Final Report Summary - MIND THE GAP (Mind the Gap: Learning, Teaching, Research and Policy in Inquiry-Based Science Education) Ideas of good practice in science teaching are abundant throughout Europe, including those which support the use of Inquiry Based Science Teaching (IBST). The project has gathered many of these ideas together for exchange and dissemination in seven European countries: England, France, Germany, Norway, Spain, Denmark and Norway. We have contributed to the knowledge base about teacher professional development by examining the national structures for professional development in participating countries. We have examined what is meant by inquiry based science teaching in national frameworks, school documents and classrooms in participating countries. We have examined the types of science teaching that may help to promote inquiry based science teaching, including the use of argumentation, the use of ICT and the connections of IBST to scientific literacy. Finally we have examined models for the implementation of science teacher professional development in seven European countries. Looking into classrooms in Europe through video analysis, we found that many science lessons seemed to lack a repertoire of teaching activities promoting IBST. Inquiry based science teaching is at the heart of the scientific method - it is what scientists do to understand the natural world by asking questions, by collecting data, making predictions, testing out ideas and making conclusions. Teaching science that demonstrates how science really works, rather than just telling what we know is not impossible to achieve in school science, but it requires that teachers accept ideas of inquiry and scientific thinking when framing their lessons. Generally, inquiry based science teaching (IBST) may be characterised by activities that pay attention to engaging students in: - Authentic and problem based learning activities where there may not be a correct answer - A certain amount of experimental procedures, experiments and "hands-on" activities, including searching for information - Self regulated learning sequences where student autonomy is emphasised - Discursive argumentation and communication with peers ("talking science") The project recognised the importance of working directly with teachers and teacher educators for implementing change in science teaching. Based on the successful SINUS project for teacher professional development in Germany, we have further developed modules for teachers to use in school based programs of development. The deliverables from the entire project are available at the web site: http://www.uv.uio.no/english/research/projects/mindingthegap/Deliverables/index.html The project started an important conversation in Europe about the need to implement school based science teacher professional development. In all of our countries, political leaders and science educators are now working together with classroom teachers to change the way science is being taught. The inquiry based approach to science teaching is making its way from theory into classroom practice as we continue to MIND THE GAP! For change to occur at the classroom level, governments need to have a strong commitment to teacher professional development and the prioritizing of science in schools. And ownership in the process of change needs to be based within the teaching profession by giving schools the structures they require for school based professional development. When schools and teachers also have the opportunity to work with research institutions, we MIND THE GAP between theory and practice. The members of the project continue to work together, now as a part of the S-TEAM consortium. https://www.ntnu.no/wiki/display/steam/SCIENCE-TEACHER+EDUCATION+ADVANCED+METHODS An overview report on the national policies and frameworks for IBST was produced to provide the overarching structure of the MIND THE GAP project. By going into depths of IBST frameworks, the report aims to lift up and disseminate the key ideas in IBST. Key questions addressed in the project include: How is IBST defined in the different national policies? How does IBST contribute to overall scientific literacy? How does IBST "fit" into national educational policies? How should we understand the role of the teacher, the student, the curriculum and assessment when using IBST? What are the affordances and the disadvantages of IBST? What is the relevance of and evidence for using IBST for promoting girls' participation in science? How, and in what sense might IBST acknowledge and allow for cultural diversity as formulated in national policies? The report was able to identify and evaluate policies and frameworks of IBST across national and cultural contexts from seven participating countries. Our intention has been to pursue this aim in two interrelated but distinct areas. First, attending to national curricula policies and frameworks of IBST as represented by all selected partners. Secondly by using existing video documentation from three of the partners (Norway, Germany and France) to demonstrate what is and what might be within current practices of secondary science teaching. The rapid pace of technological change and sweeping globalisation has replaced the former focus on content knowledge with an emphasis on broad general science education. At the same time, the growing importance of scientific issues in our daily lives demands an insight in science and a willingness to engage in the socio-scientific debate on an informed basis. The ability to do this is