The thesis analyses how often the teachers in primary schools and in lower classes of multi-year grammar schools integrate practical exercises and experiments into the biology lessons in the issue of water invertebrates. A proposal of laboratory and field practices has also been created and carried out in the school practice in pursuance of water invertebrates with the use of stimulating educational methods, so called Inquiry-based science education.

This thesis is focused on interconnection between education of plant pigments and inquiry- based science education in upper primary school. The theoretical section of this thesis deals with the current quality of education and knowledge level of Czech pupils in science subjects, as well as characteristic of inquiry based science education and description of various types of plant pigments. Evaluation of publications focused on occurrence of plant pigments in curricular document is another part of this thesis. The study revealed that plant pigments represent only a marginal topic of these publications. The next section of this thesis is a questionnaire survey about utilization of inquiry based science education among the teachers of biology in upper primary school. The results showed that most of the teachers were well acquainted with the method and applied it during their teaching. The last section of this thesis contains two proposals for experimental tasks of inquiry-based science education of plant pigments, which are focused on interface of biology and chemistry. Both tasks were successfully solved.

This work examines the learning outcomes of a French professional development program for science education in primary school, ASTEP. The program is based on a partnership between a primary school teacher on one hand and a subject expert on the other. Its uniqueness lies in the fact that the subject expert is a young university student who is challenged to be assessed on his/her learning for academic credits. Compared to most other professional development programs, ASTEP displays an alternative knowledge hierarchy, it is neither top down nor bottom up, but rather a form of knowledge exchange. Data on students´ and teachers´ reflections on the collaboration were analyzed through a grounded theory approach and subsequently organized within the interconnected model of teacher professional growth (IMTPG). Although the analyses indicated significant changes in the practice of the teachers, the learners who individually seem to benefit the most were the university students. The ASTEP program appears to provide a low stake high support scaffold for the students to refine their values and beliefs about a professional life and develop a professional identity.

The Swedish curricula for compulsory school science emphasize laboratory inquiry-based science teaching (IBST) to develop pupils’ critical thinking. In contrast, several studies indicate that teachers within the Swedish teaching tradition almost solely emphasize laboratory work as a way to gain students understanding of traditional science content. In this thesis the aim is to investigate how this gap emerged in lower secondary science teaching and to investigate possible ways to bridge this gap between curricula and tradition. Two studies were carried out. In the first study, the aim was to explore how science teachers met the curricula’s expectations of involving pupils in IBST. The result is based on twelve teachers reflecting in groups about their own inquiry activities. Two strategies were identified. Hybridization (existing laboratory activities were transformed) and imitation (investigative inquiry as carried out on national tests was imitated). The way scientific practices are represented in such activities is probably limiting pupils’ potential for critical thinking in everyday life. In the second study, possibilities to bridge gaps between the laboratory tradition and IBST in curricula were explored within a teacher professional development program. Tensions between key ideas of laboratory work in Swedish teaching tradition and IBST, as discussed in international literature, were made explicit. It was then used as a point of departure to negotiate upon the purposes of involving students in laboratory work. The result was based on ten teachers divided in three groups. Eventually, two out of the three groups did explicit articulated awareness of different purposes linked to different types of laboratory activities. The third group showed limited awareness although they developed similar activities as the two other groups. This indicates that teaching tradition is an important variable when implementing new ideas and worthy taking into account and challenge. / Baksidestext Grundskolans läroplan för naturämnena betonar laborativt undersökande arbete i syftet att utveckla elevers kritiska tänkande medan undervisningstraditionen betonar laborationer i syftet att ge ökad förståelse för ämnesinnehåll. Syftet med denna avhandling var att undersöka hur detta glapp gestaltar sig i senare delen av grundskolan och hur detta glapp kan överbryggas. I delstudie ett utforskades lärares sätt att tillmötesgå förväntningar om undersökande arbete. Två strategier identifierades: hybridisering (befintliga laborationer omformades) och imitering (nationella prov härmades). Det finns risk för att dessa aktiviteter framställer naturvetenskapliga praktiker på ett sätt som ger begränsade förutsättningar för kritiskt tänkande i vardagsliv. I delstudie två utforskades möjligheten av att använda spänningar mellan läroplan och laborationstradition som utgångspunkt för att överbrygga glapp mellan läroplan och tradition. Spänningar synliggjordes och var utgångspunkt för förhandling om syften med laborationer. Resultatet visade att två utav totalt tre grupper i slutändan explicit skiljde på olika syften med olika laborativa aktiviteter. Detta indikerar att laborationstraditionen är en viktig faktor, värd att ta med i beräkningen, när undersökande arbete ska införlivas.

