How to use Participatory Action Research to foster inquiry-based learning in science education, Anna Majer
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Presentation from the 2nd Scientix Conference, 24-26 Ocotober 2014, Brussels, Belgium
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How to use Participatory Action Research to foster inquiry-based learning in science education, Anna Majer
- 1. 21st Century School Education (Development and Coordination) 2nd Phase TÁMOP-3.1.1-11/1-2012-0001 HOW TO USE PARTICIPATORY ACTION RESEARCH TO FOSTER INQUIRY-BASED LEARNING IN SCIENCE EDUCATION? Anna MAJER, Mónika RÉTI, András LÉNÁRT Hungarian Institute for Educational Research and Development
- 2. Complex science education program Curriculum development and pilot phase: in partnership with 8 schools, 44 teachers and 350 students Rationale Pedagogical concept Learning cycles Tools Assessment Mentoring CPD course
- 3. The main focus: Inquiry Based Learning (IBL) Our aim is to bring up-to-date science learning experiences to Hungarian classrooms.
- 4. Participatory Action Research (PAR) as a development tool and research method in our project Development tool • larger impact • teamwork through the whole process of creating and piloting a modul • more viewpoints • promt responses Research method • learning environment model supporting observation • convergent interviews • templates supporting planning and reflections
- 5. Which were the milestones and actions of the Participatory Action Research?
- 6. PAR in PARád
- 7. PAR in PARád
- 8. PAR in PARád
- 9. PAR in Parád
- 10. PAR in PARád
- 11. PAR in PARád
- 12. PAR in PARád
- 13. 21st Century School Education (Development and Coordination) 2nd Phase TÁMOP-3.1.1-11/1-2012-0001 Mónika Réti reti.monika@ofi.hu Anna Majer a.majer.anna@ofi.hu András Lénárt lenart.andras@ofi.hu Reflections: http://youtu.be/f0hdWllhxAY Modules: http://youtu.be/C7XY4uNuBmw
Editor's Notes
- Good morning, I am Anna Majer from the Hungarian Institute for Educational Research and Development, founded by the Ministry of Human Resources, is an institution providing general and strategic support services for the educational sector.
- Our project aims at preparing complex educational programmes supporting the renewal of the system of public education. Science Education thematic working group worked on a complex science education program wich includes these seven parts. Pedagogical concept effects all other parts. Our horizontal priorities were fostering equity, developing positive attitudes and motivation towards science learning, and building on students everyday life and experiences. Learning cycles – the modules - went through a pilot phase in partnership with 8 schools, 44 teachers and 350 students. Students were between 6 and 14 years of age. With these schools, students and teachers, we took a 10-month mutual learning journey.
- After a desk research revealing strength and weaknesses in science teaching in Hungary, we seeked solutions offered by international projects. We focused on practical tools, such as exercises, units of teacher training courses, presentations that were relevant and could be adapted to the Hungarian situation. We utilized results of earlier science education projects like Spice, Mind the Gap, S-TEAM, TRACES. It’s not only the theoretical background that we could use from these projects, but practical things like adapted exercises, units of teacher training courses, presentations, etc. were also of special relevance to us. Having the results summarized we identified our priorities, maybe the most important one of them is Inquiry Based Learning Why IBL? -methodological diversity -reducing inequalities with special focus on gender issues -no need of expensive infrastructural background -proved efficiency in several european countries
- PARTICIPATORY ACTION RESEARCH was an ideal method to foster our development. DEVELOPMENT: PAR ensure larger impact and maintain the results as much as possible once the funding of the project is over. PAR has been used in our work to assist and improve the process of planning, creating, piloting, adapting and fine-tuning teaching modules. We envisioned our teachers as critical friends and empowered them in their reflective processes. RESEARCH: PAR is a rigorous method because it has exactly defined tools, but it is flexible because the workplan can be accommodated to unforeseen changes. Prompt responses ensure quality assurance. With a traditional impact assessment we could only have information in the end of the school year so we would not be able to make corrections during the process. Involving a wide range of stakeholders provided more viewpoints to our research.
- Participatory Action Research is a cyclical method wich ensures continous development throuhg the reflection – design – observation – action circles. But let we see how does it work practical:
- Every member in our thematic working team supported 2 or 3 schools as pedagogical developer and was responsible for the action research. Now I would like to share our experiences in the elementary school of Parád, which was one of our partner schools.
- First of all where is Parád? It’s a little village in Hungary with 2000 inhabitants.
- In the Mátra mountains sourranded by forest Parád is quite isolated settlement, but the school has special oppurtinities for environmental or science teaching.
- At the first time we visited the school in Parad with our team leader. We made interviews with the headmaster, and with participating teachers. We informed them about the framework of the development planned for the academic year, and assessed their motivation, and opinions about the program. On the next visit the main steps of the action research were discussed with the teacher, who volunteered for the action research. She determined the level of participation: I could take interviews with the students and there was no other external observer on the lessons. The topic of the modul was selected by the teacher. After this, we made a previous plan for the lessons via continuous discourse with the teacher. Planning was supported by a template, which also encouraged reflection on the inquiry based learning cycle and the four pillars of IBL.
- The next visit was at the first lesson of the module, where I observed the lesson, and made interviews with the teacher and with the students. The interview helped the self-reflection of the teacher, along the questions she thought trough what she actually implemented in the classroom with respect to the plan , how she reacted to unexpected situations, how she felt that while using the new methods, and what kind of reactions she noticed from students. The teacher also requested my feedback and was pleased to get an opinion from a different perspective to help review her lesson plan. At the interviews with the students the main focus was on their motivation and attitude to science learning.
- The teacher had doubt about applying the inquiry based learning with 7-8 year old students, because she found them too young for this method. In the school frontal teaching, completing the workbook was typical. The students weren’t used to work in pairs or in groups. From this base was quite a challenge for the teacher to follow the approache of IBL. Methods of the PAR has helped the developement in such a way, that on direct consultations before and after the lessons and during interviews the teacher could clarify the methodological issues, often the goals became clear during our conversation. She was very pleased with external feedback, especially when I talked about the observed reactions of the students, or the experiences accumuluated during student interviews. According to the teacher the templates helped the thoughtful planning and evaluation of the lessons and methodological development.
- Between the two waves of research five months have passed, and I experienced a significant change in teaching practices and teachers' attitude with regard to children. By the end of the term in Parád shift towards the use of IBL was obvious, although the method was not fully implemented, probably beacuse of the big difference between the previous practice and IBL.
- Thank you for your attention, if you would like to contact us you can see our email addresses on the slide, and there are 2 links to our youtube videos about the modules and the reflections of our work.