Supporting Teachers to Implement Inquiry-Based Teaching in Kindergarten Science

• In Event: Poster Session 20
  In Poster Session: Exploring Science Education

Abstract

Twenty kindergarten in-service teachers participated in a 25hr professional development program(PDP) supporting the development of abilities for identifying and responding to students’ in-class inquiry. Each teacher taught a science lesson at the beginning and at the end of the PDP. These were videotaped and analyzed in terms of the student inquiry the teachers responded to. Findings on possible effects of the PDP were mixed. Average student talk duration increased and students’ leads were increasingly used to guide lesson flow. Teachers increased responses to students’ reasoning and logic, and clarifications of students’ ideas and reasoning, and decreased evaluations of students’ ideas. However, responses to knowledge claims increased and those to everyday experiences decreased. We discuss possible contributing factors for these findings.

Authors

• Loucas T. Louca, European University

• Dora Tzialli, University of Cyprus

• C. P. Constantinou, University of Cyprus