involving irish pre-service science teachers in the temi project

Co-funded bythe Seventh Framework Programmeof the European Union

Involving Irish Pre-Service Science Teachers in the TEMI

Project

Broggy,J., Childs, P.E., Dunne, P., Harley-Warnock, M., Kingston, S., McCormack, O., McManus, B., O’Dwyer, A., Ryan P.

University of Limerick, Limerick, [email protected]

FP7-Science-in-Society-2012-1, Grant Agreement N. 321403

mailto:[email protected]

What is TEMI?

• Teaching Enquiry with Mysteries Incorporated

• Funded by the FP7 programme

• Professional Development Workshops

• 12 other European partnersFP7-Science-in-Society-2012-1, Grant Agreement N. 321403 2

TEMI Goals

• Improve science and maths teaching across Europe.

• Focus on pupil enquiry as a driving force for learning.

• Teaching is organised around problems and questions in a highly pupil-centred enquiry process.

FP7-Science-in-Society-2012-1, Grant Agreement N. 321403 3

4FP7-Science-in-Society-2012-1, Grant Agreement N. 321403

5E Model of Enquiry

ENGAGE

EXPLORE

EXPLAINEXTEND

EVALUATE


Key Idea Behind TEMI

Use mysteries or discrepant events to engage students in

the enquiry process.


Teacher Training Workshops

• Explore the use of mysteries in teaching science.

• Experience ‘TEMI’ lessons using 5E Model of Enquiry.

• Generate TEMI lesson ideas collaboratively.

• Feedback from trialled lessons in schools.

• Evaluate the effectiveness of the TEMI approach.


Structure of TEMI Workshops in UL


Why Involve Pre-Service Science Teachers

(PSSTs)?

• Previous work has shown the value of collaboration between pre-service and in-service teachers (Le Cornu 2005, Wray 2007, Abbott et al. 2012).

• To kick-start the project by having a bank of resources prepared before involving teachers in the first teacher training workshop.

• To influence both those in the pipeline and those in the future pipeline of science education.


Involvement of Pre-Service Science Teachers in TEMI

• Informed 3rd year science education students in UL about TEMI project in May 2013.

• Provided 4 students with an opportunity to complete required Final Year Research Project (FYRP)on TEMI (Sept- May 2014).


What is a Final Year Research Project?

• Compulsory requirement in most undergraduate courses in UL.

• Typically accounts for 2 modules’ credits (12 credits).

• Students research a topic of their own choosing in depth in their final year of study.

• Must write a thesis report on their study.


TEMI FYRP Brief Research discrepant events and their relationship to

IBSE.

Review IBSE in second-level science education.

Choose subject (biology/chemistry/physics/Transition

Year science) on which to focus TEMI lessons.

Source at least 10 discrepant event ideas in chosen

subject and develop TEMI lessons from these.

Trial a min. of 5 TEMI lessons while on final teaching

placement (Sept - Dec 2013).

Evaluate effectiveness of developed TEMI lessons

in motivating students, increasing understanding

and developing pupils’ enquiry skills.


Bank of TEMI Lessons

Physics

• Junior & Senior Cycle

• 10 lesson plans with student activity sheets

Chemistry



Biology



All 3 Sciences

• Transition Year

• 8 week module with 8 units on phys, chem & bio

Transition Year is a one year optional programme between Junior and Senior Cycles with no set curriculum.

14

TEMI Lessons Developed by PSSTs

FP7-Science-in-Society-2012-1, Grant Agreement N. 321403

Subject

(topic)

Lesson Name Brief Description

Biology

(Osmosis, Diffusion)

The Leaking Bag!

Osmosis and diffusion are explored by immersing a fully sealed zip-lock bag (or dialysis tubing) containing a starch solution into a beaker of iodine solution.

Chemistry

(Water, Bonding, Solutions)

Burly Bubbles Compare the properties of homemade (water and washing up liquid) bubble solution with burly (water, washing up liquid and glycerol) bubble solution.

Physics

(Boyle’s Law, Atmospheric Pressure)

Boyle-ing Point

Differential pressures cause water to be ‘sucked up’ into an upside-down wine bottle.

Transition Year 8-week module, Science Mysteries


PSSTs’ Role • Developed, trialled and evaluated resources during

teaching placement.• Attended and participated in TEMI workshops.• Mentored and facilitated in-service teachers in sourcing

and developing TEMI lesson ideas.• Provided feedback on experiences from teaching

placement.

PSSTs mentoring during TEMI workshop


Professional Learning Community

Pre-service teachers

TEMI project team

In-service teachers


• Networked & collaborated with experienced science

teachers.

• Developed skills of action research.

• Improved inquiry-based teaching knowledge & skills.

• Prepared themselves for new curriculum changes to

Junior and Senior science syllabi.

• Transformed their teaching practice – “I began to teach

the TEMI way in all of my science classes”.

• Created a bank of shared resources linked to

curriculum.

• Experienced working in an EU FP7 project.

Pre-Service

teachers

TEMI project

In-service

teachers


• Provided with a bank of TEMI teaching resources which are closely linked to the science curricula.

• Informed about the do’s and don’ts from PSSTs’ experiences of implementing TEMI.

• Received help in sourcing and developing TEMI lesson ideas.


TEMI project

In-Service

teachers


• Increased scope of TEMI in Ireland through FYRPs and teaching placement – acted as TEMI ambassadors in teaching placement schools.

• Created a huge bank of resources for project which will

be built upon by future PSSTs and in-service teachers.

• Provided baseline data on effectiveness of TEMI lessons in motivating students,increasing understanding and developing pupils’ enquiry skills.


TEMI Project

In-service teachers


Conclusions

The Irish TEMI team believes that involving PSSTs in the project from the beginning has been a valuable part of the project,

both for the participating PSSTs and for the in-service teachers.

The UL team hopes to continue with the involvement of PSSTs in

TEMI in subsequent years and also to provide training workshops on the TEMI approach and materials for a wider group of PSSTs in UL.


Acknowledgements

• Cohort 1 pre-service science teachers.

• Cohort 1 in-service science teachers.

• TEMI project team in the University of Limerick:

Joanne Broggy, Peter Childs, Anne O’ Dwyer and Orla

McCormack.

• All other TEMI partners.

Co-funded bythe Seventh Framework Programmeof the European Union FP7-Science-in-Society-2012-1, Grant Agreement N. 321403

Thank you for listening!

22


Questions?

TEMI Website: http://teachingmysteries.eu/en


References

• Le Cornu, R. (2005), ‘Peer mentoring: engaging pre-service teachers in mentoring one another’, Mentoring and Tutoring, 13(3), 355-366.

• Wray, S (2007), ‘Teaching portfolios, community, and pre-service teachers’ professional development’, Teaching and Teacher Education, 23, 1139-1152.

• Abbott, M. L., Dunn, W. and Aberdeen, T. (2012) ‘A boundary-spanning ESL teacher education project: connecting campus learning to in-service teacher needs’, Canadian Journal of Action Research, 13(2), 3-16.