often captured by the concept of scientific literacy. In order to make students able to use and communicate their knowledge also outside the school setting, and in order to prepare them for citizenship and lifelong learning, the traditional transmissive teaching style is replaced by a more interpretive one. In this context, IBST is seen as a relevant teaching approach. By focusing on the students' own questions and their ability to answer them, IBST is an efficient way to obtain scientific literacy. Many science teachers are challenged by the new trends related to IBST and scientific literacy, because they by and large have been enculturated into the academic scientific society with its focus on the natural sciences and traditional pedagogy. New curricula trends like IBST and scientific literacy are often introduced by policymakers and transnational agencies (i.e. OECD), and consequently science teachers often understand curriculum changes as coming from top-down and from another (hostile) world. This often causes problems and tensions in the implementation of new curricula. In order to bridge the gap between teachers' and policymakers' ideas about intentions, challenges and possibilities in new curricula, the project has brought together the main actors in the curriculum development and implementation process, i.e. policymakers, teachers and researchers. The aim of bridging the gaps between research, policy and practice, and between science educational policies and required in-service teacher training have been bridged through the use of national as well as cross-national exchanges. The project has examined how IBST for scientific literacy is interpreted in three different countries (Denmark, Hungary and United Kingdom), i.e. how it is conceptualised, weighted in the curricula, influenced by local cultures and teaching practices, etc. Denmark, Hungary and the United Kingdom have planned and arranged national roundtable meetings with different stakeholders in national reform implementation processes (teachers, policymakers, unions, teachers' professional associations, science education researchers, school leaders etc.). The purpose of these meetings has been to illuminate and disseminate in the public arena a general awareness of the potentials and challenges related to IBST and scientific literacy - seen from the perspective of the different stakeholders. Communication and argumentation in IBST Over the past few decades, numerous studies have focused on argumentation and communication in educational contexts. These studies have highlighted the importance of discourse in the acquisition of scientific knowledge and the development of habits of mind in science. They have further illustrated the role of debate and communication in the process of scientific inquiry. The implication is that argumentation is a form of discourse that needs to be appropriated by children and explicitly taught through suitable instruction, task structuring and modelling. Recent approaches have thus framed science learning in terms of the appropriation of community practices that provide the structure, motivation and modes of communication required to sustain scientific discourse. These approaches stand in sharp contrast to the traditional views of science learning that focus on outcomes such as problem solving, concept learning and science-process skills. Science learning is thus considered to involve the construction and use of tools which are instrumental in the generation of knowledge about the natural world. In this framework, argumentation is a significant instrumental in the growth of scientific knowledge as well as a vital component of scientific discourse and communication. Argumentation plays a central role in the building of explanations, models and theories as scientists use arguments to relate the evidence they select to the claims they reach through use of warrants and backings. The project has taken available teacher resources developed in England (Osborne, J., Erduran, S. & Simon, S., 2004 ) for supporting argumentation in classrooms and professional development, and embedding these in inquiry. Sequences of lessons have been tried across languages and contexts. An argumentation package for teachers has been developed and with resources for teachers (eg lesson plans and pupil materials) as well as snapshots of video to show examples of how argumentation ideas may be implanted in science teaching. Argumentation and communication are also key components of scientific literacy as demonstrated by case studies about argumentation & decision making in real socio-scientific issues; environmental management in a wetland (e.g. Jimenez-Aleixandre & Pereiro, 2002 ); evaluating scientists' conflicting predictions about the Prestige oil spill (Jiménez-Aleixandre, Federico-Agraso & Eirexas, 2004 ); choice of heating systems based on environmental impact, etc. The use of information technology in science teaching is seen as a means of enhancing inquiry based science teaching, especially regarding the use of visualisations and the access to information available on the World Wide Web. The way in which we teach science is changing as students access information directly and are able to participate in authentic science arenas. Inquiry based science teaching has been an integrated part of web based curriculum development as exemplified by the Viten project in Norway and the PEGASE project in France. The project has provided a report on the relationship between ICT and IBST with detailed reviews on the elements ICT provides