Round Table Discussions

How do we recognise inquiry in the classroom?

Facilitators: Eilish McLoughlin, Miia Rannikmae and Jack Holbrook

What is inquiry based science education? What is the role of the teacher in this approach? What are the students doing in an inquiry classroom? The ESTABLISH consortium has adopted a common understanding of what are the ‘elements’ of inquiry and has prepared teaching and learning materials to support difference levels of inquiry, e.g. guided, open). In this Round Table we would like to gather chemistry/ physics / biology classroom experiences from the participants and discuss several features of inquiry in practice in the science classroom - at different school levels. 

What is the role of technology in the inquiry classroom?

Facilitators: Ton Ellermeijer and Ewa Kedzierska

Since beginning of 80’s the use of technology has proven to be of added value in science education. Different kind of applications might play different roles: for instance tools for data-acquisition (with sensors or from video’s), data-analysis can enhance and empower the possibilities for students (and teachers) to do authentic research projects. Simulations may offer students more experimental possibilities to study complex or dangerous phenomena. In this Round Table we would like to gather experiences from the participants and discuss several aspects of using Technology in science classes.

How do we recognise and assess inquiry skills?

Facilitators: Paweł Bernard, Iwona Maciejowska, Malgorzata Krzeczkowska

There has been a recent trend across the EU towards competence-based teaching and learning. One of the main problems is to assess students’ actions, competences and knowledge that are learnt by inquiry. This round table discussion is going to be focused on two the most important issues:

• Which key skills and competences can be developed by IBSE?
• What strategies and tools can we use for assessment?

Participants will get the opportunity to exchange and review experiences from their practice, gather ideas and conclusions. 

What are the differences between context-based learning and authentic learning experiences in inquiry?

Facilitators: Christina Ottander, Ilka Parchmann

Context-based learning is a very well accepted approach in many countries nowadays, but how authentic are the contexts that we use in school? And what kind of learning opportunities do we get by working with authentic questions and situations like those presented in newspapers etc.? What are the learning goal related to the content of a school subject and the demands of an authentic situation outside the classroom? Are questions like this something you can discuss with your students to help them clarify their learning goals? In this round table we want to gather experience from the participants and discuss how we can make use of these questions to prepare teaching and learning sessions.  

What is the role of inquiry in the curriculum?

Facilitators: Claudio Fazio, Marián Kires and Zuzana Jeskova

In the last years the efficacy of an inquiry based approach to science education has been a much discussed subject in many research reports and curricular reforms. Another interesting issue is how science inquiry methods and teaching techniques are actually applied in real, in-class activities, also with respect to their links with the other curricular subjects. In this round table we want to gather experience from the participants and discuss what is the role of inquiry-based science education (IBSE) in their local and national curricula - at different school levels.

How do we generate constructive student arguments in the classrooms?

Facilitators:  Margareta Ekborg, Odilla Finlayson

It is significant how we teach student to substantiate the claims we make about the natural world in science classrooms.  How do we involve students in validating scientific claims from their point of view using scientific argumentation?  This round table will discuss and gather examples of practice from participants on how we can use argumentation to enhance the science classroom.