{"id":12443,"date":"2021-03-01T12:55:10","date_gmt":"2021-03-01T12:55:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rafonline.org\/?post_type=poveste&p=12443"},"modified":"2021-03-01T12:55:10","modified_gmt":"2021-03-01T12:55:10","slug":"game-changing-teachers","status":"publish","type":"poveste","link":"https:\/\/rafonline.org\/en\/poveste\/game-changing-teachers\/","title":{"rendered":"Game-changing Teachers"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Several hundreds of teachers around the country translated physics into a more understandable language for their students. In order for their method to become the norm, the next move lies with the Ministry of Education.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Text from\u00a0DoR<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

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Author: Sorana St\u0103nescu<\/em><\/p>\n

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Photo: Tudor Vintiloiu<\/em><\/p>\n

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During their first physics class after the winter break, 6th<\/sup>\u00a0graders in the \u201cVasile Cristoforeanu\u201d School of R\u00e2mnicu S\u0103rat are humming, dragging chairs on the floor and moving books from their desks to make room for instruments. They work in teams.<\/p>\n

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Some of them must roll balls of various sizes and weights down an inclined plane and then on various surfaces (the desk, glossy paper or sandpaper) and observe which ball is moving faster and is more difficult to stop. Others place coins on a thin cardboard over a glass, then pull the sheet and analyze what happens with the coins and why. Another group places weights (100, 50 and 25 grams, respectively) on a cardboard sheet at the edge of the desk and then pulls the sheet. Meanwhile, teacher Diana Coman is writing the title of the new lesson on the blackboard: \u201cInertia\u201d. She then tells them they will have to answer the following question:\u00a0\u201cWhy does the dust come out of the rug when beaten?\u201d \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

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After 15-20 minutes of experiments the answer and the definition of the new concept are obvious. Following the children\u2019s own observations, coins drop into the glass, weights stay on the desk and the children write the definition on the blackboard:\u00a0\u201cInertia is a property of matter by which it continues in its existing state of rest or uniform motion in a straight line unless that state is changed by an external force.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

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This teaching method is called\u00a0\u201cinquiry-based learning\u201d<\/em>\u00a0and has been the norm in teaching physics in Germany and Poland since the year 2000. Although its results are easily observed, in Romania only slightly over 20% of the middle and high school physics teachers have been trained to use it in class. Because the method is not mandatory, we don\u2019t actually know how many of them actually use it.<\/p>\n

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Diana Coman is 41 and has worked as a teacher for 19 years. She started teaching physics at the \u201cVasile Cristoforeanu\u201d school, one of the five schools in R\u00e2mnicu S\u0103rat, in 1999. She had always known she wanted to be a teacher (her mother was a French teacher, her father taught mechanics for agriculture).<\/p>\n

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She learned physics in school only through theory, the chalk-on-blackboard style (she only did experiments when training for the physics olympics\/competition, which were mandatory for the county level at the time; now they are only mandatory for the national level).<\/p>\n

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\u201cIn high school, although we were the only math and physics class in the city and we had the materials in the school lab, we never touched them in class. We used to play with them during recess\u201d<\/em>, Coman recalls. However, she discovered the pleasure and usefulness of experiments while studying physics in French at the University of Bucharest. And she applied them in class, from the very start of her career.<\/p>\n

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In 2013, when she learned from the physics inspector of the Buzau county that there was an interesting course available for physics teachers, she decided to apply right away. The course had a section of self-knowledge for the teachers and lesson planning: what tasks and charts to give to the students, how to test them and how to keep a diary and self-assess their involvement and work style class by class.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe were no longer dinosaurs, we didn\u2019t just scribble equations on the blackboard. We conducted experiments,\u201d<\/em>\u00a0Coman explains, \u201cbut they were chaotic. The course organized them for me and made me aware of them, when to use them and how.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The initiator of using\u00a0inquiry-based learning<\/em>\u00a0for physics in Romania is Cristian Hatu, 48, an expert in philosophy of science and cognitive sciences and president of Centrul de Evaluare \u0219i Analize Educa\u021bionale in Bucharest.<\/p>\n

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Hatu studied geophysics and philosophy at the Bucharest University and, although he taught at the Philosophy department for a time, he wasn\u2019t very much interested in educational reform in the beginning. However, in 2009, when he was working for Societatea Academic\u0103 din Rom\u00e2nia (SAR), he read the works of Cambridge specialist Hasok Chang about the invention of temperature and thermometers. This book stated that, in order for children to develop mentally, they need to repeat several stages in science history; they must be taught how to manage a situation and ask the right questions.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWhile in school, nobody told me I was supposed to think,\u201d<\/em>\u00a0Hatu recollects.\u00a0\u201cIn their case, reform was a national priority and researchers had to contribute to the effort.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

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With funding from BRD, Siveco and Academia de Advocacy, Hatu started research on the way sciences may help develop thinking and why it was important for society. \u201cIt was like skiing through the fog, no idea where we were going,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

