Inquiry-based science education and continuous professional development within a European project: Some considerations about its development in Portugal (original) (raw)

It has been outlined the need of science teachers to print a more modern approach to teaching, based on effective and relevant context. Thus, the European Project PROFILES -Professional Reflection-Oriented Focus on Inquiry Learning through Science and Education -embraced by twenty participating countries, including Portugal, arises from the urgent need to invest in further continuous professional development. The aim of the project is to stimulate the skills in teaching students that may increase, through more motivating methods, their scientific literacy. In this sense, the teacher is oriented in order to experience four stages of development -the teacher as i) learner ii) teacher; iii) reflective practitioner; iv) leader -and is invited to implement with their students, new approaches based on Inquiry-Based Science Education (IBSE). Inquiry-based learning is a process where students are involved in their learning, formulate questions, investigate widely and then build new understandings, meanings and knowledge. PROFILES, and its guidelines regarding teacher training, shows great complicity with the, already completed, European Project PARSEL -Popularity And Relevance of Science Education for scientific Literacy -in which modules were developed as a set of teaching strategies for a new science approach through the discussion of social and ethical problems. The objective of the PARSEL modules is to increase the relevance and popularity of science teaching in the eyes of students, but at the same time guarantee solid student learning headed for enhancing scientific literacy.

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