SAILS
The aim of this project is to support teachers in adopting an inquiry approach in teaching science at second level (students aged 12-18 years) across Europe. This will be achieved by utilising existing resources and models for teacher education in IBSE, both pre-service and in-service. In addition to SAILS partners adopting IBSE curricula and implementing teacher education in their countries, the SAILS project will develop appropriate strategies and frameworks for the assessment of IBSE skills and competences and prepare teachers not only to be able to teach through IBSE, but also to be confident and competent in the assessment of their students‟ learning. Through this unified approach of implementing all the necessary components for transforming classroom practice, i.e. teacher education, curriculum and assessment around an IBSE pedagogy, a sustainable model for IBSE will be achieved. SAILS will provide teacher education workshops in IBSE across the twelve participating countries and promote a self-sustaining model encouraging teachers to share experiences and practice of inquiry approaches to teaching, learning and assessment by building a community of practice.
The SAILS consortium consists of fourteen partner organisations, including universities, SMEs and a multi-national organisation, from across twelve European countries. The strength of this consortium lies in its vast experience and expertise in the areas of science education, teacher training and resource development for teaching, learning and assessment.
- Dublin City University, Ireland
- Audiovisual Technologies, Informatics & Telecommunications, Belgium
- INTEL Research and Innovation Ireland Limited, Ireland
- Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Universität Hannover, Germany
- Hacettepe University, Turkey
- Instituto de Educação da Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal
- Jagiellonian University, Poland
- King's College London, United Kingdom
- Kristianstad University, Sweden
- Malmö University, Sweden
- University of Piraeus Research Centre, Greece
- University of Southern Denmark, Denmark
- University of Szeged, Hungary
- Univerzita Pavla Jozefa Safárika v Kosiciach, Slovakia
By using a pan-European approach, SAILS will ensure that the diverse practices built up in each country can be analysed and shared, resulting in the development of models of best practice. These can be used not only in all the consortium countries but will also be available for other countries to adopt. This European approach raises the standard for everyone by encouraging national implementation, and by extending and promoting innovation in science teaching and learning in the classroom.
Recent project deliverables can be found at http://www.sails-project.eu/portal/resources.
During the 2014 SAILS/SMEC joint conference, SAILS teachers presented their experiences of implementing inquiry and the assessment of inquiry. These presentations can be downloaded from the conference website at http://www.dcu.ie/smec/2014/oral.shtml