘foresight’ tools can be used to reshape scientific understanding and pedagogical practice.
Speakers: Leandro Nascimento e Silva and Lorenzo Miani
Session conducted in English
Free public event streamed live on the IEA’s YouTube channel
Read the reference article and join us!
Assessing and solving socio-scientific problems: anthrocomplexity as a subject in the school curriculum
Science education is largely based on problem-solving, sometimes as a strategy for building concepts, and sometimes as a mechanism for developing specific skills. This approach is based on the premise that mastering problems historically solved by science equips students to deal with future problems. Underlying this curriculum structure is the notion that the dilemmas of the future will bear a resemblance to those of the past. However, major contemporary challenges, such as climate change and pandemics, call this premise into question, as they present risks for which technoscience offers insufficient answers and whose causes lie, paradoxically, in technoscientific development itself. A contradiction thus emerges: whilst the contemporary world demands the incorporation of complexity in addressing global threats, the science taught in schools remains restricted to solving paradigmatic problems. In this context, the aim of this discussion is to explore how the dimension of anthrocomplexity can be applied to the educational context and how the science curriculum can be rethought to bring the dimension of complex problems into the classroom as well.
Translated with DeepL.com (free version)
Speakers: Maurício Pietrocola and Júlia Ogata
Free public event streamed live on the IEA’s YouTube channel
Read the reference article and join us!
Science education in a risk society: challenges and opportunities in an uncertain future
Current themes in science education are characterised by the inevitable uncertainty surrounding the consequences of human actions. They encompass disasters, pandemics and other events that have defined our contemporary world. Understanding new risks—such as those resulting from human action, even when proposing a solution to a problem—is one of the central tenets of Risk Society theory. Given the challenges of teaching about uncertain scenarios, this paper addresses ways of dealing with science teaching situations in which unpredictable events are the norm. We report on the implementation of a teaching and learning sequence in Year 9 of a Brazilian lower secondary school, using a real-life disaster case to develop a teaching approach that takes human-induced risks into account. In this paper, we seek to explore strategies to prepare teachers to deal with the uncertainty inherent in risk situations, combining semantic network analysis, the construction of risk matrices and their collective evaluation through rounds of discussion, and emphasising the risk-trust paradigm over the traditional danger-safety perspective. Our results show evidence of students’ appropriation of the notion of manufactured risk through the representation of complex causal relationships in unpredictable scenarios, something also reflected in their expressions and choice patterns during the construction of the risk matrix.
Speaker: Maurício Pietrocola Free public event streamed live on the IEA’s YouTube channel Read the reference article and join us! Watch the recording online
Mesa-redonda
Instituto de Estudos Avançados/USP – Sala Alfredo Bosi, Rua da Praça do Relógio, 109, São Paulo
Licenciaturas interdisciplinares: experiências, desafios e potencialidades no Brasil e na Argentina
The event proposes an international dialogue on curricular architectures of interdisciplinary undergraduate programs, examining how these initiatives can strengthen critical, integrative, and responsive teacher training to the contemporary demands of science education. The opening will be led by Professor Dr. Cristina Leite (IF-USP), coordinator of Line 1 of the FAPESP Thematic Project (Process No. 22/06977-5), who will discuss some experiences, such as the Interdisciplinary Undergraduate Programs in Science Project (PLIC/USP) and the course “Natural Sciences and Knowledge of the Cosmos” (PRG). Following this, Professor Dr. Daniel Puig (UFSB/IEA-USP), with extensive experience in implementing innovative curricula and author of a collective work on Brazilian experiences in the field, will discuss the coordination and results of interdisciplinary undergraduate programs in the national context. Concluding the meeting, Professor. Dr. Agustín Adúriz-Bravo (UBA) will discuss the recent curricular change process at the Faculty of Exact and Natural Sciences of the University of Buenos Aires, presenting the creation of ten new undergraduate programs, five of which are structured in a bidisciplinary format. The event is part of the FAPESP Thematic Project and aims to contribute to reflection on curricular models capable of responding, in a critical and contextualized way, to some of the contemporary demands of science teacher training.