to promote learning in science. Dissemination and professional development European countries lack knowledge and evidence concerning the efficiency of traditional approaches as well as new models for teacher professional development and in-service teacher training. Empirically founded knowledge about different approaches to teacher professional development is of high relevance in order to implement new models of IBST in European countries. The project has worked towards systematically summarising knowledge about teacher professional development in IBST in European countries participating in the network. The goal has been to compare and analyse existing models as well as to explore potentials of research-based models of teacher professional development. Traditional approaches to in-service teacher training are considered to have certain flaws. For instance, those approaches often follow a top-down strategy transmitting knowledge directly to the teachers. Training sessions are usually organized as stand-alone events with isolated topics and issues being addressed. The relationship of the teacher training to the teachers' concrete problems in his or her school is left unclear. In most cases, the crucial aspect of a problem-based cooperation on school level is not taken into account. Normally, one single teacher per school takes part in the training. In-service teacher training often lacks the integration of learning contents into existing teaching routines. In contrast, effective teacher professional development follows the idea of teachers becoming members of a community of learners. Effective professional development starts with the assumption that teachers are competent and responsible for their own learning. In effective teacher professional development teachers find systematic opportunities to build knowledge about classroom situations that are relevant for student learning. They are provided with support to become aware of their teaching routines and their conceptions of how students learn. Nevertheless, teachers also need some input, external views and feedback (e.g. counties facilitators). In summary, effective teacher professional development is characterised by a long-term, school-based and collaborative approach that is focused on students' learning and linked to curricula. The SINUS transfer program is the starting point for describing an effective model for teacher professional development implemented throughout Germany. Eleven modules have been developed for and by science teachers to allow them to begin a discourse on their own practice. Networks of teachers from schools and regions learn from each other, share experience and ideas and receive input from science education researchers. Participation is within and between schools as teachers collaboratively reflect, develop and evaluate their own instruction. In the project we have explored the possibilities of using the SINUS project (and other European models) in other countries. We have gathered teachers, science educators and policy makers in a series of two workshops to discuss possible models for TPD using IBST as the core. The aim of the project is to begin the implementation of models for TPD in at least some of the participating countries in the consortium. At the end of the two year project, Norway is well into a pilot project for implementing SINUS ideas into school based teacher development programs for science teachers. The key issue in the project is inquiry-based teaching (IBST) of secondary school science. The project was designed as a two year project to gather, exchange, develop and disseminate frameworks and ideas about how seven European countries viewed IBST in the professional development of science teachers and their teaching. The participating countries were composed to represent a variety of cultures and traditions in the way IBST is realized at the national level (Denmark, Norway, France, Germany, Hungary, Spain and the United Kingdom). Nordic countries (Norway/ Denmark) represent long traditions of student autonomy and cross disciplinary work in science education while in France, Germany and Spain, models of conceptual and textual comprehension and interpretation have been important models in realizing IBST. The United Kingdom has a long tradition of activity based science teaching with a well-developed curriculum that supports such teaching. Hungary represents a more traditional culture for science teaching with a keen interest in modernisation. The initial activity of the project was to identify and evaluate policies and frameworks of Inquiry Based Science Teaching (IBST) across the seven participating countries. As indicated above the seven countries were selected to provide a variety in how science education is organised and taught and still similar enough to expand our understanding of possible solutions and practices. A common analytical scheme and outline for comparative analyses of textual policies and framework for science education was developed to work across the seven participating countries. By using national curriculum texts as a base line of investigation, all participating countries provided national descriptions that provided information about i) structural features regarding how science education is organised in each country; ii) textual analyses of structural dimensions of the national curricula documents, and iii) substantial analyses of curricula text from each of the countries. A major outcome is that the seven participating countries seem to provide learners with rather distinct and