Facilitating Small-Scale Implementation of Inquiry-Based Teaching: Encounters and Experiences of Experimento Multipliers in One South African Province

Abstract

This paper explores the experiences of 37 physical science high school teachers who participated in a professional development (PD) programme coordinated by three Experimento multipliers. The Experimento programme is a Siemens Stiftung international educational programme aimed at providing didactic and methodological approaches to classroom experiments using an inquiry-based approach to science education. Experimento multipliers are the facilitators of the PD. The main data source comprised teacher interviews, school observation visits on classroom activities using the Experimento 10+ box and the facilitators' field notes. Findings suggest that there is a shift from the traditional approaches of science teaching to the implementation of inquiry-based teaching which was encouraged by the gradual formation of a community of practice, a reconceptualization of the term 'practical activities' as prescribed by the CAPS document, and the need for experiments which facilitate action-oriented teaching. The discussion highlights the implications of these findings for the practicing teachers' professional development and the problems of linking theory with practice in such development. The study recommends more interventions throughout the year to enable teachers to improve their skills of implementing inquiry-based teaching, content knowledge and science pedagogy as evidenced by analysis of their summative evaluation of the intervention.

Análise Dos Níveis De Investigação De Planos E Aulas Desenvolvidos Por Uma Professora Em Formação Inicial Em Química

“…Para proporcionar de fato um processo de ensino e aprendizagem que tenha significado para os estudantes, o Ensino por Investigação deve ser compreendido pelos professores não somente como uma metodologia empregada apenas em contextos específicos de ensino, mas sim como uma abordagem didática para o desenvolvimento de conteúdos e para a construção de diversos temas, utilizando-se de diferentes recursos e estratégias (Sasseron, 2015). Nesse sentindo, na abordagem do Ensino por Investigação, o professor deixa de lado o ensino pautado apenas na transmissão, construído muitas vezes de forma hierárquica, fixa, sequencial, compartimentalizada e fragmentada; passando a possibilitar que, por meio da investigação, os estudantes construam relações entre os conceitos científicos aprendidos em uma ou várias disciplinas (Dudu, 2017).…”

An Overview of Inquiry-Based Science Instruction Amid Challenges

“…Despite the many curriculum reform programs that have highlighted inquiry-based instruction based on its numerous benefits to students' learning (NRC, 2000), accumulated empirical evidence suggests that this method of instruction is uncommon among teachers (Capps & Crawford, 2013;Colburn, 2000;Dudu, 2015, Tang et al, 2019. As such, Marshall and Smart (2013) opine that the achievement of science inquiry instruction on a larger scale is farfetched.…”

Enhancing K-10 Students’ Conceptions through Computer Simulations-Aided PDEODE*E (CS-PDEODE*E) on Newton’s Laws

“…The fee was recognized by tutors as an obstacle in directing students to comprehend a linkage between their scientific understandings and everyday environment (e.g. Mangiante, 2018;Dudu, 2017;Jamieson & Radick, 2017;Anderhag et al, 2015;Costu, 2008). In fact, generating a connection between scientific understanding and everyday surrounding might heighten students' understanding.…”