New Perspectives in Science Education

TEMI (Teaching Enquiry with Mysteries Incorporated) is a 3½ year FP7 Science and Society project which focuses on improving science teaching practice across Europe through innovative, inquiry-based professional development workshops. The key idea behind TEMI is to explore with teachers how to use mysteries as a means of engaging students in the inquiry process. There are 13 partners involved in this EU project and the University of Limerick (UL) represent the Irish partners (see website http://teachingmysteries.eu/en/). 8 of the project partners will work with 5 or 6 cohorts of science teachers in a series of inquiry-based science education workshops. In the intervening time between the workshops teachers are encouraged to trial prepared TEMI lesson ideas in their schools, which are based on the national curricula, and are encouraged to develop lessons themselves based on these ideas.

TEMI is now into its second year and all partners have had the opportunity to run their pilot workshops with their first cohort of teachers. One of the unique aspects of the UL team’s contribution to TEMI has been the involvement of pre-service science teachers (PSSTs) in the project. The UL team have been working closely with a number of pre-service science teachers, for the past year and a half, in preparing for the teacher workshops. 4 PSSTs were involved in the first round (2013-14) and 5 in the second round (2014-15). The PSSTs have been developing TEMI classroom materials for the project as part of their Final Year Research Projects (FYRP). [The FYRP is a compulsory requirement in most undergraduate courses in the UL where PSST research a topic of their choice in depth in their final year of study]. To date, the UL TEMI team now have a bank of over 30 developed, trialled and evaluated TEMI lessons in Physics, Chemistry and Biology, aimed at both lower and upper secondary science classes. The PSSTs have also played a crucial role in the TEMI teacher training workshops. They have acted as mentors to the in-service science teachers at the workshops and have facilitated them in sourcing and developing TEMI lesson ideas.

Not only has the PSSTs’ involvement in the TEMI project resulted in a considerable amount of TEMI lessons being prepared to kick-start the project in Ireland, it has also proved to be a beneficial learning experience for the PSSTs themselves. It is worth noting that in addition to the PSSTs developing TEMI materials for their FYRPs,  all fourth year science education PSSTs were offered a 3 hour workshop in the University of Limerick to introduce them to the TEMI model before they went out on their final school placement .31 students attended the workshop. Details of the extent of the PSSTs’ role in the TEMI project and the value of including them in the project will be outlined clearly in the paper.