Differentiation in Inquiry-based Learning (Focus Experimentation) Erasmus Project

Project Title

Differentiation in Inquiry-based Learning (Focus Experimentation)

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for school education

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2019

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Pedagogy and didactics; New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses; Early School Leaving / combating failure in education

Project Summary

The acknowledgment of heterogeneity in groups of learners is imperative in education and is seen as a great potential for education.
Principally, heterogeneity in learning groups is caused by individual students. However, it has also increased due to restructuring in the educational system (comprehensive and community schools), students with a range of language proficiencies (migration) and the desire for inclusive education. These changes have increased the importance of differentiation (internal differentiation) in the classroom and the professionalization of teachers.
The design of individual learning opportunities can be put into practice in different ways. This project addresses differentiation regarding student performance (individual performance training).
School education should teach the basics of natural sciences. Scientific methods of cognition, such as experimentation, are of great importance in teaching.
Students should develop an understanding of the experimental method (learning about science) and the respective competences to apply it (skills and abilities: Doing science). In the acquisition of competences relevant for experimentation, content competences (What is an experiment? How is the experimental process structured? etc.) and procedural competences (ability to pose questions, generate hypotheses, conduct experiments etc.) can be distinguished.
While many differentiation concepts and practice examples exist for content competences, these are missing for procedural competences (especially for experimentation).
This need is being addressed in the project. The project partners will contribute their different expertise to develop a differentiation concept for performance differentiation in inquiry-based learning with a focus on experimentation. The development focus is on procedural competences. By a differentiation concept we understand the description of different task types (based on individual learning levels) for the individual sub-processes of the experimental process. The task types enable the further development of partial competences. If the task types are provided with concrete learning content, exercises can be created. The sub-processes of the experimental process are: developing a question, generating a hypothesis, planning an experiment, conducting an experiment, evaluating an experiment, drawing conclusions.
To elaborate the concept, the need for differentiation at schools will be identified and the national analyses conducted earlier will be combined into a transnational analysis in the context of meetings and observations.
Since the differentiation concept will be developed by project staff from four European countries, experts in didactics and methodology and teachers, it can be used all over Europe. Particular attention is given to the cooperation with schools as project partners who test and evaluate the concept and the respective teaching materials.
The differentiation concept for experimenting is presented in a manual providing practical examples and teaching materials for clarification. The manual is intended to serve teachers, student teachers and students as a reference book and to build up knowledge.
In order to introduce the manual into school practice, it will be used to develop seminars which are then presented to science teacher students and in-service training programs. The seminars and in-service trainings will be established at the universities of the project partners.
The publication (open resource) of the manual and the pre- and in-service training are intended to promote the professionalization of teachers and thus improve school practice.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 290432 Eur

Project Coordinator

PADAGOGISCHE HOCHSCHULE HEIDELBERG & Country: DE

Project Partners

• JYVASKYLAN YLIOPISTO
• PARIS-LODRON-UNIVERSITAT SALZBURG
• Vaajakummun koulu
• Gemeinschaftsschule Innenstadt Ludwigsburg
• Lykeio Aradippou
• UNIVERSITY OF CYPRUS
• Bundesoberstufenrealgymnasium Straßwalchen