Principles and results of
La main à la pâte
1996-2011
Pierre Léna
Emeritus Professor, Université Paris Diderot
Délégation à l’éducation et la formation – Académie des sciences
Education for innovation - The Role of Arts and STEM Education
OECD-France Workshop - Paris – May 23-24, 2011
1. La main à la pâte 1996-2011
• Science & technology in school with inquiry :
– Pre-school, primary (Gr.1 to 5), middle (Gr.6-7 since 2006) ;
– Method : dissemination from pilot centers ;
• Leadership Académie des sciences + partners ;
• Focus : resources (incl. e-) for coaching teachers in service ;
• Progressive changes in science lessons :
– From < 5% (1996) to 30-40 % of classes (> 100.000 teachers) ;
– Inquiry recommended in curriculum, but variable practice.
• Assessment :
– Student : subject knowledge, competencies, motivation.
– Teacher : tools for formative assess. in classroom ; image of science.
– System : professional devt. of teachers.
• International impact : InterAcademy Panel & Academies.
2. Our principles
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Science & technology for all students (no gender issue) ;
Age range 5-13 : neuronal connectivity ; curiosity ;
Science in deep relation with language (oral & written) ;
Skills being developed :
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Learning based on understanding ;
Curiosity, observation, manipulation -> subject knowledge ;
Inquiry, questioning, hypothesis -> thinking skills ;
Writing, discussing, group work -> language & social skills ;
MISSING : connection with mathematics (-> EU project Fibonacci) ;
– Help modify the vision of science by teachers ;
• Curriculum, resources ;
• Bridge the gap between science world and school world.
5
Listening to the student’s own words …
A burning candle - Grade 5 - Ecole Jean-Moulin
( from DVD Enseigner science & technologie à l’école –English - Spanish - Chinese)
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Experiment, material, candle, beaker ….
To observe, to report ..
Hypothesis…
How to prove ? The proof…
To ask questions…. Why ?
To vary the experimental conditions… What happens if I change the bucket’s size ?
Collected data…
To measure…
Length of burning, measuring time…
Science notebook, to write…
To establish a relation…
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Sensate experienze… necessarie dimostrazioni…(Galileo)
Observing 200 classes in France
Saltiel E & Delclaux M, in press (2011)
STRUCTURING THE KNOWLEDGE
WRITING
OUT
ACTIVE PEDAGOGY MID
IN
REAL INQUIRY
SUBJECT
MATERIAL
% of TEACHERS
3. Structuring the knowledge, making sense and use of it :
big ideas in science (Harlen W et al. 2010)
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Science for all : a core knowledge ?
Ideas of science and ideas on science;
From small to big : encompassing wider ;
Doing and understanding, using evidence ;
Progression from K to 9 : cognition, abstraction ;
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from more direct to less direct evidence ;
from concrete, less abstract to more abstract ;
from single cause to multi-factor causes ;
from qualitative to quantitative, math and measure ;
modeling phenomena ;
• Towards complex problem solving & creativity.
A big idea : all the matter in the world is made of
extremely small particles
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What do we call matter ? Material ?
What do we call properties of matter ?
How do different materials combine ?
How about the changes of a given material ?
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What is matter at microscopic scale ?
How is matter holding together ?
Atoms, elements, molecules
Electrons, ions, currents
Radioactivity
• Matter in the universe….
Progressing on matter (K to 9) :
making the idea bigger
• Ladder progression ;
• Puzzle progression ;
• Spiral progression.
With inquiry pedagogy, several cognitive progressions are possible
to structure the knowledge and develop the skills,
while understanding remains present at each stage
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