Presentation from the 2nd Scientix Conference, 24-26 October 2014, Brussels, Belgium

1. 2nd Scientix Conference, Brussels, 24-26 October 2014
Motivating Teacher and
Student Science Learning:
Lessons learned from the
CoReflect and PROFILES FP7
Projects
Dr. Eleni A. Kyza
Cyprus University of Technology
CoReflect (217792) and PROFILES (266589) received funding by the
European Commission, as part of the Science in Society programme

2. Digital Support for Inquiry, Collaboration and Reflection on Socio-scientific Debates
» Help-seeking
» Help giving

3. » Help-seeking
» Help giving

4. Digital Support for Inquiry,
Collaboration and Reflection on Socio-scientific
Debates
http://www.coreflect.org
 Run from 2008-2011
 Small scale teacher-researcher
collaboration in 7 countries.
 Local Working Groups
 Development, enactment, and
empirical validation of an online
innovative, inquiry-based
learning environment.
 Explored the process through
which best practices can be
adapted and transferred from
one national context to another
 Tested a model for teacher-researcher
co-development of
inquiry-based curricula
Professional Reflection Oriented Focus
on Inquiry-based Learning and
Education through Science
http://www.profiles-project.eu
 2010-present
 Larger scale teacher-researcher
collaborations
 Teacher networks in more than
21 countries
 Continuous Professional
Development courses, to
support teachers as learners,
reflective practitioners and
leaders
 Emphasis on learning
environments which can
motivate students’ interest to
learn science
 Development of scientific
literacy and education through
science

5. Motivation for my work
 There is a need for all citizens to be able to engage
in critical thinking about socio-scientific issues
(Scientific literacy)
 Students, especially as they grow older, lose
interest in learning about science (Sjøberg &
Schreiner, 2006) (Motivation to learn)
 Students’ interest could be stimulated by the
creation of inquiry-based learning environments to:
 Engage them in problem-solving
 Situate concepts in meaningful contexts
 Provide access to tools to support learning,
collaboration and active participation
 Make learning personally interesting to students
(21st century skills)
 Teachers and students need to be supported in
engaging with inquiry. (Scaffolding)
» Help-seeking
» Help giving

6. Mechanisms for inquiry learning
Engage teachers in design
 Design is a form of thinking about real-life problems. Engaging teachers in
design enables creative adaptations of curricula to address student needs.
 Participatory design supports teacher ownership of inquiry, reflective
thinking and teacher learning (Kyza & Nicolaidou, 2011, Kyza & Georgiou, 2014).
Provide customizable and re-configurable tools to support
inquiry learning and teaching
 Scaffolding seeks to help students move within their zone of proximal
development. Tools should be adapted to student needs and should
provide appropriate support.
 Digital tools that can support teacher adaptation of materials are key.
Design authentic learning environments
 Learning is situated. Authentic environments are relevant to students’
lives, engage students in problem-solving through the use of data and
evidence-based reasoning, and promote reflection and collaboration.

7. Teachers as Designers
 Research indicates that teachers have a fundamental role to play in
any educational reform (e.g. Fullan, 2007, Pinto, 2005)
 Participatory design (PD) is an approach that can yield authentic,
theory-driven and empirically validated learning environments
(McLaughlin 1987; Voogt et al. 2011, Kyza & Nicolaidou, 2011, Kyza & Georgiou,
2014)
 Our PD approach emphasizes the following dimensions (van Driel et al.
2012)
 Students’ active inquiry and evidence-based reasoning
 The learning environments are in line with local educational objectives
 The design takes into account local constraints and opportunities
 Enactment data and action research guides the development and revision
of the learning environments
 Collaborative learning allows for peer scaffolding, articulation and
reflection
 The design process engages teachers in continuous professional
development and reflection on ideas and practices

8. STOCHASMOS
Teacher adaptation and design
Scaffolded inquiry

9. Tools that support learning and teaching
Inquiry Environment scaffolding
 Data capture tool
 Glossary
 Prompts
 Notebook
 Chat tool
Reflective Workspace scaffolding
 Evidence link tool
 Articulation spaces & tools
 Page sharing tool
 Forum
Teacher scaffolding
 Design or adapt learning environments
 Monitor student work
Kyza, E. A. & Constantinou, C. P. (2007). STOCHASMOS: [Software tool]. Learning in
Science Group, Cyprus.

10. Student inquiry
Driving Question
Motivating
scenario
A decision
needs to be
made

11. Learning Environment

12. Reflective WorkSpace

13. Students’ WorkSpace samples on STOCHASMOS

14. Authentic learning environments:
engaging students in inquiry
“The Cypriots as
climatic refugees: A
fictional scenario or
a forthcoming
reality?”
Carbon cycle Middle School
Biology
“Nicolas and Anne
want to exercise.
Can they?”
Circulatory system Elementary School
Science
“Robbery at the
jewelry shop:
Innocent or guilty?”
Metal reactivity Middle School
Chemistry
“Which type of
water to drink to
quench my thirst?”
Water composition
Water quality
High school
Chemistry
Global and
local
problem
Direct
personal
impact
Crime
investigation
Direct
personal
impact

18. Authentic learning environments:
Motivation and Learning
 Using the MoLE questionnaire (Bolte et al.
2012) we found statistically significant
results supporting the conclusion that the
PROFILES learning environments motivated
students’ engagement with inquiry science
learning vs. traditional methods of learning.
 In 2012, in collaboration with the local
Ministry of Education and Culture, we
investigated the designed environment with
a representative sample of 946 7th grade
students from 30 schools.
 We found statistically significant increases in
 Student motivation to learn
 Conceptual understanding
 A positive relation between conceptual
understanding and student motivation
Participating students
2012 2013 2014
Chemistry 171 108 44
Biology 946 169 88
Primary
71 73 45
Science

20. To sum up
Our experiences from working with teachers and students in
the last 10 years lead us to strongly believe that:
» The inquiry pedagogy is a valid approach to increasing student motivation,
inquiry skills and learning about science.
» Participatory design can support teacher learning and the development of
authentic learning environments.
» Teacher-researcher partnerships have been successful in contributing to
reform efforts.
» Tools for authoring learning environments and tools for scaffolding student
learning need to be made accessible to teachers and schools.
» Design-based research allows for data-driven revisions of the learning
environments and advances our theoretical understanding of the complex
realities of learning in the real world.
» All these can contribute to achieving the goal of responsible research and
innovation for the 21st century.

21. Motivating Teacher and Student Science Learning:
Lessons learned from the
CoReflect and PROFILES FP7 Projects
Thank you for your attention
Eleni.Kyza@cut.ac.cy
www.cut.ac.cy/profiles
www.coreflect.org
www.stochasmos.org
2nd Scientix Conference –Brussels, 24-26 October 2014
CoReflect (217792) and PROFILES (266589) received funding by the
European Commission, as part of the Science in Society programme