different policies as hosts for science education and hence possibilities for science learning at this age. Germany (and Hungary) stands out as the most traditional model in how science education is organized thematically, structurally and substantially. Norway on the other hand, has the least regulated and prescribed curricula, in terms of disciplinary areas, hours estimated for science education, required teacher competence etc. France, Spain, Denmark and United Kingdom put themselves more or less in a middle position, though with interesting and distinct national differences. As a policy framework model UK stands out as the most coherent, well articulated and integrated policy framework model. Although all countries embrace models of IBST learning such as 'hands on' activities, inquiry learning, authentic learning and exploratory learning, these concepts are used rather indistinct and indifferent and a more rigid and detailed analytical approach is to be recommended. The overview report (deliverable 2.2) provided the following summary of findings: - This report shows that the seven analysed European countries provide culturally distinct and rather different institutional infrastructures and contexts when it comes to how science education is organised in the respective countries. National science curricula text for lower secondary education (age 12- 16) provides the baseline for comparisons. - The analysed countries operate with different models in how they organise science education at lower secondary level. While science education is treated as an integrated discipline at lower secondary level in Norway, science education in Germany is based on the sub disciplines of Physics, Biology and Chemistry from grade 1. France, Spain and United Kingdom use a mixed model, keeping science education integrated up to a certain level (grade 6 or 7) for then specialise into the sub disciplines. Also required teacher competence points to quite distinct models with Norway on the one side of the continuum, setting no subject specification requirements for teaching science education at lower secondary level while subject specification is a prerequisite for teaching science at this level in the six other countries. - Structural features of the curriculum texts, such as legal status, accessibility and main subject areas in defining science education point to a great deal of similarities across the analysed nationalities. All curricula texts have regulative status and all texts are available on the internet. For most countries a hard copy version is also available. There is a large degree of consensus across the countries in how to define the main subject areas of science education at this level. All curricula texts pay attention (though with different labels) to the four following areas: Organism and health, Chemical and material behaviour, Energy, electricity and radiations and Environment, Earth and universe. The role of technology is especially emphasised in Spain and Norway but not in the other three countries. - Substantial features of the texts point to both differences and similarities. The analysed texts represent different models in whether learning areas are nationally prescribed or left to the local level to define and interpret. Learning areas are nationally defined (i.e. Länder) in Germany, whereas France, Hungary, Norway, Spain and UK use a combination of nationally defined learning areas supported with spaces for local interpretation. - Whether learning goals in science education focus on content areas versus competences is another dimension of variation between the analysed countries. Germany specifies learning goals in terms of content areas while Norway and the UK link learning goals to competences. France, Hungary and Spain have both models. - All countries link inquiry based science teaching (IBST) to skills of argumentation and communication. All countries further link IBST to practical experiments and "hands on" activities. Students' autonomy is explicitly emphasised in the Danish and UK curriculum text but not in the other countries. Problem based learning and exploratory learning appears in the curriculum texts in all analysed countries but mean rather different things in the different countries. Linguistic and more elaborated in depth analyses in how the different curricula texts understand IBST would enrich this analysis further. - As a policy framework the UK model is interesting in terms of coherence and focus. The role of argumentation and communication, and authentic learning is strongly underscored in the UK curriculum. This is recognised and supported throughout broad generic knowledge areas, required teacher expertise and the formulation of science education as generic competences, and with ample room for local interpretations. The role of assessment is central when it comes to science education. WP3: Scientific literacy and IBST WP3 Scientific Literacy has accomplished deliverables 3.1 and 3.2. For Denmark, England/Wales, Hungary and PISA 2006, we have created concept maps of scientific literacy statements designed to influence teaching for scientific literacy. Instead of providing our own comparisons and analyses of each of the four perspectives, we have transformed the statements into interactive Web-based concept maps http://www1.ind.ku.dk/mtg/wp3/scientificliteracy/maps where the user can make the kinds of explorations and comparisons relevant and useful to their interests. Special comparative features of these maps facilitate comparisons which would have been much more