Focusing on enquiry-based science education within a European in-service teacher education programme

In empirical studies enquiry-based learning has turned out to be an effective approach to facilitate the successful participation of students in science education at all attainment levels. However, despite being highly recommended, until now it is rarely put into practice. Reasons are that teachers are still striving for a common understanding of enquiry learning and struggle with the adaptation to their curriculum. Another reason is that enquirybased teaching sometimes demands a major shift in the existing classroom culture. Specific tasks and materials are needed to guide the teachers by giving them a precise idea of enquiry learning. Thus, to be able to conduct a recommended change in one’s own science class, teachers need to get the opportunity to learn about theoretical concepts of enquiry-based science education, to gain and reflect personal learning experiences through inquiry, and to gain experience in scaffolding students to master enquiry-based tasks. These opportunities are provided in the professional development courses for secondary science teachers described in the following. The courses are part of the FP7 EU-project ‘Teaching Enquiry with Mysteries Incorporated’ (TEMI, FP7-Science-in-Society-2012-1, Grant Agreement N. 321403). This paper is the second part within a symposium presented at ESERA 2015 focusing on the TEMI understanding of enquiry-based science education and giving insight into its implementation during the teacher education courses. We present the theoretical background of enquiry and illustrate the design of the materials rooted in this theoretical concept. An associated core idea of TEMI is to sequence science lessons using the 5-E instructional model, which stands for the phases Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate and Evaluate. These phases provide a scaffold for students to learn fundamental scientific concepts. TEMI uses the 5-E model as well to support teachers while planning their enquiry-based classes. Finally, some insight into the evaluation of the CPD-courses is provided.
Keywords: Enquiry-based teaching and learning, 5-E model, professional development