BUILDING ON TEACHERS’ BELIEFS TO SUPPORT INQUIRY PEDAGOGIES. LOOKING FOR SYNERGIES BETWEEN TWO EUROPEAN PROJECTS

This paper refers to two International Projects of the 7th European Framework in which the authors are actively involved.
The first European project referred to is the PRIMAS project (Promoting Inquiry in Mathematics and Science Education across Europe), which has the overall objective of promoting inquiry-based learning in mathematics and science at different educational levels across Europe. To reach this objective, an international team of researchers from 14 institutions and 12 countries share a common interest in order to offer a more widespread uptake of inquiry-based learning (IBL).

Closely connected to the PRIMAS project, the MaScil European project (Mathematics and Science for Life) brings together 18 partners from 13 countries to promote a widespread use of inquiry-based science teaching (IBST). However, in addition, the MaScil project intends to support the use of inquiry activities embedded in setting or sceneries related to the world of work, as a way to provide a sense of purpose and meaning in the science and mathematics taught at school.

The main objective of this work is to bridge these two projects and build on previous results from the PRIMAS project in order to inform the work in MaScil.

Within the PRIMAS project framework, teachers are considered as the key actors in promoting and enacting IBL practices to address the declining students’ interest in science and mathematics through the use of these pedagogies. In this approach teachers need support and guidance to undergo change when they try to implement new methodologies.

Educational research has pointed out the impact that teacher attitudes and beliefs have on innovation and changes in curriculum. On the other hand it has also been reported that any professional development course should be built upon teacher views and practices to be successful. Thus, understanding teachers’ beliefs about professional development courses related to IBL approaches can inform us how teachers are likely to adopt and implement this methodology.

Taking into account this framework we aim to analyse how Spanish teachers of Mathematics and Science education perceive some features of IBL before they will be engaged in professional development courses as learners and multipliers. Through this study we provide a rich picture of teachers’ views about usefulness of PD courses, difficulties and hindering factors for IBL, attitudes towards IBL implementation, etc.

This paper reports some early results, which will be analysed and discussed from our National perspective. Data were collected using a Spanish version of a questionnaire, designed in English within the project, which has also been use in a cross-international survey. Based on those findings, some implications for teacher development using IBL will also be discussed.