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UNIVERSITY OF BUCHAREST
FACULTY OF PHYSICS Guest
2024-11-22 2:11 |
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Conference: Bucharest University Faculty of Physics 2013 Meeting
Section: Physics Education
Title:
Primary and middle school teachers’ survey on inquiry based learning
Authors:
Adelina SPOREA and D. SPOREA
Affiliation:
National Institute for Laser, Plasma and Radiation Physics - Center for Science Education and Training
E-mail
adelina.sporea@inflpr.ro
Keywords:
inquiry-based learning, primary and middle school science teaching, teachers believes, teachers survey
Abstract:
The paper reports for the first time in Europe the use of the “Self-reflection tool for primary/ middle school teachers” developed in the frame of the FP7 “Fibonacci” project. The tool aims to the assessment of primary/ middle school teachers’ believes and practice on the implementation of the inquiry-based science education (IBSE) in the classroom. It consists of a set of questions assigned to 41 basic criteria for the evaluation of IBSE practice. The novelty of the research consists also in the fact that this instrument is among the first self-evaluation tool available to this pre-university educational segment, as it concerns science teaching.
These criteria are organized into three sets:
teacher’s relation with learners; pupils activities in science class; pupils records in relation to science learning. Our investigation tries to respond to four research questions:
1. What are teachers’ approaches to build new knowledge based on children previous knowledge?
2. How much teachers encourage pupils to run their own investigations?
3. How teachers guide children in formulating their own conclusions?
4. How much pupils’ collaboration is encouraged?
More than 50 primary and middle school teachers participated to the survey. The study refers ONLY to those answers containing teachers’ comments to the criteria under discussion. A qualitative analysis was done based on teachers “comments” in order to catch their perceptions on using different means associated to inquiry teaching. Barriers in teaching science as inquiry are identified as they emerge from teachers’ perceptions and attitudes. The analysis refers to IBSE principles as they are highlighted in the relevant literature. The research was conducted as a survey and the work was supported by a grant of Unitatea Executiva pentru Finantarea Invatamantului Superior, a Cercetarii, Dezvoltarii si Inovarii (UEFISCDI), contract number 223/ 2012, project “Inquiry-Based Education in Science and Technology: i-BEST” [1].
[1] http://education.inflpr.ro/ro/IBEST.htm
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