difficult with only traditional text based statements. For Denmark and England/Wales, 15 video clips were posted which show secondary science teachers using some aspects of inquiry based instruction to teach. These videos are also at the map Web-site addressed above. A significant discovery has been the real difficulty in capturing truly excellent examples of IBST, even when recording excellent teacher's classrooms. With this difficulty came the realisation that finding many examples of such 'exemplary' teaching is unrealistic and more importantly, perhaps not as useful as using the 'imperfect' examples as starting points to analysis and discussion of not only what characterizes a good IBST lesson but also how could a change in a teacher's approach to a lesson be altered to increase its IBST potential. The video material is planned to be used as a starting point for discussion and analysis in education modules. This experience has also informed out long-term goal of actually turning to new teachers throughout Europe to produce examples of their own teaching and contribute them to a IBST Web space for all to examine and interact about. We now feel that the shared expertise of the teaching community will eventually result in useful and dynamic uses of our MIND THE GAP origins. Round table discussion and public debates have been used to help understand the mechanisms of how IBST and scientific literacy are linked (3.3). Concept maps and video analysis were used to compare how stated goals for scientific literacy and examples of practice may be used for understanding cultural differences. One overall outcome of this exchange was the deep understanding of how statements of scientific literacy not only allow for, but actually require IBST to fully achieve their goals (3.4). WP4: Communication and argumentation in IBST The project has provided a common forum where colleagues from UK, Spain and France have interacted in constructive and productive ways. They have shared resources and perspectives. A significant outcome of this collaboration has been the building of a common language and perspective on argumentation and communication. An indicator of this outcome is the set of joint guidelines having a set of policy level statements, descriptors for teaching and learning and lesson-based vignettes to exemplify each statement. A further outcome of the collaboration has been the professional development programs that have been carried out with teachers in UK, Spain and France, with published resources and products (e.g. handbooks, DVDs, websites) emerging from each individual project. Most of these resources have been disseminated in conferences and numerous publications and may be found on the MIND THE GAP web site. WP5: The role of ICT in IBST During the last period of the project, significant progress was made on the guidelines for designing ICT environments using IBST ideas for science teaching (5.2). In addition the History of Science and Technology was also finalised (5.4) The literature review (5.1) proposes an overview of the results and perspectives established by recent research on ICT for IBST. This overview covers three main directions: learning, teaching, and teacher training. Nowadays, the main evolutions are linked with connectivity, generalized access to online resources, and even generalized possibility to design online resources. Thus collective dimensions are central amongst the themes studied in research works about IBST and ICT. Many studies, belonging to computer supported collective learning, consider science teaching designs involving inquiry. They emphasize the interest of these projects for learning and for student's motivation. However, they also point out the difficulty for teachers to set up these designs in their classes. ICT tools have to scaffold student's inquiry, but also to scaffold the implementation of inquiry in class by the teachers. The need for specific teacher training is evidenced; and collective design of lessons by teachers, supported by teacher trainers, and adequate curriculum material seems a promising principle, for such a training. This literature review, and the present context, led us to focus on online resources, for the guidelines (5.2) and the report (5.4). Difficult questions are raised, about the quality of these resources. We started by establishing criteria for an IBST-related analysis of a given online resource, grounded on the results of the literature review (5.1) and on ICT research about online resources quality. We used the criteria to analyse parts of the two online resources involved in the project: VITEN, and PEGASE. We presented this work, at different stages, at the ASE conference in Reading (UK), at the MIND THE GAP workshop in Lyon (France), and at the ESRA conference in Istanbul (Turkey). Moreover, about the guidelines (5.2) we formulated recommendations about the content of an online resource designed to support IBST, and about its design mode. For example, scenarios for class use should be proposed alongside resources, and these scenarios should include written work, articulated with the work on the computer. About the design, it seems thus crucial to associate teachers and researchers in the design process; more generally, to associate users to a continuous design, in a design-in-use perspective. Deliverable 5.4 : Report on ICT/HST tools complemented the previous one, focusing on ICT tools to support IBST where History of science intervenes. We draw on research works in a) computer science about modelling digital documents; b) ICT