Moved (by) Education
Last Friday, the lecture hall of the Minderbroedersberg was filled for the inaugural speech of Hans Savelberg, an extraordinary professor and Director of Education in Biomedical Sciences at Maastricht University, who, just like EDLAB, is on a mission to improve education.
"To see what is right and not to do it is a lack of courage" - Confucius
Savelberg's speech was filled with innovative and inspiring ideas on how to make education more dynamic and healthy.
Similar to Confucius, Savelberg emphasised the importance of courage. At Maastricht University, research on health and sitting behaviour is rapidly expanding. To further develop this, Savelberg has introduced new aspects to the Biomedical Science programme, which debuted a new curriculum this year. Additionally, Savelberg wants health to be integrated into everyone's education and poses the question: If we are aware of how detrimental our sitting habits are, why do we still sit so much? It's time to demonstrate courage and practice what we preach.
The first step is acquiring knowledge. Research has already shown that sitting less is healthier, enhances creativity, and improves collaboration. Now it's time to apply this existing knowledge to new projects, including the Healthy Elementary School of the Future, collaborative endeavours such as PHIT2LEARN, and brand-new research opportunities within the university. Future research will investigate the benefits observed in practice during Education That Moves You, including longer and more in-depth discussions, enhanced student learning, more effective use of whiteboards, and smoother group processes. It's time to understand why.
As Savelberg concluded, we need to summon the courage to critically use recent and forthcoming knowledge, leading to significant new innovations.
Go to EDLAB's Education That Moves You project page.
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