In Germany, Switzerland, and Austria a lot of work has been done in introducing models for supporting competences in physics, chemistry, and biology lessons. The Austrian model is a suitable tool for the preparation of modern science lessons and is divided into three dimensions: competences, level of performance, and content. The competences are split into three main parts: organization of knowledge (working with different sources), achievement of knowledge (contains mainly scientific methods, e.g. experiment), and drawing of conclusions.
In our work, we focus on the competence of achieving knowledge. Therefore, the observation of a particular phenomenon by the students plays an important role. By means of suitable experiments, students are encouraged to note their own observations. In the next step students write down questions they would like to have answered. After the formulation of their own research question they try to answer it by themselves - they develop their own hypothesis. This hypothesis will then be proved by a student-developed experiment, which is an improved or altered version of the starting experiment. The students’ own experiment leads to further observations, to new questions, and so on. In this way a learning cycle is introduced that enables research and, thereby, inquiry-based learning in the classroom. It is not necessary to run through the whole cycle every lesson. Depending on the content of the lesson, only some phases of the cycle are focused on.
To help teachers introduce this cycle in their own lessons, we developed easy to use tools. For example, the students fill in a protocol sheet during their work that allows the teacher to count the number of observations. Then the quality of the observations according to the phenomenon is determined. A second tool allows the teacher to find out the most suitable experiment for the training of particular competences.
We used this method in various classes with different experiments and found it to be an applicable method for developing competences in physics lessons. The tools proved to be helpful in detecting the students’ competence increase.
References
Bifie (2011). Kompetenzmodell Naturwissenschaften 8. Schulstufe. Verfügbar unter https://www.bifie.at/system/files/dl/bist_nawi_kompetenzmodell-8_2011-10-21.pdf [19.3.2012]
Bonnstetter, R. J. (1998). Inquiry: Learning from the Past with an Eye on the Future. Electronic Journal of Science Education, 3 (1). Verfügbar unter http://www.scholarlyexchange.org/ojs/index.php/EJSE/article/view/7595/5362 [19.3.2012]
Reichel, E. & Schittelkopf, E. (2012). Förderung von experimentellen Kompetenzen - Forschendes Lernen in vier Phasen. IMST Newsletter 37.
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