O ensino de ciências baseado em investigação nas séries iniciais do ensino fundamental tem sido recomendado por muitos educadores, pelas academias de ciências de todo mundo e também pela Academia Brasileira de Ciências, que desenvolve o programa ABC na Educação Científica Mão na Massa. Este estudo se insere na temática de formação de formadores e foi realizado em um dos polos do programa, a Estação Ciência da Universidade de São Paulo, no projeto Mão na Massa - Iniciação Científica no Ciclo I realizado em parceria entre a Estação Ciência e a Secretaria Municipal de Educação de São Paulo (SME). O projeto teve como objetivo a implantação do ensino de ciências baseado em investigação em escolas municipais do fundamental I e envolveu dez Diretorias Regionais de Educação (DRE), cerca de oitenta escolas da SME e foi desenvolvido de 2006 a 2008. Consistiu na formação: de um formador de cada uma das Diretorias pela equipe da Estação Ciência, de um coordenador pedagógico de cada escola realizada pela Estação Ciência e pela DRE; dos professores do ensino fundamental I, que foi realizada pelos coordenadores pedagógicos na própria escola e dos alunos desses professores nas aulas de ciências. Acompanhamos e analisamos o grupo de formação continuada de formadores das Diretorias Regionais de Educação coordenado pela equipe da Estação Ciência. Realizamos pesquisa qualitativa com observação participativa dos encontros, entrevistas e análise de documentos, relatos e avaliações. A investigação e estudo da literatura mostraram que na formação continuada de formadores, está envolvida uma gama complexa de ações que requer diferentes saberes que são mobilizados durante o desenvolvimento de sequências didáticas formativas e favorecidas por estratégias que possibilitam interações dialógicas, dentre os quais destacamos: planejamento e desenvolvimento de situações de formação; conhecimento disciplinar em ciências; reflexão sobre a prática de formação e constituição de espaço coletivo e colaborativo. / Inquiry based science education for first years of schooling has been recommended by many educators, by Academies of Science of many countries, including Academia Brasileira de Ciências, which sponsors the programme ABC na Educação Científica Mão na Massa. This study of training of teacher trainers was undertaken in this program, in a joint project of the Municipal Authority for Education of the city of São Paulo with the science Center Estação Ciência of Universidade de São Paulo. The Project, Mão na Massa Iniciação Científica no Ciclo I, aimed at establishing inquiry based science education in aproximately eighty municipal elementary schools belonging to ten different Regional Education District, during the years 2006 to 2008. Training was offered by Estação Ciência to one teacher trainer in each Regional District and to a Pedagogical Coordinator of each participating school. These Pedagogical Coordinators also received training from the Regional District teacher trainer and were responsible for the training of teachers in their own school; the teachers then taught science in their classes. We followed the training work of the Estação Ciência team with the ten Regional District trainers, by qualitative research including observation and participation in meetings, interviews and examination of documents, reports and evaluations. Study of pertinent literature and the research showed that professional development for teacher trainers includes a series of complex actions which requires a variety of abilities and knowledge, which are used during training sequences and helped by strategies which favour dialogical interactions. We emphasize four of these: planning and development of training situations; understanding science concepts and practices; reflection about training practices; and establishment of an atmosphere of collective collaboration in the training group.

Notre travail porte sur le thème des connaissances professionnelles mobilisées par les enseignants pendant la préparation et lors de la mise en œuvre de leur enseignement. Notre étude se déroule dans le contexte de l’enseignement des sciences expérimentales. Nous y étudions les connaissances des enseignants et leurs évolutions. Notre approche théorique articule la didactique des sciences et la didactique professionnelle avec comme cadre d’analyse des connaissances des enseignants, le concept de PCK (Pedagogical Content Knowledge), les connaissances pédagogiques liées au contenu. Nous avons élaboré une méthodologie spécifique, associant le chercheur et des binômes de professeurs, afin notamment de saisir l’écart entre la préparation des enseignements et leur mise en œuvre. A partir de cet écart nous définissons des incidents critiques qui sont la base du corpus que nous analysons. Nous identifions les connaissances en jeu, et indiquons comment le concept de PCK s’articule avec celui de schème. Lorsque les enseignants traitent d’un sujet au moyen des démarches d’investigation, ils mobilisent des types de connaissances spécifiques, et mettent en place des pratiques différentes, selon qu'ils travaillent au premier ou second degré. Nous montrons qu’il y a une relation entre ces connaissances et la régulation rétroactive de l’activité qui permet à l’enseignant d’ajuster sa préparation. Nous modélisons une forme d’acquisition d’expérience. / Our work focuses on the theme of professional knowledge mobilized by teachers in their lesson preparations and implementation in class. Our study takes place in the context of the teaching of experimental sciences. We study the knowledge of teachers and the evolutions of this knowledge. Our theoretical approach articulates science education and professional didactics; it also retains, for the analysis of teachers' knowledge, the concept of PCK (Pedagogical Content Knowledge). We have developed a specific methodology, involving the researcher and teachers organized in pairs, to observe the gap between the preparation of lessons and their implementation. From this gap, we define critical incidents: they are the basis of the corpus that we analyzed. We identify the knowledge involved, and we indicate how the concept of PCK articulates with the concept of scheme. When teachers use inquiry-based science teaching (IBST), they mobilize specific knowledge and they implement different practices, depending on their work at primary or secondary school. We show that there is a relationship between knowledge and retroactive control that allows the teacher to adjust his/her preparation. We propose a theoretical model, for a form of acquisition of professional experience.

