Scaling up Innovative Teaching Approaches in Mathematics: Supporting Teachers to Take up a New Role as Professional Development Course Leaders for Inquiry-Based Learning

Katja Maaß

doi:10.11114/jets.v6i7.3261

Abstract

This paper reports on a professional development activity (PD) for course leaders, which was designed within the European project Primas (2010-13, www.primas-project.eu). Primas aimed at the implementation of inquiry-based learning (IBL) in day-to-day teaching on a large scale. The focus is on the education of mathematics course leaders in Germany, who were all teachers. In order to support them in taking up their role and run courses on (IBL), a course leader seminar following design research was developed. The course aimed at course leaders’ learning on two levels: (1) as mathematics teachers about IBL and (2) as course leaders about running PD on IBL. A small scale retrospective interview study gives insights into the needs the participants face when learning about IBL as teachers and when learning as future course leaders. It also illuminates in which way participants took up their role as a course leader. These insights suggest how to optimize the course following design research.

Highlights

In 2007, the Rocard-Report initiated by the European Commission and written by a group of educational experts (Rocard & al. 2007) recommended inquiry-based learning (IBL) as opposed to transmission-based learning for mathematics and science education, so as to raise students interest for these subjects and their competences in them
Despite the fact that the course leader seminar was designed to have a practical relevance, some of the course leaders, learning in the professional domain as a teacher, demanded a higher practical relevance, as e.g. Kurt put it: “Maybe it was underestimated a bit how big the step is from this IBL in principle to implementing it in day-to-day teaching.” (Kurt, 8-14)1
7 emphasized that they appreciated running the courses in tandems:

Summary

Introduction

In 2007, the Rocard-Report initiated by the European Commission and written by a group of educational experts (Rocard & al. 2007) recommended inquiry-based learning (IBL) as opposed to transmission-based learning for mathematics and science education, so as to raise students interest for these subjects and their competences in them (here, we focus on mathematics). In 2007, the Rocard-Report initiated by the European Commission and written by a group of educational experts 2007) recommended inquiry-based learning (IBL) as opposed to transmission-based learning for mathematics and science education, so as to raise students interest for these subjects and their competences in them (here, we focus on mathematics). In transmission-based mathematics classes, the teacher points out what must be observed, provides the questions, demonstrates the methods to be used, checks results, and so on while students are left only to employ well-rehearsed procedural techniques (Mullis, Martin & Foy 2008; Stigler, Gonzales, Kawanaka, Knoll & Serrano 1999). Following on from the Rocard-Report, the European Commission funded several research projects aiming at a large-scale implementation of IBL. In Primas, between 2010 and 2013, 14 universities from 12 countries (Cyprus, Denmark, England, Germany, Hungary, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland) collaborated to promote the implementation of IBL in mathematics and science (see www.primas-project.eu)

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Conclusion