About the ORBIT project

The ORBIT project illustrates pedagogical principles through concrete lesson plans and ideas. The materials are hands-on, they use actual lesson activities as building blocks, and embed theory within them. ORBIT makes this particular approach – a hallmark of effective teacher education – more accessible and tangible. There is also a significant focus on the use of ICT within mathematics and science teaching, offering pedagogical support where it is especially needed. ORBIT promotes interactive teaching in schools – teaching that supports active learning.

ORBIT is for formal HE teaching courses, for teacher mentors, as well as for the continuing professional development of teachers. Its aims are

• to support learning in mathematics and science to fit well with the prioritisation of STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics).

• to ensure that existing and disappearing open educational archives, from HEIs and practitioners, are made available to the teacher education and school communities.

• to contribute to collaboration and OER synergy within teacher education in the UK and other countries

• to provide a substantial resource for initial teacher education courses, such as the HE-based PGCE for primary education; secondary mathematics or secondary science as well as school-based teaching programmes.

Objectives

• The first objective is the creation of the ORBIT resource bank itself. We draw on content and technical expertise from a wide range of partners.
• The second objective is the creation of an open course book. A collection of materials will be collated into a self-contained open digital course book, which with freedom to duplicate, re-use, and adapt content.

Project brief at JISC: http://www.jisc.ac.uk/whatwedo/programmes/ukoer3/orbit.aspx and http://prod.cetis.ac.uk/projects/1084 (with related projects)

Twitter https://twitter.com/ORBITSTEM and hashtag #orbitstem

Faculty of Education: http://www.educ.cam.ac.uk/research/