Abstracts - Earli

enacting science inquiry, and to investigations of effects of science teaching on student learning.The presentations refer to science teaching in four countries, namely USA, Czech Republic,Switzerland, and Germany. Through presenting the findings of these studies beyond TIMSS wehope to stimulate the discussion about three aspects: What do we know about science teaching andscience inquiry practices? What are research questions still to be tackled? What are researchdesigns and approaches to describe science teaching practices internationally?The Structure of Physics Instruction in the Czech Republic: The research approach and resultsform CPV video studyTomas Janik, Masaryk University, Czech RepublicMarcela Mikova, Masaryk University, Czech RepublicPetr Najvar, Masaryk University, Czech RepublicIn the TIMSS video studies, Czech pupils failed to meet the expectations in various areasincluding scientific literacy. This fact alone calls for further research aiming at science teachingpractices in Czech classrooms including country-specific didactic approaches. This presentationdeals with physics instruction in the Czech Republic. In the CPV video study of Physics projectthat was carried out at the Educational Research Centre of the Masaryk University in Brno, CzechRepublic, the video study approach was employed. 62 lower secondary school physics lessonswere videotaped and analysed regarding the concepts of "opportunities to learn" and "lessonstructure". The project aimed at finding out what opportunities to learn physics teaching offers,what the structure of physics instruction is and in which ways the content of physics teaching isrepresented. The project was designed as a comparative study, which is seen as a powerful tool ininquiring into formalised and taken-for-granted instructional procedures. The findings were foundconsistent with the findings of the TIMSS 1999 Video Study showing that physics instruction inCzech schools is largely teacher-centred, allowing considerably less time for pupils’ individualwork or group work. Teaching phases in which the content is practised or applied are often found,whereas those employing motivation or metacognition appear rarely. We hope the presentedresults of the CPV video study of Physics project will stimulate discussion about improving thequality of science teaching practices in the Czech Republic and internationally.Learning and teaching physics: Results of a Swiss video studyBirte Knierim, PH Bern, SwitzerlandMartina Bruggmann, PH Bern, SwitzerlandPeter Labudde, PH Bern, SwitzerlandTwo periods of physics instruction on ‘force’ or ‘geometrical optics’ were videotaped in 40 grade9 classes during school year 2003/04. The videos were then transcribed and analysed by applyingdifferent coding schemes, looking at organisation of classroom activities, quality of classwork,role and function of experiments and basic structures of the instructional process. Three studentquestionnaires, implemented at the beginning and the end of the school year and right after thevideotaped lessons, as well as a teacher questionnaire yielded further data. The video dataindicates that the time spent on student work (67%) is twice as much than the time of plenuminstruction (33%). During plenum phases, lecturing dominates (60% of the 33%), while group andpartner work dominate during student work (45% and 22% of 67%). About two thirds of thelesson time is devoted to experiments, performed in group or individual work (54% of theexperiments), demonstrations by the teachers (25%) or by the students (21%). This data of thevideo analysis is consistent with the data of the teacher questionnaires: Teachers responded thatthey are dedicated to a more student-oriented instruction. They try to simplify complex facts for– 147 –