This study analyses if school science clubs may serve as a resource to facilitate the introduction of active methodologies into science classrooms. Focusing on science clubs in Portuguese schools, this study aims to determine whether the teachers who coordinate and direct these clubs promote activities that incorporate aspects of problem-based learning and project-based learning methodologies. In order to do so, a series of semi-structured interviews were conducted with 20 teachers, and their responses were analysed using content analysis strategies. The results show that although they do not explicitly refer to the use of these methodologies, teachers do propose the implementation of projects within clubs, and they incorporate aspects of these strategies in the activities they conduct. In this sense, teachers appreciate the role of clubs in promoting these types of strategies (PBL y PjBL) and the facilities they offer for their implementation. Additionally, teachers believe that one can only learn how to do projects through practise, i.e., doing projects with their students, and they think that clubs offer an opportunity to develop PBL and PjBL methodologies in a context free from the responsibilities and constraints of the classroom.

Website of the journal Bulletin of Geosciences, published since 1925 by the Czech Geological Survey

Non-formal science education provides an ever-growing network of different educational opportunities that makes it a valuable instrument to increase scientific education quality and to promote scientific literacy among students. This study analysed teachers’ conceptions about the goals they set prior to participating in a crystal-growing competition named Concurso de Cristalización en la Escuela. A qualitative-interpretative approach was adopted to analyse educators’ answers and a quantitative evaluation of the influence of two main variables (previous participation in the contest and years of teaching experience) was included to complement and deepen the analysis. Descriptive analysis reveals seven main categories that are not mutually exclusive in which teacher’s objectives can be classified. Several different themes can be identified within the majority of the categories which may be labelled as mainly cognitive or mainly affective. This provides a new insight into educators’ conceptions concerning non-formal education. Quantitative evaluation of the responses showed no noticeable influence of the years of experience in the type of objectives declared by teachers, which may indicate that the settled goals are more dependent of personal and contextual variables. In the light of these findings, it can be concluded that educators value the competition not just as an entertaining experience but as in instrument that addressed the didactic need to put the usual processes of science into practice as a basis for the construction of scientific knowledge.

A revision of paradoxidid trilobites reveals that previous identifications of specimens from Sardinia and Spain as the Nordic trilobite species Paradoxides brachyrhachis Linnarsson, 1883, are mistaken. The southern species, occurring also in France, is here referred to Eccaparadoxides mediterraneus (Pompeckj, 1901). Main differences are seen in the preocular field, pleural furrow and pygidium. The species P. brachyrhachis is referred with question to the genus Mawddachites Fletcher 2007.