Strategies for Active Learning to Improve Student Learning and Attitudes Towards Physics
Over the last several years, active learning methods and strategies have received considerable attention from the educational community and are commonly presented in the related literature as a credible solution to the reported lack of efficacy of more “traditional” educative approaches. Research has shown that a possible factor is the strongly contextualized nature of active learning that focuses on the interdependence of situation and cognition. In this paper, we report the results of a Symposium with different contributions in the field of research on active learning. We start with a system analysis of the mental processes involved in learning physics which explains how active learning i…
Inquiry Based Learning and Responsible Research and Innovation: Examples of Interdisciplinary Approaches at Different Schooling Levels
The Inquiry-Based approach to Science Education (IBSE) is presented in scienti#c literature (Hake, 1998; Sharma et al., 2010) and in research projects reports (e.g. ESTABLISH, 2010; SAILS, 2014) as a credible solution to the reported lack of ef#cacy of more ‘traditional’ educative approaches, especially when focused on Research and Innovation (RRI) (Sutcliffe, 2006; IRRESISTIBLE, 2013; Ark of Inquiry, 2013). IBSE is an inductive approach to science teaching that considers direct experience at the center of learning. IBSE activities and strategies actively involve students in the identi#cation of relevant evidence, in critical and logical reasoning on the evidence collected and in re+ection …
Profiling in-service teachers across Europe to determine their attitude to IBSE
The ESTABLISH FP7-funded project is involved with development and implementation of professional development workshops to support teachers in adopting more inquiry based approaches in their teaching. Identifying teacher views, goals, practices and the challenges they face in implementing inquiry activities, can inform teacher educators of the needs of their participating teachers. This can also inform them to provide the appropriate support in order to help teachers overcome obstacles and develop their own practice in inquiry. This paper outlines the initial results from a profiling instrument used to examine teachers’ beliefs about IBSE, attitudes to teaching science and teaching by inquir…
Crossing Disciplinary Knowledge Boundaries and Bridging the Gap Between Science Education Research, Educational Practices, Society and Citizens: Inquiry Based Learning and Responsible Research and Innovation
It is widely acknowledged today that an Inquiry-Based approach to Research and Innovation processes can improve the interest of students in studying scientific topics. Such approaches can enable students to have the opportunity to interact with cutting edge topics, research results and work with researchers and other societal actors to better align research processes and their outcomes with the values, needs and expectations of today's society. However, there is still no clear consensus between researchers about the impact that inquiry-based approaches have on the student scientific knowledge and conceptual understanding at different ages and cultural levels. This paper discusses these aspe…