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Vol.5 , No. 4, Publication Date: Oct. 26, 2018, Page: 69-76
 was developed to offer access to a unique collection of online labs and relevant resources for this purpose. In this paper we first describe and discuss the objectives and the methodology for diffusion of online labs and of inquiry-based science teaching methods and practices across the participating European countries. Then the quantitative results and qualitative outcomes of the methods adopted are also presented and discussed in detail. The data are coming from 1000 schools with the participation of several thousand teachers and students in 15 countries across Europe and beyond. These school communities have used the Go-Lab repository for three years. The collected data and their analysis indicate that a) teachers – having access to numerous resources – are progressively adopting existing resources and finally developing their own lessons based on the inquiry approach and b) that experimentation with online labs could be effectively integrated to the existing school curricula.&picture=http://www.aascit.org/aascit/decorators/img/journal/910.jpg)
| [1] | Georgios Mavromanolakis, Research and Development Department, Ellinogermaniki Agogi, Pallini, Greece. |
| [2] | Sofoklis Sotiriou, Research and Development Department, Ellinogermaniki Agogi, Pallini, Greece. |
This paper addresses the challenge of modernizing science teaching in secondary education schools by introducing and implementing the use of online labs and inquiry learning approaches and by proposing and offering an integrated framework of methods and tools that are freely available to science teachers and educators. An advanced educational repository (Global Online Science Labs for Inquiry Learning at School - Go-Lab) was developed to offer access to a unique collection of online labs and relevant resources for this purpose. In this paper we first describe and discuss the objectives and the methodology for diffusion of online labs and of inquiry-based science teaching methods and practices across the participating European countries. Then the quantitative results and qualitative outcomes of the methods adopted are also presented and discussed in detail. The data are coming from 1000 schools with the participation of several thousand teachers and students in 15 countries across Europe and beyond. These school communities have used the Go-Lab repository for three years. The collected data and their analysis indicate that a) teachers – having access to numerous resources – are progressively adopting existing resources and finally developing their own lessons based on the inquiry approach and b) that experimentation with online labs could be effectively integrated to the existing school curricula.
Keywords
Inquiry-Based Science Education, Large-Scale Implementation in Schools, Best Practices, Communities of Practice, Online Science Labs, Inquiry Learning
Reference
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