tools for history of science, and focus on the definition of the gender of the digital document in history of science and guidelines in order to analyse/design websites based on historical resources. Deliverable 5.3: European workshop on ICT/HST tools. The workshop was organized in Brest in March 2010, comprising three parts: 6 conferences of European researchers, scientific sessions from the call of proposals, short communications and a round table in order to summarize the results of the workshop, to analyse the conditions to create a European network about the theme "ICT, HST and IBST". Another important result, belonging to the development aspects of the MIND THE GAP project, is the translation in English of VITEN (5.5). VITEN is a website designed, initially in Norwegian, by the University of Oslo, for science teaching. It addresses secondary school students and teachers. Three VITEN units have been translated in English: Genetechnology, Global warming and Northern lights. The web address: http://www.viten.no/eng The Viten units are available for universal use and are being incorporated into courses for science teacher professional development. WP6: Dissemination and professional development The MIND THE GAP project was based originally based on the ideas from the successful SINUS program for TPD in Germany. The SINUS program is based on the ideas that TPD should be school based, allowing teachers the opportunity to discuss issues of science teaching amongst themselves and together with other teachers and science educators. A series of modules were developed based on the reviewed literature in science education to serve as a starting point for science teachers. There are four principles that constitute the concept of SINUS (Prenzel & Duit, 2000; Prenzel, Stadler, Friedrich, Knickmeier & Ostermeier, 2009) https://www.ntnu.no/wiki/download/attachments/8324749/SINUS_en_fin.pdf?version=1 - A set of eleven 'modules' describing problem areas of science education and translating them into work packages - The introduction of quality development at the participating schools - The collaboration of teachers in their own school and with teachers in other schools and researchers to work on teaching problems - Support of the teacher networks The following list gives the titles of the eleven modules and a short description of the particular challenge each one addresses: (1) Further development of the task culture Aims at a larger variety of tasks in mathematics and science instruction (e.g. tasks that allow for different ways of solving them) both in situations where a new concept or phenomenon is introduced and elaborated, as well as when skills are practised or knowledge is applied to new cases or situations. (2) Scientific inquiry and experiments Focuses on more open forms of experiments that allow for active student participation, discourse among students about research questions, the planning and interpreting of experiments, and an understanding of the nature of science. (3) Learning from mistakes Claims that mistakes are essential for learning, but should be avoided in assessment situations; students' conceptions and mistakes are viewed as opportunities for learning. (4) Securing basic knowledge - intelligent learning at different levels Addresses the need for a common knowledge basis that all students are to achieve; takes into account the different pre-requisites for learning offering tasks that allow for solutions on different levels. (5) Cumulative learning - making students aware of their increasing competency Aims at a higher coherence by linking the actual subject matter to prior knowledge; also stresses the need for using and developing basic concepts in order to design cumulative teaching and learning sequences that make learning progress obvious for the students. (6) Making subject boundaries visible: working in an interdisciplinary way Aims at a better understanding of scientific phenomena by differentiating and linking the perspectives provided by the different scientific disciplines, mathematics, and other school subjects; allows for more complex and meaningful applications of science. (7) Promoting girls' and boys' achievement and interest Focuses on gender differences with respect to interest and achievement; addresses possibilities for support, for example, by establishing differential courses or by embedding the content to be learned in contexts that are especially interesting for girls, but also for boys. (8) Developing tasks for student cooperation Encourages students to verbalise what they think, to argue, and to deal with discrepant views and opinions, so that cooperative work will result in social learning as well as in cognitive gains. (9) Strengthening students' responsibility for their learning Supports students' readiness and ability for self-regulated learning within the context of the particular subject; supporting strategies for the self-structuring and self-monitoring of learning are to be explored. (10) Assessment: surveying and providing feedback on competency increases Takes into account that the type of assessment is of utmost significance for the success of instruction; aims at developing supportive feedback and assessment tasks that allow for the evaluation of students' progress beyond routine knowledge. (11) Quality assurance within and across schools Aims at developing standards for science and mathematics instruction that are universally valid (and not only in the participating schools). The MIND THE GAP project has looked closely at the SINUS modules as possible