The Swedish National Agency for Education and the Swedish School Inspectorate raised a red flag that pupils' interest in science lowered between year 4 and year 8. The purpose of this literature study was to investigate possible ways to conduct science education in a way to promote and to maintain pupils’ interest in science. This purpose led to the two research questions: - What work methods can be used to promote and maintain pupils’ interest in science? - What aspects are important in the process of selecting subject content, to promote and maintain pupils’ interest in science? Ten different studies that focused on pupils' interest in science, or lack of, in science were analysed to find solutions to the problem at hand. The results showed five topics, all of which had a positive impact on pupils' interest in science. Methods such as communicative work, inquiry-based science education and laborative work, together with aspects of subject content such as science in an everyday context, pupils' influence and pupil involvementwere all key factors to gaining pupils' interest. This study points out how work methods and teachers’ didactic choices can be used to increase pupils' interest. We further on discuss how the new Swedish curriculum may be incompatible with such work. As well as how, or if, our pupils’ interest and knowledge will be able to coexist through primary school science education.

The thesis Water is Life describes the natural science project realized over seven years at elementary school in Chrudim. The theoretical part is dedicated to comparison of the transmissive and constructive-based teaching. It also defines the terms: project, project- based teaching, projective method and research-based teaching. Further chapters deal with contrasting the project-based teaching with integrated theme-based teaching and implementation of the topic Water in the Framework Education Programme for Elementary Education. The analytical part of the thesis describes the process of realization of the Water is Life project from the methodology to the final evaluation. It also employs critical analysis of the project with emphasis on "projectivity" of the projects and necessity of following the basic criteria for the project-based teaching. The main aim of this thesis is to describe the problematic parts and the possible alterations of the described project. KEYWORDS Project teaching, cross-curricular relationships, water, project analysis, observation, inquiry-based science education

Pour de nombreux pays européens, ces dernières années ont été marquées par l’introduction des Enseignements Scientifiques Fondés sur l’Investigation (ESFI) dans les programmes scolaires. Deux objectifs sont poursuivis : offrir une image « plus conforme » de l’activité scientifique et éveiller l’intérêt des élèves en mettant l’accent sur leur rôle actif dans le processus d’apprentissage. Parallèlement à l’introduction de ces démarches, la mise en œuvre d’évaluations formatives ouvre une voie prometteuse pour répondre à ces objectifs. Elles sont en effet susceptibles de développer l’autorégulation des apprentissages des élèves et de constituer une aide pertinente pour les enseignants afin de réguler leur enseignement (Allal & Mottier Lopez, 2007 ; Clark, 2012 ; Wiliam, 2010). Cette recherche doctorale traite des impacts de différentes modalités d’évaluation formative sur l’autorégulation des apprentissages des élèves dans le cadre spécifique des ESFI. Deux enjeux ont guidé ce travail. Le premier, empirique, concernait l’analyse des pratiques évaluatives des enseignants et de leurs effets sur les processus d’autorégulation. Le second visait la mise au point d’une méthodologie qui permette d’analyser les variables étudiées. Pour ce faire, nous avons procédé par enregistrements vidéo de séances de classe et construit des grilles d’indicateurs nous permettant d’analyser les processus in situ. Différentes situations d’enseignement ont été comparées. La première correspondait aux évaluations formatives telles que les enseignants la mettent en œuvre dans leurs pratiques quotidiennes. La deuxième concernait les pratiques évaluatives mises en œuvre par les mêmes enseignants l’année suivante, après qu’un retour réflexif sur leur séance ait été conduit. Nous montrons un meilleur équilibre dans l’usage des différentes modalités d’évaluation formative dans la deuxième situation, notamment vers une plus grande responsabilisation des élèves et mise en avant des pairs en tant que ressource. Les élèves font aussi preuve d’une autorégulation de leur comportement plus efficace au regard d’un temps passé à produire des stratégies de résolution plus important et d’un meilleur engagement dans la tâche. Des manques sont néanmoins relevés quant à la façon d’intégrer formellement l’outil d’autoévaluation à l’activité des élèves. Des pistes d’action pour combiner efficacement l’évaluation aux différentes tâches d’apprentissage sont alors proposées. / Since a few years, in many European countries, Inquiry-Based Science Education (IBSE) has impacted science curriculums. Two goals are at stake: to provide an image of scientific activity more consistent with the actual activity of scientists, and to arouse students' interest by emphasizing their active role in the learning process. With the introduction of these measures, the implementation of formative assessments opens a promising way to meet these goals. They are in fact likely to develop students’ self-regulation and to provide relevant feedbacks for teachers to regulate their teaching (Allal & Mottier Lopez, 2007; Clark, 2012; Wiliam, 2010). This doctoral research focuses on the impacts of different modalities of formative assessment on students’ self-regulation in the specific context of IBSE. Two issues have guided this work. The first one, of empirical nature, aimed at analyzing the evaluation practices of teachers and their effects on the self-regulatory process. The second one was the development of a methodology to analyze the variables at stake. To do this, we proceeded by recording videos of class sessions and constructed an indicator grid which allowed us to analyze in situ process. Different teaching situations were compared. The first corresponded to formative assessments such as teachers implement it in their daily practices. The second concerned the assessment practices implemented by the same teachers the following year, after a workshop where teachers were invited to reflect on their practice. Our results show a better balance in the use of different formative assessment methods in the second situation, especially towards a greater empowerment of students and better taking account peers as resources. Students also demonstrate more efficient self-regulation of their behavior in the light of a greater time spent to produce solving strategies and a better commitment to the task. The question of how to formally integrate the self-assessment tool to student activity is still pending. Some ideas to effectively combine the evaluation with different learning tasks are thus proposed.

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.

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.

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...

The Dissertation work is focused on finding the effectivity of the inquiry-based science education of Chemistry subject at elementary schools and grammar schools concerning the topic of Chemistry process. The theoretical part proves the knowledge of inquiry-based science education (IBSE) in the 21 century, specifies the level of research, learning cycle 5E, its positives and negatives. The practical part is created by the files of methodology, particularly the methodological worksheets for teachers and worksheets for pupils as well, regarding the topic Substance Transformation for the elementary schools and for the grammar schools the topic Chemical Reactions and Chemical Equations. In the research part, there are shown the results of paedagogical research aiming at verifying the influence IBSE on to develop the higher mind operations according to Bloom taxonomy, to develop the scientific skills, as well as the survey of pupils' attitudes to this particular educational teaching process. The results obtained from the IBSE implementation and its verification performed by the cognitive tests and further by statistical evaluation, have confirmed the validity of the set hypotheses - the level of pupils' knowledge and skills has been increased, especially at weaker pupils in both degree of schools. By...