disseminating inquiry-based science and ... - Fibonacci-Project

18 FIBONACCI CONFERENCE 2012 ∙ THURSDAY 26 TH APRIL: 2.00PM – 2.45PM
2.00pm – 2.45pm
Hospitality Lounge
Acceptance of IBSE method among children, teachers and students
on the university and society
Dragana Milidid 1 ,Marija Bošnjak 2 ,Stanko Cvjetidanin 2 , Biljana Jovanov 3 ,Tatjana Markovid –
Topalovid 4 Ljiljana Jokid 5 , Dušanka Obadovid 6 and Stevan Jokid 7
1 Faculty for Biology, 2 Pedagogical Faculty-Sombor, 3 Primary School- Zrenjanin, 4 High Medical School-
Šabac, 5 AKM Edukacija, 6 Faculty of Natural Science-University od Novi Sad , 7 Vinča Institu-University
of Belgrade
Having in mind how science is presented in Serbian schools and the bad results of our students on
the PISA test, we have tried to change this situation by introducing hands-on and now IBSE methods
in science education, by developing, in 2001, individually and by support of the Serbian Physical
Society and collaboration with French Academy of Sciences. We have taken account of the
experience of: USA with Hands-on, France with La main à la pâte, Sweden with NCF, China Learning
by doing, England with XXI Century Science etc., The academicians Pierre Léna and Yves Quéré, and
French team “La main à la pâte” have been of particular help.
In 2003, the Serbian Ministry of Education decided to put forward an optional course “Hands on -
Discovering the World” for children from 6 to 8 years old. Approximately 7-10 % schools, i.e. 300
classes, 6 000 to 8 000 children and 300 teachers are involved. Our strategy was, in the first place,
scientific literacy for all children by creation of different resources for teachers. This idea in Serbia
was a new one and we did not have, at the beginning, strong support. For that reason we have
decided to translate as many of the books as possible for teachers and parents created by the La
main à la pâte team. Thus we fulfilled two minimum conditions: by translation, we have started
communication among French and Serbian scientific-educational community; and are developing
good scientific and educational material. About 20 books have been translated.
The website http://rukautestu.vinca.rs, the semi-mirror of the French one (www.inrp.fr/lamap), in
use (in Serbian) from the end of 2008, contains about 2 500 pages. Teachers can find many important
resources such as By the Foots of Eratosthenes, European discoveries, Greenwave-the signs of spring;
pedagogical documents about bridging from elementary to low secondary school such as Integral
teaching of science. The pedagogical projects make the interdisciplinary approach possible as well as
participation of our teachers and students in different internationals activities.
Over the past five years we have completed workshops (8h) with about 3 000 preschool and primary
school teachers all over Serbia. We have also created specific resources for the classroom, including
material kits and guidelines for teachers. At the end of 2010, 15 “Experimental Rooms” all over
Serbia were supplied with kits which give teachers a model of research and enable inquiry-based
processes to be implemented in a convenient place with convenient tools.
Five years after the optional subject Hands-on Discovering of the World had been introduced in our
educational system, an analysis was carried out in order to determine the extent and the way this
subject was taught by the 137 teachers from 16 schools of one District. The questionnaire showed
Fibonacci Conference, University of Leicester