University of Cambridge

The University of Cambridge, which is located in the Southeast of Great Britain, counts as one of the most reputable universities in the world which is as well in matters of education as in matters of research outstanding. In the current QS World University Ranking (2014) the University of Cam-bridge obtained the second rank. In other rankings it is to be found among the ten best universities worldwide. The University of Cambridge is part of the CETE-Network with its faculty of education.

The faculty of education is the oldest and one of the most prestigious throughout Great Britain. The university’s top-level research hereby focuses the school development, especially the professional-ising of teaching staff in primary and secondary schools as well as educational processes in the subjects of mathematics, computer sciences, natural sciences and engineering (STEM educational processes) amongst others. As as representative of this research field, holding a professorship for natural sciences, Prof. Mark Winterbottom can contribute his expertise to CETE. Also his colleague Bill Nicholl, whose focus in research is on the determination of the influence of socio-economic factors on the creativity of children as well as ton he exploration of the link between teachers as role models and their design-pedagogics is part of the CETE- Network.

To top

Prof. Dr. Mark Winterbottom

Faculty of Education

Dr. Mark Winterbottom is a senior lecturer in Science Education at the Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge, UK. He studied zoology at the University of Oxford. His Ph.D. was from the University of Sheffield, with a dissertation on evolutionary ecology of an African weaver bird. He studied for a Postgraduate Certificate of Education at the University of Cambridge.
Mark taught for several years in UK upper schools, and then became Lecturer and Senior Lecturer in Science Education at the University. He is jointly responsible for the Cambridge teacher education programme for science education. He also teaches on the Masters course for science teachers, and supervises on the MPhil and PhD in education courses.
He is the co-author of a number of textbooks for UK secondary science, as well as being co-author of a number of books for teachers about how to teach biology, and how to research their practice.
He is a fellow of the Royal Society of Biology and was for a long time a member of the Association for Science Education. Currently he serves as associate editor of the Journal of Biological Education, and is on the review panel for at least five other journals. Mark has been involved in review of international funding applications (such as in Estonia) and in review of other academics’ work (such as in South Africa). Each of these is based around science education.
Mark holds a number of external grants, including those focusing on teacher professional development, inquiry based science education, and technology-supported learning. EU funded grants include a Framework 7 project on inquiry based science education (Pathway) and an Erasmus+ project on tinkering: an innovative museum education pedagogical approach which is suitable for science and technology education. Other funded grants involve research into online and adaptive learning. Mark also has research interests in studying classroom environments. Internationally, Mark runs professional development courses for teachers in South Asia, East Asia, the Middle East and South America. He has also been involved in curriculum and teacher devel-opment initiatives in Egypt, Kazakhstan and Mongolia.

Bill Nicholl

Faculty of Education

Mr. Nicholl

Bill Nicholl has been working as a comprehensive school teacher several years. While teaching at these schools his numerous award-winning projects in the field of design and engineering brought him nationwide fame in the national school system. He is currently a lecturer at the Department of Education at the University of Cambridge. Through his efforts the department was able to develop and establish lectures and seminars on design and engineering. The focus in Bill Nicholl’s research lies on determining the influence of socio-economic factors on children’s creativity as well as on the exploration of the link between teacher role models and their design pedagogics. Through his extensive national and international projects and numerous publications on design and engineering in schools Bill Nicholl holds a proven expertise in the field of STEM.

To top