Abstract
This is a qualitative study with a twofold aim. The first aim is to describe and analyse teachers' perceptions of advantages and challenges with a model for continued professional development (CPD) for primary school teachers. The CPD course was about inquiry-based learning (IBL) in science education. The second aim of the study is to analyse the teachers' thoughts after implementing inquiry-based methods in their own science teaching. The empirical data, in the form of video transcriptions, notes, interviews and results from electronic forms, were collected during and after four separate in-service courses for teachers (N=26). The analysis of the data is done through thematic analysis. As positive results, the teachers emphasised the implementation of IBL with their students and the individual mentoring, which were parts of the CPD model. Teachers highlighted the importance of students' possibilities to make investigations based on their own questions, which proved to have a positive impact on students' interest and motivation. Teachers also saw the importance of their own planning and goal setting. The results indicate that the teachers perceived a tension between having control and relinquishing control, which can become a challenge. Two other challenges were teachers' perceived lack of time for planning and implementing but also teachers' deficient subject knowledge.
Highlights
This study focuses on a continued professional development (CPD) course for primary science teachers in first through sixth grades in Finland
Central in the CPD course was the connection between the theory and the themes that were addressed during the workshops and the teachers’ own implementation of them in their own science teaching practice
Garet et al (2001, pp. 925–926) stress the importance of teachers’ active learning that “involves the opportunity to link the ideas introduced during professional development experiences to the teaching context in which teachers work.”
Summary
This study focuses on a continued professional development (CPD) course for primary science teachers in first through sixth grades in Finland. The CPD course was completed with four different groups of teachers. The theme of the CPD course, which lasted one year for each group, was inquiry-based learning in science, with focus on open inquiry. The challenge today for teachers is to educate their students for future challenges, described in the 21st century skills (European Union, 2006). Inquiry-based teaching is a pedagogical approach where students can develop these skills. In the Finnish core curriculum (Finnish National Board of Education [FNBE], 2016), the objectives of research and working skills state that students should be able to formulate their own research questions and plan for small-scale research projects
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