Three Dimensions of Inquiry in Physics Education

In this report the following vocabulary and shortages are used:3DIPhE - Three Dimensions of Inquiry in Physics Education - project’s title and acronymIBL -Inquiry based learningPI - Practitioner inquiryPLC - Professional learning community PLCT - PLC of teachersEDR - Education design researchPartners – institutions, members of 3DIPhE consortiumTeachers – active in-service teachers not employed at partners’ institutionsPupils – learners in elementary, lower and upper secondary classes taught by teachersStudents – learners in higher education, that were not the target audience in this projectTPM - Transnational partner meetingVTPM Virtual TPMEvidence for all activities in the project are found in the robust archive: http://archive3diphe.splet.arnes.si/ password (3diphepartners). The link leads to the page with links to all documents organized in similar bundles as project activities. The page is best accessible by Edge or Explorer, Firefox sometimes complains regarding its protection. Whenever an evidence that support claims is mentioned, we simply add information “archive” to the report. The main objective of this project was to empower the teachers for IBL through inquiring their own practice as a part of continuous work in PLCTs and to develop courses for training other teachers. How was it done? - PLCTs were organized by partners and during the meetings of PLCTs the teachers were trained in carrying out and supervising activities of students during IBL units - the first dimension of inquiry focused on pupils. - Next, they were trained in PI, which enabled the teachers to inquire their own practice and the quality of IBL lessons - the second dimension of the project focused on the teacher. - Finally, partners while working with teachers in PLCTs, designed and supervised activities that supported the training of teachers, learned and trained to become effective coaches/facilitators of such groups - the third dimension of inquiry focused on partners.The project evolved in two cycles. In the Cycle 1 each partner formed one or more PLCTs with 3 to 10 teacher. Teachers met for workshops, they were trained and at the same time they tested materials developed by partners. Results of teachers’ work were presented at small local multiplier events in each country. At the end of the Cycle 1, partners analysed the collected data and reflected their learnings. The plan for workshops in the Cycle 2 was developed on the basis of experience from the 1st cycle. New PLCTs, called novice PLCTs, were formed and to them many of participants of small local multiplier events joined. Most of the partners continued to meet with the PLCTs from the first cycle, called expert PLCTs for convenience. The training in the Cycle 2 was more efficient and structured due to the experience from the first cycle. The learnings of partners during both cycles resulted in three training courses planned to subtle details and supported by materials. Unfortunately, COVID 19 prevented the pilot implementation of the courses, except the not initially planned IBL course. Instead, four Volumes in an eBook form, publicly available, comprise our learnings. Volume 1: Inquiry Based Learning to Enhance Teaching.Volume 2: Practitioner Inquiry in Context of Inquiry Based LearningVolume 3: Facilitate Reflect Learn: Building Professional Learning Communities Volume 4: Inquire Share Learn: Educational Design Research for Teacher Professional LearningThe Volume 1 focuses on IBL, the Volume 2 on PI, the Volume 3 on coaching PLCTs. All books contain the theoretical background, detailed schedule for the training course, the guide for its implementation, and materials for the training adapted or developed in the project. Besides, each Volume contains also specifics for its content, for example, Volume 1 contains IBL units contributed by teachers. Finally, Volume 4 focuses on EDR, which developed criteria for project’s goals, and case studies of work in PLCs. As courses are prepared to subtle details, their implementation is planned for the spring/summer/fall 2021, if the end of pandemic relaxes travelling limitations. Components of courses will partners include also in their work with pre-service teachers.More than 100 teachers of physics, math, and elementary school teachers were trained in IBL and PI, which is the most direct impact of the project. Indirectly, these teachers implemented the new knowledge in one or two generations of their learners. As most of the teachers are subject teachers, they are in contact with 100 – 150 different students each. Opinions of students were collected in presentations at local multiplier events and at the Final conference and were highly positive. Finally, each partner has now, after the project a team of coaches, proficient in all three levels of inquiry, able to implement all developed trainings and apply methods of EDR to future project.