O ensino de ciências baseado em investigação nas séries iniciais do ensino fundamental tem sido recomendado por muitos educadores, pelas academias de ciências de todo mundo e também pela Academia Brasileira de Ciências, que desenvolve o programa ABC na Educação Científica Mão na Massa. Este estudo se insere na temática de formação de formadores e foi realizado em um dos polos do programa, a Estação Ciência da Universidade de São Paulo, no projeto Mão na Massa - Iniciação Científica no Ciclo I realizado em parceria entre a Estação Ciência e a Secretaria Municipal de Educação de São Paulo (SME). O projeto teve como objetivo a implantação do ensino de ciências baseado em investigação em escolas municipais do fundamental I e envolveu dez Diretorias Regionais de Educação (DRE), cerca de oitenta escolas da SME e foi desenvolvido de 2006 a 2008. Consistiu na formação: de um formador de cada uma das Diretorias pela equipe da Estação Ciência, de um coordenador pedagógico de cada escola realizada pela Estação Ciência e pela DRE; dos professores do ensino fundamental I, que foi realizada pelos coordenadores pedagógicos na própria escola e dos alunos desses professores nas aulas de ciências. Acompanhamos e analisamos o grupo de formação continuada de formadores das Diretorias Regionais de Educação coordenado pela equipe da Estação Ciência. Realizamos pesquisa qualitativa com observação participativa dos encontros, entrevistas e análise de documentos, relatos e avaliações. A investigação e estudo da literatura mostraram que na formação continuada de formadores, está envolvida uma gama complexa de ações que requer diferentes saberes que são mobilizados durante o desenvolvimento de sequências didáticas formativas e favorecidas por estratégias que possibilitam interações dialógicas, dentre os quais destacamos: planejamento e desenvolvimento de situações de formação; conhecimento disciplinar em ciências; reflexão sobre a prática de formação e constituição de espaço coletivo e colaborativo. / Inquiry based science education for first years of schooling has been recommended by many educators, by Academies of Science of many countries, including Academia Brasileira de Ciências, which sponsors the programme ABC na Educação Científica Mão na Massa. This study of training of teacher trainers was undertaken in this program, in a joint project of the Municipal Authority for Education of the city of São Paulo with the science Center Estação Ciência of Universidade de São Paulo. The Project, Mão na Massa Iniciação Científica no Ciclo I, aimed at establishing inquiry based science education in aproximately eighty municipal elementary schools belonging to ten different Regional Education District, during the years 2006 to 2008. Training was offered by Estação Ciência to one teacher trainer in each Regional District and to a Pedagogical Coordinator of each participating school. These Pedagogical Coordinators also received training from the Regional District teacher trainer and were responsible for the training of teachers in their own school; the teachers then taught science in their classes. We followed the training work of the Estação Ciência team with the ten Regional District trainers, by qualitative research including observation and participation in meetings, interviews and examination of documents, reports and evaluations. Study of pertinent literature and the research showed that professional development for teacher trainers includes a series of complex actions which requires a variety of abilities and knowledge, which are used during training sequences and helped by strategies which favour dialogical interactions. We emphasize four of these: planning and development of training situations; understanding science concepts and practices; reflection about training practices; and establishment of an atmosphere of collective collaboration in the training group.

The thesis consists of two main parts: a theoretical one which includes a separate chapter about the Jizera Mountains as a whole, introducing their geological structure, climate, botanical and zoological species and three public figures connected with the Jizera Mountains. The second part is a practical one. The first chapter which is divided into ten sub-chapters, introduces typical vertebrates, especially those which can be included in education at primary schools and grammar schools. The next chapter mentions nature trails which are later suggested as enriching elements in zoological excursions. These must follow the official paths within the nature conservation area. Certain thought in this thesis is also given to the SPA (Special Protection Area) established to protect the black grouse and the boreal owl. The last but one chapter involves selected centres of ecological education and other organisations organising programmes focused on vertebrates. Then there is classification of primary and secondary education with emphasizing a short survey of which biology textbooks are used at primary schools around Jablonec nad Nisou. Education at secondary schools is supplemented with international researches called PISA and TIMSS serving as a base for the last chapter, which is about enquiry based...

