In-service teacher training to take IBSE approach into Earth science teaching in italian secondary schools

In the last few years a great number of surveys have shown that students don’t like studying science and do not reach true understanding of what they have studied. Several studies on science education in Europe suggest using Inquiry-Based Science Education approach (IBSE) to reverse the decline in interest of young people in science and develop in all future citizens the scientific literacy they need for the world beyond the school. The dissemination of this approach in Italian school is limited by a number of factors, among which the large amount of time necessary to plan and then implement the activities in class, compared to the time available in relation to the curriculum and the forms of student assessment, to the increasingly large class sizes and the lack of laboratories and equipment. The aim of this research project is to promote the use of IBSE into Earth Science teaching in Italian secondary schools through the setting up of a training model for in-service science teachers which provides the implementation of inquiry-based activities in classes to assess their impact on students’ learning and the feasibility of this approach. This pilot training course started in September 2012, before the beginning of the lessons, and will be over in May 2013. 8 teachers (M=2, F=6) have accepted to participate in this study on a voluntary basis. This study (pre/post-test design) will gather data before and after a 30-hours training course by means of questionnaires and interviews about: confidence regarding Earth Science teaching (pre-test and post-test); teachers’ perceptions of impact of IBSE on the students; relevance, effectiveness, efficiency and impact of the training model; teachers’ perceptions about struggles with inquiry teaching in secondary schools. The expected outcomes are: to elaborate an innovative and effective training model, to evaluate whether this kind of teacher training can encourage a positive perception towards IBSE and hence its use in teaching Earth Science and to set up Earth Science inquiry-based activities for Italian secondary school. Up to now an organic research has never been carried out on this topic in Italy. This is one of the first projects dealing with the teaching of Earth Sciences which we hope will contribute positively in the approach towards these disciplines in Italian schools.