Encouraging teachers to adopt inquiry-based learning by engaging in participatory design

Abstract

Inquiry-based methods are effective for STEM education, but they are perceived as difficult to implement. Often teachers have not experienced inquiry-based learning themselves, which limits their appreciation of their value of these methods. Changing this requires modifications at the classroom level to simplify implementation of inquiry-based methods and implementing professional development for teachers to encourage adoption. A participatory design project is described that is part of a multi-year program in which five high school physics teachers are collaborating with researchers at Tufts University to develop classroom educational technology tools for promoting collaborative inquiry-based learning. By participating in a technologydesign project, teachers are experiencing the inquiry process as well as developing tools that will facilitate using inquiry-based methods in their classrooms. The research and design effort to date has led to requirements for (and a prototype of) a classroom tool that promotes student collaboration and sharing of their ideas. An overview of the design process is provided along with a discussion of the activities planned for the implementation phase.Index Terms -Participatory design, inquiry-based learning, educational technology.

An Approach to Co-Design and Self-Regulated Learning in Technological Environments. Systematic Review

“…The term co-design is a complex one to define, as it draws on a range of perspectives. It refers to the collective creativity of knowledge, to the advancement of the implementation of technological designs that respond to educational needs (Gros, 2019) and to learning processes (Hannon, Danahi, Schneider, Coopey, & Garber, 2012;Leinonen & Durall-Gazulla, 2014;Penuel, 2019;Zheng, 2015). Co-design procedures are linked to participatory and collaborative research methods (Bovill, 2020;Gros, 2019).…”

A systematic literature review of participatory design studies involving teachers

“…The studies in the learning and teaching applications category designed technology for dance and environmental education (Carmichael, 2015), financial education (Cramer & Hayes, 2013), STEM education (Hannon et al, 2012;Su et al, 2010), mathematics (Pedersen et al, 2012;Triantafyllou & Timcenko, 2013), and literature (Rahamat et al, 2011). Three studies examined the development of tutoring systems with | 651 TUHKALA teachers (Girard & Johnson, 2010;Kalra et al, 2007;Song & Oh, 2016).…”