Notre questionnement trouve sa source dans la mise en place, dans le cadre de la réforme du lycée de 2010, de l'enseignement d'exploration Méthodes et Pratiques Scientifiques (MPS) en Seconde. Cet enseignement pluridisciplinaire, visant à initier les élèves à la démarche scientifique dans le cadre d'un projet, a conduit les enseignants de mathématiques, à interroger et à modifier leurs pratiques. Nous proposons d'analyser ces changements sous l'angle des ressources et du travail des enseignants sur ces ressources. Nous mobilisons les cadres théoriques de la double approche didactique et ergonomique (Robert, 2010a ; Rogalski, 2010) et de l'approche documentaire du didactique (Gueudet et Trouche, 2010). Notre recherche est conduite à partir du suivi de professeurs de mathématiques impliqués en MPS et engagés dans différents collectifs disciplinaires et pluridisciplinaires. Ce suivi est complété par des entretiens avec les collègues des autres disciplines. Nous avons aussi effectué une étude sur l'offre des ressources disponibles pour l'un des thèmes proposés. Cette étude s'inscrit dans le programme de recherche ReVEA (Ressources Vivantes pour l'Enseignement et l'Apprentissage), soutenu par l'ANR. Notre thèse propose de montrer l'impact des ressources et de leur manque depuis la compréhension de la tâche prescrite jusqu'à la tâche effective, ainsi que celui des différents collectifs dans lesquels le professeur de mathématiques est impliqué. Elle questionne également les effets de ce travail sur le développement professionnel concernant en particulier la conception et la mise en œuvre de séances fondées sur des démarches d'investigation. / Our questioning emerges from the establishment of a new teaching, called Scientific Methods and Practices (MPS), as part of the French high school reform in 2010. This multidisciplinary teaching, which aims to initiate pupils to a scientific approach, leds mathematics teachers to question and to change their practices. We propose to analyze these changes in terms of resources and the way teachers work on these resources. We retain two approaches: the double approach didactic and ergonomic of the teaching practices (Robert, 2010a; Rogalski, 2010) and the documentational approach of didactics (Gueudet et Trouche, 2010). Our research is conducted from observations of mathematics teachers involved in MPS and engaged in different disciplinary and multidisciplinary collectives. These observations are supplemented by interviews with colleagues in other disciplines. We also performed a study of resources available for one of the themes proposed. This study is part of the research program ReVEA (Living Resources for Teaching and Learning), supported by the ANR. Our thesis aims to show the impact of resources and lack of resources from understanding the prescribed task to the effective task, and also the impact of the different collectives in which the mathematics teacher is involved. It questions as well the effects of this work on professional development, especially regarding the inquiry-based science teaching.

The primary goal of this study was to acquire an understanding of those practices that encourage the sustained use of simulations in support of inquiry-based science instruction. With the rapid distribution of Internet-related technologies in the field of education, it is most important to undertand the function of these innovations. Technology, specifically the implementation of simulations to support inquiry-based instruction, provides new educational strategies for science teachers. Technology also influences the field of education by repeatedly making some teachers' best practices obsolete. The qualitative research design was selected to explore the nature of science leaders' and teachers’ consideration or lack of consideration to incorporate simulations into their inquiry-based instruction. The method for collecting the data for this study included in-depth, semi-structured interviews. The analysis of this interview data was conducted in two phases. Phase I focused on the consensus views of the participants regarding the implementation of simulations. In order to gain a more in-depth understanding of the interview data, Phase II focused on the subtle differences among the participants regarding their execution of this instructional tool. The overall conclusion of this study was that the use of simulations requires a multi-faceted approach to ensure sustainability. As noted, science leaders must continue to encourage the high, medium and low users of simulations to implement the ongoing use of these instructional tools. Also, science teachers must do their part to ensure the success of these programs. By addressing the primary and secondary research questions, five major conclusions were reached. These conclusions include (a) the use of web-based simulations can have a positive influence on inquiry-based science instruction, (b) technology challenges have influenced the teachers’ use of simulations, (c) time influences the use of simulations, (d) ongoing professional development strategies support the sustained use of simulations, and (e) student engagement in inquiry-based science instruction is positively influenced by the use of simulations. This study concludes with suggestions for educational leaders and teachers along with further considerations for future research.