Motivating Teacher and Student Science Learning: Lessons learned from the

CoReflect and PROFILES FP7 Projects

Dr. Eleni A. Kyza

Cyprus University of Technology

2nd Scientix Conference, Brussels, 24-26 October 2014

CoReflect (217792) and PROFILES (266589) received funding by the European Commission, as part of the Science in Society programme

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Digital Support for Inquiry, Collaboration and Reflection on Socio-scientific Debates

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http://www.coreflect.org

Run from 2008-2011 Small scale teacher-researcher

collaboration in 7 countries. Local Working Groups Development, enactment, and

empirical validation of an online innovative, inquiry-based learning environment.

Explored the process through which best practices can be adapted and transferred from one national context to another

Tested a model for teacher-researcher co-development of inquiry-based curricula

Digital Support for Inquiry, Collaboration and Reflection on Socio-scientific Debates

http://www.profiles-project.eu

2010-present Larger scale teacher-researcher

collaborations Teacher networks in more than

21 countries Continuous Professional

Development courses, to support teachers as learners, reflective practitioners and leaders

Emphasis on learning environments which can motivate students’ interest to learn science

Development of scientific literacy and education through science

Professional Reflection Oriented Focus on Inquiry-based Learning and Education through Science

Motivation for my work There is a need for all citizens to be able to engage

in critical thinking about socio-scientific issues (Scientific literacy)

Students, especially as they grow older, lose interest in learning about science (Sjøberg & Schreiner, 2006) (Motivation to learn)

Students’ interest could be stimulated by the creation of inquiry-based learning environments to: Engage them in problem-solving Situate concepts in meaningful contexts Provide access to tools to support learning,

collaboration and active participation Make learning personally interesting to students (21st century skills)

Teachers and students need to be supported in engaging with inquiry. (Scaffolding)

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Mechanisms for inquiry learningEngage teachers in design Design is a form of thinking about real-life problems. Engaging teachers in

design enables creative adaptations of curricula to address student needs.

Participatory design supports teacher ownership of inquiry, reflective thinking and teacher learning (Kyza & Nicolaidou, 2011, Kyza & Georgiou, 2014).

Provide customizable and re-configurable tools to support inquiry learning and teaching Scaffolding seeks to help students move within their zone of proximal

development. Tools should be adapted to student needs and should provide appropriate support.

Digital tools that can support teacher adaptation of materials are key.

Design authentic learning environments Learning is situated. Authentic environments are relevant to students’

lives, engage students in problem-solving through the use of data and evidence-based reasoning, and promote reflection and collaboration.

Research indicates that teachers have a fundamental role to play in any educational reform (e.g. Fullan, 2007, Pinto, 2005)

Participatory design (PD) is an approach that can yield authentic, theory-driven and empirically validated learning environments (McLaughlin 1987; Voogt et al. 2011, Kyza & Nicolaidou, 2011, Kyza & Georgiou, 2014)

Our PD approach emphasizes the following dimensions (van Driel et al. 2012) Students’ active inquiry and evidence-based reasoning The learning environments are in line with local educational objectives The design takes into account local constraints and opportunities Enactment data and action research guides the development and revision

of the learning environments Collaborative learning allows for peer scaffolding, articulation and

reflection The design process engages teachers in continuous professional

development and reflection on ideas and practices

Teachers as Designers

Teacher adaptation and design

STOCHASMOS

Scaffolded inquiry

Inquiry Environment scaffolding

Data capture tool

Glossary

Prompts

Notebook

Chat tool

Reflective Workspace scaffolding

Evidence link tool

Articulation spaces & tools

Page sharing tool

Forum

Teacher scaffolding

Design or adapt learning environments

Monitor student work

Tools that support learning and teaching

Kyza, E. A. & Constantinou, C. P. (2007). STOCHASMOS: [Software tool]. Learning in Science Group, Cyprus.

Student inquiry

Driving Question

Motivating scenario

A decision needs to be

made

Learning Environment

Reflective WorkSpace

Students’ WorkSpace samples on STOCHASMOS

Authentic learning environments: engaging students in inquiry

“The Cypriots as climatic refugees: A fictional scenario or a forthcoming reality?”

Carbon cycle Middle SchoolBiology

“Nicolas and Anne want to exercise. Can they?”

Circulatory system Elementary School Science

“Robbery at the jewelry shop: Innocent or guilty?”

Metal reactivity Middle SchoolChemistry

“Which type ofwater to drink to quench my thirst?”

Water compositionWater quality

High school Chemistry

Global and local

problem

Direct personal impact

Crime investigation

Direct personal impact

Using the MoLE questionnaire (Bolte et al.2012) we found statistically significantresults supporting the conclusion that thePROFILES learning environments motivatedstudents’ engagement with inquiry sciencelearning vs. traditional methods of learning.

In 2012, in collaboration with the localMinistry of Education and Culture, weinvestigated the designed environment witha representative sample of 946 7th gradestudents from 30 schools.

We found statistically significant increases in

Student motivation to learn

Conceptual understanding

A positive relation between conceptualunderstanding and student motivation

Participating students

2012 2013 2014

Chemistry 171 108 44

Biology 946 169 88

Primary Science

71 73 45

Authentic learning environments: Motivation and Learning

To sum upOur experiences from working with teachers and students in the last 10 years lead us to strongly believe that:» The inquiry pedagogy is a valid approach to increasing student motivation,

inquiry skills and learning about science.

» Participatory design can support teacher learning and the development of authentic learning environments.

» Teacher-researcher partnerships have been successful in contributing to reform efforts.

» Tools for authoring learning environments and tools for scaffolding student learning need to be made accessible to teachers and schools.

» Design-based research allows for data-driven revisions of the learning environments and advances our theoretical understanding of the complex realities of learning in the real world.

» All these can contribute to achieving the goal of responsible research and innovation for the 21st century.

Motivating Teacher and Student Science Learning: Lessons learned from the

CoReflect and PROFILES FP7 Projects

2nd Scientix Conference –Brussels, 24-26 October 2014

Thank you for your attention

Eleni.Kyza@cut.ac.cy

www.cut.ac.cy/profiles

www.coreflect.org

www.stochasmos.org

CoReflect (217792) and PROFILES (266589) received funding by the European Commission, as part of the Science in Society programme