Research Methodology/Implementation plan
The project will be developed in five work packages, as follows:
Work Package 1 (months 1-24):
We will study the impact of the explicit teaching of the Control of Variables Strategy regarding method understanding to pre-service teachers. The research will take place during a lab course on science teaching. The control group will be engaged in experiments about floating – sinking and magnetic materials’ properties with no explicit teaching of the method. The experimental group, besides engaging in the experiments, will be explicitly taught the rationale when designing an experiment based on the Control of Variables Strategy and when ending up to a conclusion. A written questionnaire will be used.
1st semester: study and coding of literature, teaching materials’ development (lesson plans, questionnaires, etc)
2nd and 3rd semester: implementation of teaching and data collection 4th semester: identification and coding of views
The research questions that will guide our research at this Work Package are:
- Which are the views of pre-service teachers about the Control of Variables Strategy?
- Is the explicit teaching of the Control of Variables Strategy rationale a critical factor in understanding the method?
Work Package 2 (months 1-24):
We will study primary and secondary in-service teachers’ views and practices who have attended a PD program about the adoption of inquiry teaching approaches. We aim to check if and to which degree they embrace inquiry related views that they have been taught in a previous PD program and if they adopt respective teaching practices. For that, we will interview a small number of in-service teachers and we will observe them in their class for a few teaching hours (2-3 teaching hours).
It is our aim to investigate if and which views and practices they possess and apply as a result of their training. Additionally, we will look into the factors that helped or prevented them from sustaining these views and practices.
The research will be realized as following:
1st semester: study and coding of literature, teaching materials’ development (lesson plans, questionnaires, etc)
2nd and 3rd semester: implementation of teaching and data collection
4th semester: identification and coding of views
The research question that will guide our research at this Work Package is:
- Which aspects of the inquiry approach do teachers apply, long after the PD program? The question is split in the following sub-questions:
- How are teachers’ views about inquiry teaching shaped long after they attended a respective PD program?
- Which aspects of inquiry approach they have been taught in the past, they integrated in their teaching plans and applied somehow in their teaching?
- What are the factors that either encourage or discourage them from adopting inquiry teaching approaches in their everyday teaching practices?
Work Package 3 (months 7-24):
We will study the views and practices of a small group (3-4) of museum educators in a Science Centre e.g. NOESIS. They design and implement small scale educational programs about nanotechnology, experimental constructions, etc.
The research will be realized as following:
1st semester: study and coding of literature, teaching materials’ development (activities, questionnaires, etc)
2nd semester: implementation of activities and data collection 3rd semester: identification and coding of views
The research question that will guide our research at this Work Package is:
– What are the views and practices of the museum educators who design and implement non formal educational programs in a science and technology museum?
Work Package 4 (months 25-36):
We will attempt to correlate views and practices, namely, to examine whether views guide practices, or vice versa or there is no relation between them. We will also develop inquiry teaching proposals for the teachers to enhance their inquiry practices.
The research questions that will guide our research at this Work Package are:
- What is the relation between teachers’ views and practices regarding inquiry?
- Which are the proper didactical recommendations (didactical transformation), that will empower pre and in-service teachers’ inquiry practices, as a result of this research. Deliverables: Technical Report, Teaching Proposal for enriching Teachers’ Inquiry Practices.
Work Package 5 (months 1-36):
Actions for the diffusion of the research results. The diffusion will be achieved by the research team in institutional conferences in the area of Education and / or Science Education. The results will be published in proceedings of International and /or Pan-Hellenic conferences, with referees system, as well as in International and /or Greek Journals with system of referees. Finally, a web-site will be created for the communication of the project and the diffusion of results and publications.
