Bring the Ocean to the Classroom—Introducing Experimental Studies to Teachers with Fair or No Science Knowledge

Abstract

Despite the long Swedish coastline, the ocean and the marine coastal environment are only superficially, if at all, discussed in Swedish educational material for comprehensive school as well as upper secondary school. Therefore, we designed a continuing professional development course for teachers and pre-service teachers covering several school subjects, and all school stages, from preschool to high school. The overall aims are to increase ocean literacy among school children and to increase the teachers’ interest in working experimentally with natural science using the marine system as a tool, that is, project-based education. Mirroring the way scientists work, we want to encourage teachers to stimulate their pupils to formulate predictions and explanations, to design and use small experiments to test their predictions and in this way increase their understanding of a problem. The course runs over a year. It is mostly Web based and the teachers work with their own pupils and deliver written reports on their experiences. Working material is demonstrated during a start-up weekend at one of the marine field station at the University of Gothenburg. This, and a final weekend, gives opportunities for face-to-face discussions and to explore the marine life on the Swedish west coast. We provide the participants with 60 ready-to-use experiments, ranging from very easy to more complex activities that should be adapted by the teachers to use with their respective groups of pupils. In a follow-up study, a vast majority (96%) of the teachers answered that they have continued to use the course material after finishing the course and that they feel more confident about teaching marine sciences. This hands-on professional development course has shown to be useful for teachers at all levels, and we believe it can be adapted to other disciplines as well.