comblab, montserrat tortosa

The acquisition of science competencies through ICT real-time experiments

Ref. 517587-LLP-1-2011-1-ES-COMENIUS-CMP

Montserrat Tortosa (COMBLAB coordinator, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona)

Brussels 26th October 2014

1. Generalities

2. Specific needs that COMBLAB addresses

3. Project objectives and outcomes obtained

4. Final remarks: beyond COMBLAB

PARTICIPANTS: 6 universities from five EU countries

Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (Montserrat Tortosa, Esther Rasal)

Spain

Charles University in Prague (Petr Smejkal, Eva Stratilová-Urvalková, PavelTeply)

CzechRepublic

PH-NOE- Vienna (Hildegard Urban –Woldron) Austria

Universitat de Barcelona (Fina Guitart, Carme Artigas) Spain

University of Helsinki (Maija Aksela, Simo Tolvanen, PäiviKousa)

Finland

Bel Matej University (Marek Skorsepa) Slovakia

1. GeneralitiesCOMBLAB (COmpetency Microcomputer Based LABoratory)EU Comenius project. From Jan 2012- Dec 2014 Ref. 517587-LLP-1-2011-1-ES-COMENIUS-CMP

Real time experiments

What are they and what are they useful for?ICT Technology MBL : Microcomputer based laboratory . MBL. Thornton, 1990

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ICT Technology MBL : Microcomputer based laboratory

- It improves understanding of graphs (Mokros & Tinker, 1987; McDermott et al., 1987; Brasell, 1987; Testa et al., 2002 ).- MBL is a tool, a good pedagogical approach is needed (Pintó & Aliberas, 1996)

- High order learning skills can be enhanced using MBL (Aksela, 2005)

There is agreement (Rocard et al., 2007) that inquiry is a good way of presenting laboratory work, and to improve scientific literacy.

-Supporting students learning with MBL- Research-based frameworks for practice in MBL activities have been proposed (Pintó et al, 2010 ; Tortosa, 2012).

• - It is necessary that students see the point of what they are doing, so that the process of teaching and learning probably makes more sense to them (Lijnse, 2004)

Real time experiments

What are they and what are they useful for?

2. Specific needs that COMBLAB addresses

Teachers: some do no knowHow to use in an efficient way

Classroom:Short time of data capture,

It leaves time that can be usedFor competencial activities

Students:Sensors exist in

Real life/jobsHave to be capable to

workwith them

Students: low achievement of scientific competencies

Teaching materials: no common frameworkMBL

Researchers and policy-makersNew evidences

3. The objectives of COMBLAB are to…

1) Obtain research based teaching materials to enhance students ‘acquisition of science competencies through ICT real time experiments.

2) Obtain research based teacher training materials to enhance the mentioned competencies. As ICT real time experiments are a new technology, few teacher training materials are available, and in the project we aim to develop such materials.

3) Share within the consortium and to disseminate the outcomes in a public website and in the future in national and international conferences and journals.

4) Create a community of teachers/researchers from different countries of the consortium to exchange experiences and good practices in the field. To contact with existing communities.

5) Create synergies with national and local education authorities of each of the countries of the consortium to promote that the use of the outcomes of the project is taken into account both in initial and continuous teacher training..

3.The objectives of COMBLAB are to…

A New research based framework for MBL has

been created (contextualized, IBSE, student

centered, enhance design of experiments,

interpretation and communication of results).


Student’s activities created:

8 Physics activities8 Biology activities14 Chemistry activities

+ Teacher guides

Work curricular concepts

Not possible without MBL equipment

3.The objectives of COMBLAB are to…


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Some examples…

Coal powerWhy burning coal can produce acid rain?


Examples

Results, variation of water pH whensulphur is burnt on waterCoal power

Why burning coal can produce acid rain?


Can oceans save us of climate change? Design of experiments byStudents (Rubí, Barcelona)

Examples


Examples


How a radar knows the speed of a car?

Guided inquiry to modelize the situationHow should we move to obtain this graph?

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1)Obtener materiales de aula basados en la investigación que mejoren en el alumnado la competencia científica mediante experimentos en tiempo real.

Why plants do not grew in thisgreenhouse made with green glass?

