Social Accountability in Action: a Collaborative Project between Imperial and Local Schools

Bringing innovative STEMM education to the next generation  

Module details

  • Offered to 2nd Year students in Spring term
  • Mondays 16:00-18:00
  • Planned delivery: Online - Live with in-person activities
  • 1-term module worth 5 ECTS 
  • Available to eligible students as part of I-Explore 

In this innovative, exciting module, you will work collaboratively with a team of cross-disciplinary students and a local school on a real-world societal project. You will design and deliver STEMM-based educational sessions to secondary school children from diverse backgrounds and abilities, with support from faculty workshops and from the schools themselves. The module will enable you to reflect on your learning and on how your future professional role relates to society.  

You will learn how to apply critical enquiry, creative thinking, and problem-solving to real-world projects, and gain confidence in communicating with and engaging people from diverse backgrounds and abilities. The module will also enable you to reflect on approaches to address societal challenges, and to consider the influence of power and privilege and how this relates to your future role in society.  

Please note that although the classes for this module will be taught online, there will be two sessions which will take place at secondary school sites. 

Please note: The information on this module description is indicative. The module may undergo minor modifications before the start of next academic year. 

Accordian

By the end of this module, you will better be able to:  

  • Apply critical enquiry, creative thinking, problem-solving and partnership working to complex real-world projects involving communicating with and engaging people of all backgrounds and abilities  
  • Reflect on how principles of social accountability, including consideration of power and privilege, relate to your future professional role in society   
  • Design and implement a classroom-based learning experience in a STEMM subject 
  • Introduction to course: concept of social accountability, introduce notion of real-world project-based learning. Classroom-based introduction to teaching skills and skills in partnership working and holding collaborative conversations. Exploration and discussion of implicit bias, including reflection on own experiences and biases 
  • Project based work linked to working with a local school to co-develop and deliver an after-school teaching session and evaluation of session for schoolchildren based on needs and strengths identified by the school, and drawing on the strengths of Imperial students.  Central small group sessions to critically evaluate and creatively think about and apply problem-solving skills to further develop ideas and plans for the school sessions 
  • Classroom based reflective small group session to explore learning from experiences, including when working in contexts which are complex and uncertain, and explore impact on own professional identity. All these activities will be supported by an online learning platform with additional related guided activities and reflection as part of a blended learning approach 

Small group work to create a presentation based on the project experience which will then be presented to an audience at a showcase event and assessed by a small group of relevant stakeholders drawn from the faculty and school community. 

Learning approaches will include interactive small group learning and project-based learning. You will participate in discussions and collaborative work and be supported by an online learning platform for self-directed learning and reflection.  

You will receive formative verbal and written feedback by the tutor and by peers. This formative feedback throughout the course will help you develop your project work and skills.  

  • Summative Tutor Assessment informed by engagement with central sessions and school (40%)  
  • Summative Peer Assessment (20%)  
  • Summative Group Project Assessment (40%)  
  • Requirements: It is compulsory to take an I-Explore module during your degree (you’ll take an I-Explore module in either your 2nd or 3rd year, depending on your department). You are expected to attend all classes and undertake approximately 105 hours of independent study in total during the module. Independent study includes for example reading and preparation for classes, researching and writing coursework assignments, project work and preparing for other assessments  
  • I-Explore modules are worth 5 ECTS credit towards your degree; to receive these you will have to pass the module. The numerical mark that you obtain will not be included in the calculation of your final degree result, but it will appear on your transcript   
  • This module is designed as an undergraduate Level 6 course   
  • This module is offered by the Department of Primary Care and Public Health