Session Information
Contribution
In the European project CROSSNET partners from seven countries are working on boundary crossing in school-based science teacher education. Each participating country conducts case studies in cooperation with teachers from selected schools. Partners work in two related groups: one with the focus on boundary crossing in science teaching and the other on new approaches in science teacher education. Boundary crossing in education defines new paths for teaching and learning beyond traditional subjects in school (Radits & Rauch, 2004). Boundaries of school subjects can be viewed as social or cultural artefacts of human endeavour (Tuomi-Gröhn, & Engeström, 2003; Aikenhead, 1996). They are defined in a system of educational knowledge with an outer rim and an environment. Boundary objects are tools for boundary crossing of diverse communities in educational practice (Star & Griesemer, 1989). They are key elements of innovation for subject areas, school profiles or competencies for teaching and learning. They should be robust enough to maintain common identity across sites. They have different meanings in different social worlds but their structure is common enough to more than one world to make them recognizable. A main goal of the project is to support, enhance and document innovation in teacher professional development viewed as boundary crossing. It implies the development of innovative curricula, conduct of case studies, documentation and analysis of examples about good practice, organisation of a discourse with different educational stakeholders in a Curriculum Policy Workshop (CPW), and improvement of cooperation in science education and teacher professional development.In national partner projects case studies are conducted about boundary crossing, an evolving paradigm of educational theory. This situation suggests explorative and inductive rather than deductive research approaches. The case studies are inquiries with multiple sources of evidence that investigate a phenomenon within its real-life context when the boundaries between phenomenon and context are not clearly evident. Topics are about Biology in context, standards, interdisciplinary teaching, enhancing language awareness in science teaching, use of videos as tools, relating school science, real science and student perceptions, extramural learning, mentoring for innovation und leadership and ICT in Chemistry education. For each case study a set of three schools with three science teachers from an innovative project about teacher professional development are selected.The case studies provide an open framework for qualitative and quantitative research. They help to develop new perspectives for national projects by clarifying the local context, elaborating border crossing activities and establishing collaborative networks. They support practitioner research that can be immediately fed back to teachers, teacher educators and schools. Their design and results will be compiled in a document for preparation of a Curriculum Policy Workshop (CPW). This workshop is defined by a key question about innovation in teacher professional development and criteria about the selection of a group of participants, generally agreed discourse rules, a schedule and expected outcomes. These outcomes are summarized in a document for practical use in school based planning, justified by empirical results of case studies and a related political discourse.Tuomi-Gröhn, T.& Engeström, Y.(2003) (eds.) Between School and Work: new perspectives on transfer and boundary-crossing. Amsterdam: Pergamon/EARLI. Aikenhead, G. S. (1996) Science Education: Border Crossing into the Subculture of Science. Studies in Science Education, 27, pp. 1-52. Radits, F. & Rauch F. (2004) Das Wissen der Kulturlandschaftsforschung in der Lehrer/-innenbildung - Berichte und Reflexionen zu Grenzüberschreitungen. pp. 115-125. In: Krainz-Dürr, M., Enzinger, H. & Schmoczer M. (eds).Grenzen überschreiten in Bildung und Schule. Klagenfurt: Drava. Star, S. L. & Griesemer, J., L. (1989) Institutional Ecology, 'Translations' and Boundary Objects: Amateurs and Professionals in Berkeley's Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, 1907-39. Social Studies of Science 19, pp 387-420.
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