Chlorophyll absorbs radiation of thesame wavelenght than the one

absorbed by the green glass

Examples


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The best antacidExpected results: teacher’s guide


Examples

1)Obtener materiales de aula basados en la investigación que mejoren en el alumnado la competencia científica mediante experimentos en tiempo real.


New designed activities:

Inquiry based (IBSE)

Are Contextualized

Competencies of design of experiments andevaluation of results areenhanced

Could not be madewithout sensors

Are curriculum-based

Examples

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Design of worksheets

Revision(other

researcher)

First version(English)

Translationlocal

languages

1st Implementation

2012-2013

Revised version

2nd Implementation

2013-2014

http://comblab.uab.cat/Data on students/teachers

Possible new adaptations(teachers)

Creative Commons LicenseNon comercial, quoting the original

4. Validation of students’ activities: collaborative work in five EU countries

http://comblab.uab.cat/

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Two main lines of research in COMBLAB

Motivation,

Perception of capacities

Do studentsunderstandthe activity?


It is necessary that students see the point of what they are doing, so that the process of teaching and learning probably makes more sense to them (Lijnse, 2004)

Motivational and cognitive factors interact in complex ways to lead learning (Schunk, 2005)Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ) Pintrich et al, 1991)


COMBLAB

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Methods

First ImplementationsN = 865 secondary and high school students in five countries (Austria, Czech Republic, Finland, Slovakia and Spain).

After implementation students answered a post-questionnaire on the activitiesTo evaluate quality of the first version of activities, analysis of students answers to four questions is presented: a) The instructions were clear to me (item 2)b) I needed my teacher’s help to understand the activity (item 5)c) Do you understand the objectives of the activity? (Item 6)

d) List the objectives of the activity. (Item 7)

e) MBL approach helped me to interpret the results correctly.(Item 11)

f) Which parts of the activity did you like the most? Why?

g) Which parts of the activity did you find more difficult? Why?

d) The activity could have been done without MBL equipment.(Item 14)

a, c, and d: four-level Likert scale ranging from 1: strongly agree; 4: strongly disagree

4.Validating students’ materials…

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Partner Country Physics Chemistry Biology Total

UAB Spain 46 S 186 S -- 232

CU Czech

Rep

-- 126 U 76 S 202

UW Austria 40 S/U -- -- 40

UB Spain 98 S 83 S -- 181

UH Finland -- 168 S/U -- 168

UMB Slovakia -- 42 U -- 42

Total 184 605 76 865

First Implementations (October 2012-June 2013)Number of students who have implemented the first version of activities

S: school U: University

Methods and samples


COMBLAB

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Methods

• Descriptive analyses

• Statistical analyses of mean

• Analysis of frequencies

• Comparative analysis (subject, country, age, gender).

Significance is determined based on Kurskal- Wallis test or based on Mann-Whitney U test. (significant level 0,05),

4.Validating students’ materials…

COMBLAB Researches on students learningand motivation

91.6 % of students say that they understand the objectives of the activities.

54.7 % of the students mention correctly the objectives of the activities

Students understand the activity but they need their teachers’ help: teachers are a key factor

91.4 % of students say that MBL helps them to interpret the results

There is a strong relationship between students‘ perceptions of their motivational orientations prior and after performing the MBL-activity

Self-reported perceptions of motivational orientations only partially depend on gender but much more on the particular MBL-activity

COMBLAB Researches: How to scaffold teachers to implement MBL

Results support the requirement for science and inquiry PCK in curriculum material (Davis and Krajcik 2005) and support with technology (Gerard et al. 2011)

Additional focus on teachers own inquiry skills is also needed.

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Some of COMBLAB Publications

ŠMEJKAL, P., STRATILOVÁ URVÁLKOVÁ, E., TEPLÝ, P., SKORŠEPA, M., TORTOSA MORENO, M.: Koncepce úlohy pro školní měřicí systém s využitím prvků badatelsky orientovaného vyučování. In: Zborník z medzinárodnej konferencie “Súčasnosť a perspektívy didaktiky chémie III, Donovaly 2013”.Banská Bystrica : Fakulta prírodných vied UMB, 2013. s. 90-96.

