IBSE in chemistry education - Testing students' skills and teacher training

Abstract

Inquiry Based Science Education (IBSE) as a new kind of education has been introduced into both the individual countries and the EU as a whole as an appropriate method for improvement on the current unsatisfying state of science education. Recently, new curriculum documents started to take effect in Czech Republic; these documents emphasize acquiring key competences and support the implementation of new strategies of teaching and learning. Many suggestions for IBSE education were also created as a part of national and international projects. For this reason, our article will focus mainly on the preparedness of pupils/students and their teachers for this new teaching method as a further condition of the application of IBSE into schools. In the first part of the article, we will list methods, procedures and results of a research that aimed to determine whether the pupils/students have enough skills to use the inquiry based method of teaching. In the second part of the article, we will start by focusing on the determination of teacher preparedness for IBSE and then on the preparation and realization of the IBSE training system for in-service and pre-service teachers in Czech Republic. This training system is based on the identification of a scientific “mystery” and active work of the teachers connected with their experience of inquiry and discovery. In the third part of the article, we will talk about the TEMI project which creates training programs for science teachers using IBSE and in which our country participates right now.