Moderator: Geraldine Chadwick Presenters: Agustín Adúriz-Bravo (FCEN-UBA), Cristina Leite (IF-USP), and Daniel Puig (UFSB/IEA-USP).Free public event streamed live on the IEA’s YouTube channel
Watch the recording onlineLecture – Futurizing Teacher Education (in Science)
Auditorium of the Faculty of Education, University of São Paulo / FE-USP
9 April 2026 – 4.00 pm
No registration is required.
Futurizing Teacher Education (in Science) – Prof. Olivia Levrini (University of Bologna)
The lecture “Futurizing Teacher Education (in Science)”, to be delivered by Professor Olivia Levrini of the University of Bologna, will address the challenges and prospects for science teacher training in a world marked by rapid social, scientific, technological and environmental change. The proposal invites us to rethink science education based on the need to prepare teachers capable of working in contexts of uncertainty, complexity and the emergence of new possible futures. By discussing theoretical frameworks and experiences developed in the field of Futures-Oriented Science Education, the speaker will highlight pathways towards teacher training that is more responsive to contemporary issues, integrating scientific knowledge, socio-technical imagination, educational responsibility and a commitment to building fairer and more sustainable societies. Lecture delivered in English.
Olivia Levrini holds a bachelor’s degree and a PhD in physics. She is a Full Professor of Physics Education and the History of Physics in the Augusto Righi Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Bologna. She has coordinated the European projects I see, identities, and Fedora, as well as the EU Fedora Teachers’ Academy. Her current research interests include interdisciplinarity and a forward-looking approach to STEM education in advanced topics (e.g. climate change, artificial intelligence, quantum computing), cognition and conceptual change, identity and processes of appropriation. In 2019, she chaired the ESERA 2019 conference. In 2018, she received national certification as a full professor and served as an ambassador for the City of Bologna.
Events and research meetings
4th and 5th December 2025.
Second annual meeting of the thematic project – Education for the Anthropocene.
Open seminar – 2 December 2025
Instituto de Física da Universidade de São Paulo / IFUSP
14h – Futures-Oriented Science Education – Prof. Olivia Levrini (University of Bologna)
16h – FyouTURES — A Board Game for Building Collective Scenarios Lorenzo Miani (University of Bologna)
Seminar 1: Futures-Oriented Science Education
Prof. Olivia Levrini – Department of Physics and Astronomy “Augusto Righi”, University of Bologna
In this seminar, Olivia Levrini will examine how science education can empower young people to develop future-thinking competences that support navigation of a global landscape marked by uncertainty, complexity, and socio-environmental risk. Drawing on research at the intersection of science education and futures studies, the presentation will illustrate how scientific content can be re-interpreted and regenerated to foster students’ creativity, agency, responsibility, and informed hope. Particular attention will be devoted to the epistemological shift introduced by futures studies and to the pedagogical challenges that accompany it—such as recognising and problematising dominant technocratic narratives of the future, embracing complexity, engaging with value-laden decisions, and addressing the emotional dimensions of learning in crisis-laden contexts. The seminar will conclude with a discussion of the design principles developed within the EU projects I SEE, FEDORA, and FEDORAS, highlighting how these principles can guide the creation of educational environments that meaningfully integrate anticipatory thinking into science teaching.
Seminar 2: FyouTURES — A Board Game for Building Collective Scenarios
Lorenzo Miani – Department of Physics and Astronomy “Augusto Righi”, University of Bologna
This seminar introduces FyouTURES, a board game developed to support futures-oriented science education by engaging learners in the collaborative construction of scenarios. Lorenzo Miani will present the conceptual foundations and design principles of the game, explaining how it creates spaces for negotiation, critical reflection, and collective decision-making under conditions of uncertainty and socio-environmental risk. Through gameplay, participants are invited to explore multiple possible futures, confront scientific and ethical dilemmas, and reflect on the consequences of individual and collective actions. The seminar will illustrate how the game promotes skills such as systemic thinking, imagination, argumentation, and cooperative problem-solving. Difficulties commonly encountered by students — such as navigating conflicting values, balancing scientific evidence with societal considerations, and imagining long-term outcomes — will be discussed, along with strategies for turning these challenges into meaningful learning opportunities. Overall, the presentation will highlight the pedagogical potential of board games as tools for fostering anticipation, collaboration, and shared responsibility among young people engaging with contemporary scientific and socio-environmental issues.