Overview and Goals
The Professional Master's Graduate Program in Science Education [Education, Management and Dissemination in Biosciences] (MP-EGeD) extends the contributions of the concentration area EGeD of the Biological Chemistry Program of the Institute of Medical Biochemistry Leopoldo de Meis (IBqM). The Program MP-EGeD has joined efforts to strengthen the interface between science and society through academic activities within the scope of its proposal. This scope includes improving the skills of teachers and other professionals working at basic or higher education institutions and of professionals in science education or policy. Projects that can directly or indirectly address problems in these spheres are welcome, not only in the biosciences but that go beyond them. For example, a project may explore educational and social issues of broader interest in science and propose a strategy or solution.
During their training at MP-EGeD, the master's student is exposed to a range of methodologies and types of research that help develop projects in the areas of science education, policy, and popularization of science. Most of the works carried out by students have an application to the educational and/or policy level and draw upon methodologies for qualitative or quantitative research, or both, typically used in the humanities and social sciences. This multidisciplinary conversation within the EGeD field at IBqM enriches the approaches taken in the projects and puts education in the biosciences into a broader perspective.
MP-EGeD students’ projects can focus on one EGeD [education, policy, diffusion] area or combine two or even the three possibilities. The choice will depend on the final product aimed for application in a given professional setting. The Program understands that offering these possibilities improves the outreach of its actions, expanding the contribution made to society in the short or long term. Meeting these demands has been favored by the fact that the Program values and seeks out diversity among its faculty and students, which is an asset for spurring creativity and shaping the content of the products.
By Dezember 2022, 83 Masters had already been awarded by the Program. Most of the products developed at MP-EGeD, which we call Master's Completion Works (TCM) address a particular problem within the EGeD field. They can have an institutional, local impact, or even broader impact, being openly accessible on public platforms such as EduCAPES. These are a few examples of such open-access materials: EduCapes
The main goal of MP-EGeD is to foster a multidisciplinary view of scientific knowledge that can objectively contribute to improving their professional practices, developing analyses, reflections, and products of relevance and application in science education, policy/management, and popularization of science - in biosciences and beyond. The Program seeks to continue to offer specialized training for professionals in the EGeD areas, aided by the development of educational, social, and cultural approaches and products that help expand and enrich the scientific culture, increasing the public understanding of the importance of science in the national and international contexts.
The MP-EGeD Program also seeks to enhance the critical and creative thinking of professional master's students, fostering a scientific, ethical, and responsible attitude. As a mission, the Program is committed to broadening and deepening the contributions that IBqM has already been making throughout its history in the EGeD field.
At the UFRJ level, the Program has offered opportunities for technicians and other employees at the university to improve their professional and academic training using knowledge in EGeD areas as a catalyst for such improvement.