starting points for TPD in countries outside of Germany. A report on existing models of Teacher Professional Development (TPD) was made, based on interviews with 16 experts from all seven MIND THE GAP network countries and additional collected information from paper presentations about the general conditions of TPD and in-service training at a project workshop in Lyon (May, 2009). The guided interviews were realised in the period of June/July 2009 with 16 experts all of whom were stakeholders in the area of European Science Teacher Education: teacher educators who teach in practice, active researchers related to science teaching, members of teacher organisations and policy makers. The report describes systematically summarised knowledge about teacher professional development in the MIND THE GAP network countries and illustrates successful models of teacher professional development as described by the experts. Based on discussions about the SINUS program in Lyon and extended interviews we explored the question of whether or not it was possible to export this program to partner countries. As one outcome we noticed that all researchers, educators and policy makers agreed in their views of important indicators for successful teacher professional development (Desimone, 2009). Several teacher education and professional development systems are different but we can see a broad agreement concerning the aims and ideas. Successful criteria included: evaluation and measuring, linking with everyday practice of teachers, research based concepts, teacher's involvement, long-term activities, cooperation between teachers and institutions which are involved in teacher education. The report was completed in December 2009. WP6 aimed at accumulating knowledge within the project and disseminating it to relevant stakeholders in order to change the educational system. Two international workshops, one with science education experts, one with science teachers, provided a basis for exchange about the particular teacher professional development systems (TPD) in the participating countries. Besides the different organization of the systems it became clear that none of them was seen to be effective and sustainable. Using SINUS as an example of a TPD programme that affected to some degree the German educational system, central problems and possible improvements could be identified. As a substantial outcome, in two countries (Norway and Denmark) initiatives are on the way to further develop their TPD system informed by the activities in the MIND THE GAP project. The workshop with the teachers showed that the idea of collaborative quality development represented in the SINUS approach is seen as beneficial both for the individual teacher and the school system. Although coming from different teaching cultures and having different experience in IBST the teachers built a common understanding of ways to implement and further develop inquiry-based methods in their classrooms. All of the members of the MIND THE GAP consortium have recently joined a larger EU project on IBST called STEAM. The final results of the MIND THE GAP project have and will continue to be a very important part of the STEAM project. Our work on the SINUS model for teacher professional develop (TPD) has come to the stage where we are now in discussion with many of our participating countries within the MIND THE GAP consortium for the start of similar models of TPD. In Norway, the Department of Education and the National Center for Science Education have received funding to initiate a pilot project to begin in 2010 with scaling up in 2011 where the SINUS model for TPD is central. The STEAM project is building on the MIND THE GAP progress through national meetings taking place in all of the participating countries (15) in which the SINUS model is presented as well as discussions on what inquiry based science teaching is and why it should be encouraged as a way of teaching science. This overlap continues as the MIND THE GAP project ends its funding period. The potential impact of the MIND THE GAP project has now become much larger than originally planned due to its association with the STEAM project. Our MIND THE GAP dissemination model is much smaller than that of STEAM so this is considered a positive result. We now know that changing the way teachers teach as well as the way countries deal with teacher professional development are activities that take time. We are delighted to be a part of the STEAM project so that our work is able to continue over a longer period of time and reach more teachers in Europe. We continue to present our work at professional organization meeting within the field of science education. We also work at the national level where we are represented at teacher conferences for implementing ideas of inquiry based science teaching. The deliverables produced by the MIND THE GAP project are already being used within countries and between countries as teacher professional development courses are planned and implemented. List of Websites: MIND THE GAP web-site UIO has established and maintained a MIND THE GAP web-site with the purpose of and updating project participants about consortium news (closed access) and to provide information to the general public about the products of the consortium as they become available (open access). Project website: http://www.uv.uio.no/ils/english/research/projects/mind-the-gap/ Other documents Final Report - MIND THE GAP (Mind the Gap: Learning, Teaching, Research and Policy in Inquiry-Based Science Education)
