Discussion: the development of this skill in inquiry-based science teaching methodologies / Kształcenie umiejętności prowadzenia dyskusji zgodnie z metodologią nauczania przez odkrywanie

Abstract

ESTABLISH - European Science and Technology in Action: Building Links with Industry, School and Home is a four year pan-European project funded by the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7). A specific aims of this project is to reinforce the links between school education and external world, so as to raise the level of scientific knowledge of teachers and their students, and increase students’ intrinsic motivation to science and technology. Inquiry-based science education (IBSE) has been selected as the methodology to facilitate this type of teaching and learning. In order to achieve this set aim, it is necessary to prepare the teaching staff to be involved in IBSE. Across Europe teachers and students have begun to adopt the IBSE methodology, facilitated by many projects including ESTABLISH. In Poland, the ESTABLISH teachers training included inter alia, two summer schools during which teachers can deepen the knowledge and understanding of how to apply the IBSE strategy into their own teaching practices. Selected because of their importance in contemporary society life, are the abilities to discuss, to argue and to draw connections. Those skills require the use of specific rules. During the ESTABLISH training, teachers were tasked with creating a list of rules to help them lead a “good discussion” in their classroom. They tried to follow those rules discussing many hot and current topics, for example nuclear energy or use of supplements to lose weight (Chitosan). The advantages and disadvantages of developing this skill (discussion) as part of this teaching method were examined by participants of summer school. At the end of classes teachers shared their experiences of working with proposed method and collectively created a list of discussion topics they thought would be interesting for students that can be implemented in Polish schools. In the presentation, our experiences, remarks and conclusions from working with summer schools' teachers of the ESTABLISH project will be shared.