TORTOSA, M., ŠMEJKAL, P., STRATILOVÁ-URVÁLKOVÁ, E., URBAN-WOLDRON, H., GUITART, F. AKSELA, M., TOLVANEN, S., SKORŠEPA, M.: Real-timeExperiments to Enhance Chemistry Competences in Secondary Students. In: 12th European Conference on Research in Chemistry Education(ECRICE 2014, Jyväskylä, Finland). Jyväskylä : University of Jyväskylä, 2014, ISBN 978-951-39-5744-5, p. 45.

SKORŠEPA, M.: Ako „uhasiť“ pálenie záhy – príklad školského chemického experimentu s podporou výpočtovej techniky. In: Biológia, ekológia, chémia. roč. 16, 2012, č. 3-4, s. 8-11.

SKORŠEPA, M., TORTOSA, M.: Faktory ovplyvňujúce motivačnú orientáciu žiakov v počítačom podporovanom laboratóriu. In: Acta UniversitatisMatthiae Belii, ser. chem. 2014, č. 15, (in press).

STRATILOVÁ URVÁLKOVÁ, E., ŠMEJKAL, P., TEPLÝ, P., SKORŠEPA, M., TORTOSA MORENO, M.: MBL activites using IBSE: Learning Biology in Context. In: Proceedings of 6th international Conference on Research in Didactics of the Science. Krakow, 2014. (in press)

SKORŠEPA, M., TORTOSA, M.: Čiastková štúdia z overovania nových aktivít pre počítačové prírodovedné laboratórium. In: Acta Universitatis MatthiaeBelii, ser. chem. 2014, č. 15, (in press).

SKORŠEPA, M., TORTOSA MORENO, M., URBAN-WOLDRON, H., STRATILOVÁ URVÁLKOVÁ, E.: Implementácia aktivít do vyučovania v počítačom podporovanom laboratóriu na stredných školách. In: Zborník z medzinárodnej konferencie “Súčasnosť a perspektívy didaktiky chémie III, Donovaly 2013”. Banská Bystrica : Fakulta prírodných vied UMB, 2013. s. 78-83.

ŠMEJKAL, P., STRATILOVÁ URVÁLKOVÁ, E., SKORŠEPA, M.: iPad and iPhone – Alternativní způsob sběru dat při měření školním experimentálním systémem PASCO – postoje a názory žáků. In: Zborník z medzinárodnej konferencie “Aktuálne trendy vo vyučovaní prírodných vied, Smolenice2012”. Trnava : Pedagogická fakulta Trnavskej univerzity, 2012. s. 195-201.

SKORŠEPA, M., ŠMEJKAL, P.: Rozvoj kompetencií študentov a učiteľov prostredníctvom reálnych počítačom podporovaných experimentov vovyučovaní prírodných vied. In: Zborník z medzinárodnej konferencie “Aktuálne trendy vo vyučovaní prírodných vied, Smolenice 2012”. Trnava : Pedagogická fakulta Trnavskej univerzity, 2012. s. 256-262.

TOLVANEN, S, AKSELA, M., GUITART MAS, J., WOLDRON-URBAN: Research-based future science teacher training on using ICT- enhanced inquiry activities. In C. P. Constantinou, N. Papadouris & A. Hadjigeorgiou (Eds.), E-Book Proceedings of the ESERA 2013 Conference: Science Education Research For Evidence-based Teaching and Coherence in Learning. Part 4. Nicosia, Cyprus : European Science Education Research Association. 2013, pp. 181-190. ISBN: 978-9963-700-77-6.

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Some of COMBLAB Publications

TORTOSA MORENO, M., GUITART MAS, J., SKORŠEPA, M., URBAN-WOLDRON, H., STRATILOVÁ URVÁLKOVÁ, E., ŠMEJKAL, P.: Los objetivos de actividades de laboratorio diseñadas para la adquisición de competencia científica mediante experimentos en tiempo real: visión del alumnado. Enseñanza de las ciencias. (num. extra), 2013, pp. 3547-3553. ISSN 0212-4521.

GUITART MAS, F., TORTOSA MORENO, M., AKSELA, M., TOLVANEN, S.: Diseño e implementación de propuestas de formación basadas en la investigación didáctica para promover la utilización de actividades mbl centradas en la adquisición de competencias científicas. Enseñanza de las Ciencias 2013; : 1708-1713.

