TIWI, Teaching ICT with Inquiry
The TIWI project provides a combination of ICT teaching with Inquiry-Based Science Learning (IBSL), an education technique that always begins with questions and problems. Through this combination, TIWI will provide teachers of primary and secondary schools with knowledge and tools to spark interest for ICT and STEM subjects in their students.
The main goal of the Teaching ICT with Inquiry (TIWI) project is to provide teachers with tools and skills in order to enable them, with the use of the inquiry-based approach, to teach coding – the digital language used by ICT tools and STEM subjects. The main target group includes in-service teachers of upper primary (9-11 y.o. students) and secondary (12-19 y.o.) students. Various possibilities are also given to future teachers (pre-service training) to participate in this project.
TIWI will help upper primary and secondary educators to:
- Gain new skills and be in a position to teach coding efficiently to their students, with the help of examples from STEM subjects;
- Become comfortable in using the inquiry-based approach and interactive tools in their teaching for learning by doing;
- Implement inquiry-based activities in classrooms all over Europe;
Moreover, the project will provide teachers and their students with self-assessment instruments that will allow them to take control of their personal development and their students’ further learning. Teachers will also be provided with student-targeted career material – role model profiles of ICT professionals that teachers will be able to use as prompts in order to demonstrate to their students the richness, variety and skills needed for pursuing successful ICT-related careers.
The acquisition of new skills by teachers and the introduction of new teaching ideas through TIWI is expected to affect the level of students’ engagement and overall motivation for ICT and STEM.
Basic information
Intellectual Output 5 (IO5), is a blueprint on the successful use of inquiry in teaching ICT. It is the final report to be published under Scientix at the end of the project. The blueprint will present research outcomes of the detailed surveys distributed among 80 focus teachers, through which we will assess the impact of the proposed method of learning ICT on 80 classes involved in the activities’ implementation. In this publication, the advantages and examples of successful implementation of Inquiry-Based Science Learning (IBSL) for programming classes will be discussed.
The pre- and post-implementation surveys will be distributed among 80 focus teachers from Lithuania, Cyprus, France and Spain (20 teachers per country) during the multiplier events (as a part of IO2) taking place in the respective countries. The blueprint will be based on a response analysis and will summarise recommendations to educational authorities and policy makers. This publication will also include the four case studies based on testimonials from teachers – winners of the European competition organised as a part of IO2.
There are four Intellectual Outputs (IOs) directly targeted at teachers:
- IO1: Massive Open Online Course “Teaching ICT with Inquiry”
- IO2: Development and implementation of learning activities
- IO3: Careers presenting future jobs in the ICT field
- IO4: Self-assessment questionnaire about the use of inquiry for teaching programming
- IO5: Blueprint on the successful use of inquiry in teaching ICT
IO1, the Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) “Teaching ICT with Inquiry”, consists of 4 modules with a peer-review final activity, which will be developed and offered in English to ICT and STEM teachers (both in-service and pre-service). The MOOC will equip participants with basic knowledge of programming languages (Scratch and Python) and data spreadsheets (Excel) that allow students to collect big data and manipulate it, the understanding of basic learning scenarios of IBSL and how to implement them in classroom activities, career advice to motivate students and explain to them the possibilities of STEM- and ICT-related jobs.
IO2, the development and implementation of learning activities, will be based on various learning scenarios of IBSL and become ready-to-use material available for everyone who teaches STEM, and ICT in particular. A number of learning activities designed by teachers for teachers and for students will be produced at the end of the MOOC (IO1) by focus teachers in Lithuania, Cyprus, France and Spain.
IO3, Careers presenting future jobs in the ICT field, is a series of ten career articles (career sheets) featuring ICT and STEM role models, which will be prepared in order to explain to students (especially teenagers) what their future ICT job may look like. Every article will contain exhaustive information about the career path, the education needed and the possible career trails a person can follow. These articles will aim at encouraging and inspiring children to learn more about computers and programming.
IO4, the self-assessment questionnaire about the use of inquiry for teaching programming, constitutes a short online self-assessment questionnaire for teachers and students. It can be used to independently assess a level of competence before the classroom implementation and assess acquired knowledge after the activities’ implementation. In order to evaluate the quality of understanding of the subject matter and student’ engagement in learning to program and work with data, there will be two self-assessment questionnaires – for students and for teachers – to be used before (pre-questionnaire) and after (post-questionnaire) classroom implementation.
Finally, the blueprint will present research outcomes of the detailed surveys distributed among 80 focus teachers, through which we will assess the impact of the proposed method of learning ICT on 80 classes involved in the activities implementation. In this publication, the advantages and examples of successful implementation of IBSL for programming classes will be discussed. The pre- and post-implementation surveys will be distributed among 80 focus teachers from Lithuania, Cyprus, France, and Spain (20 teachers per country) during the multiplier events (as a part of IO2) taking place in the respective countries. The teachers will be asked to respond to the detailed evaluation survey prior and after the activity implementation in their classes, providing their opinion on what went well and which possible difficulties they faced during piloting of activities. The blueprint will be based on responds’ analysis and summarise the recommendations to educational authorities and policy makers. This publication will also include the four case studies based on testimonials from teachers – winners of the European competition organised as a part of IO2.