TORTOSA MORENO, M., SKORŠEPA, M., GUITART MAS, J., WOLDRON-URBAN, H., AKSELA M., TOLVANEN, S., STRATILOVÁ URVÁLKOVÁ, E., ŠMEJKAL, P.: Design of research-based lab sheets for the acquisition of science competencies using ICT real-time experiments. Do students get the point of what they are doing? In C. P. Constantinou, N. Papadouris & A. Hadjigeorgiou (Eds.), E-Book Proceedings of the ESERA 2013 Conference: Science Education Research For Evidence-based Teaching and Coherence in Learning. Part 4. Nicosia, Cyprus : European Science Education Research Association. 2013, pp. 12-20. ISBN: 978-9963-700-77-6.

WOLDRON-URBAN, H., TORTOSA MORENO, M., SKORŠEPA, M.: Implementing learning with sensors in science education: Students’ motivational orientations toward using MBL. In C. P. Constantinou, N. Papadouris & A. Hadjigeorgiou (Eds.), E-Book Proceedings of the ESERA 2013 Conference: Science Education Research For Evidence-based Teaching and Coherence in Learning. Part 4. Nicosia, Cyprus : European Science Education Research Association. 2013, pp. 165-171. ISBN: 978-9963-700-77-6.

GUITART MAS, F.; STRATILOVA URVALKOVA, E,; SMEJKAL, P.; TORTOSA MORENO, M.. Analysis of students questionnaires after implementation of research-based activities on the acquisition of science competencies using sensors to real classrooms. In: Constantinos P. Constantinou, NicosPapadouris, Angela Hadjigeorgiou. Science Education Research For Evidence-based Teaching and Coherence in Learning Proceedings of the ESERA 2013 Conference. 1 ed. Al Isma'iliyah: ESERA; 2013.

SKORŠEPA, M., STRATILOVÁ URVÁLKOVÁ, E., ŠMEJKAL, P., TORTOSA MORENO, M., URBAN-WOLDRON, H.: Activities with sensors in laboratory of biology: Students’ motivation and understanding the results. In: Proceedings of 6th international Conference on Research in Didactics of the Science.Krakow, 2014. (in press)

SKORŠEPA, M., TORTOSA, M.: What do pre-service and in-service teachers think of education in computer based lab? In: Science and technology education for the 21st century. Proceedings of the 9th IOSTE Symposium for Central and Eastern Europe. Hradec Králové : Gaudeamus, 2014, pp. 183-195. ISBN 978-80-7435-416-8.

STRATILOVÁ URVÁLKOVÁ, E., ŠMEJKAL, P., TEPLÝ, P., SKORŠEPA, M., TORTOSA MORENO, M., URBAN-WOLDRON, H.: New IBSE oriented activities for biology – design and evaluation. In: Science and technology education for the 21st century. Proceedings of the 9th IOSTE Symposium for Central and Eastern Europe. Hradec Králové : Gaudeamus, 2014, pp. 247-285. ISBN 978-80-7435-416-8.


2) Obtain research based teacher training materials to enhance the mentioned competencies. As ICT real time experiments are a new technology, few teacher training materials are available, and in the project we aim to develop such materials.

Actions made to scaffold teachers:- Local groups de of implementation of activities

- Future teachers (Master for future teachers UB, UH)

- In service teachers (training course, piloted April 2014, Barcelona).

Actions made to scaffold teachers:- Local groups de of implementation of activities

- Future teachers (Master for future teachers UB, UH)

- In service teachers: (a training course has been designed, piloted April 2014 in Barcelona; May 2014 in Helsinki; October 2014 in Prague).


3) Share within the consortium and to disseminate the outcomes in a public website and in national and international conferences and journals.

http://comblab.uab.cat

http://comblab.uab.cat/



5) Create synergies with national and local education authoritiesof each of the countries of the consortium to promote that the use of the outcomes of the project is taken into account both in initial and continuous teacher training.

Comblab has been included in Scientix, and in Stencil databases

4. Beyond COMBLAB…

Local groups of teachersStudents

Other people involved

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Acknowledgements

Teachers and students who have implemented the activities

Project: 517587-LLP-1-2011-1-ES-COMENIUS-CMP.

Thank you for your attention

[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]