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This continued until 2010, when he wrote a report analyzing new developments in the economy and society, what skills are necessary in the economic field and how the education system responds to them. There was talk at the time about a new education law, which was to be passed one year later, and the report received a lot of media coverage.<\/p>\n

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A second turning point followed: the Romanian-American Foundation (RAF) came with a proposal that he continue his research. He started from a McKinsey study saying that, in order to produce real change, one needs to adjust what teachers do in the classroom so children understand the subjects better and the question asked was: what would such schooling look like at the grassroots level?<\/p>\n

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His team started looking\u00a0\u201cthrough the wilderness\u201d<\/em>, Hatu shares. They had to find a breach in the system: a way of entering schools without resorting to a law to allow them to do that. That opportunity came when they understood that, according to the school curriculum, teachers could choose their own educational tools in order to be efficient.<\/p>\n

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Then they had to find the best method to train teachers in the key competences they considered necessary for the labor market of the future (such as the capacity of acting autonomously or problem solving). They found the answer in the inquiry-based method that reproduced the path of discovery a science researcher treads on. In parallel, they worked with Societatea Rom\u00e2n\u0103 de Fizic\u0103 to make sure that the lessons were run according to sound scientific principles.<\/p>\n

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Then, they had to create the items for the evaluations students received to test where they were before and after the method was applied, and find someone to interpret the results. As no such experts were available in Romania, they called in Eduardo Cascallar, a specialist who has worked for the World Bank and the OECD in drafting assessment tools.<\/p>\n

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Thus, in 2012 \u2013 2013 the first 900 teachers in 8 counties started the training (now there are 1,300 of them, plus an additional 100 by end of March, from a total of 6,000 around the country). The total budget of the project will reach 850,000 USD, from 2011 to 2017.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI wanted my students to think, but I didn\u2019t ask myself what would motivate them to find answers to my question\u201d<\/em>, Daniela \u021aepe\u0219, a 50-year old teacher from H\u00e2r\u015fova, remembers about the time before taking the inquiry-based method course.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWhy would a child care about how high they could jump on the moon? They\u2019re not likely to ever get there.\u201d This was her reflection on the problems she used to give her students. After attending the course, she realized that, although her classes were interactive, what she missed was the connection with the students\u2019 real life, which is their motivation for learning.<\/p>\n

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\u021aepe\u0219 was part of the group that tested the inquiry-based method in class in 2012 \u2013 2013. In order to have scientific value, the pilot was conducted in over 40 middle and high schools in 10 counties. \u021aepe\u0219 started with two 7th<\/sup>\u00a0grades at the same level: one was the pilot where she taught using the new method, the other was the reference class, where she taught using the classical method. She didn\u2019t have high expectations, but the differences showed within a couple of weeks, mostly on the part of those children who generally don\u2019t answer in class: \u201cfurniture pieces\u201d as they are nicknamed, students no teacher ever engages and who are already labeled \u2013 they can\u2019t, they don\u2019t know, they won\u2019t do.<\/p>\n

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In 2014, \u0162epe\u015f was asked to teach at the technological high school in town. During a physics class with the 11th<\/sup>\u00a0grade where the students had no handbooks and used one notebook for all subjects, she was told: \u201cNever mind, teacher, we\u2019re stupid, don\u2019t bother with us.\u201d<\/p>\n

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She did bother, however. She took out everything mathematics from the lessons and made them understand that physics is about getting to know the world around you. Together they built pendulums; they identified oscillation in nature and thus covered several chapters in the curriculum.<\/p>\n

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The test scores of children exposed to the new method improved by 14%, according to the evaluations developed by Hatu\u2019s team and the OECD expert.\u00a0\u201cI was very much impressed by the scientific approach of the project\u201d,<\/em>\u00a0says Gabriel Negrea, headmaster of the \u201cGheorghe Laz\u0103r\u201d National College in Sibiu and a physics teacher with 30 years of experience himself.\u00a0\u201cIt was for the first time I\u2019d seen the Item response theory applied in Romania, a type of assessment which, statistically, has a higher degree of objectivity than traditional evaluations\u201d<\/em>. This method is used in international tests, but not for domestic exams.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt would be downright stupid for me to teach as I used to 30 years ago,\u201d<\/em>\u00a0says Virginia M\u00e2ndru\u021b\u0103-T\u0103n\u0103sescu, a physics teacher with the \u201cBogdan Petriceicu Ha\u0219deu\u201d College in Buz\u0103u and a physics and chemistry inspector. Already familiar with the new paradigms of learning, T\u0103n\u0103sescu believes that this course may be one of the better prepared in the world because \u201cit hasn\u2019t sprung from an office\u201d but has been refined continuously, through the teachers\u2019 contributions, since 2012.<\/p>\n

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\u201cHow can we include change in a system which is so obsolete and mediocre? You start the reform from the grassroots. You come with solutions and use the breaches in the system.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

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CRISTIAN HATU,\u00a0<\/div>\n
President, Centrul pentru Evaluare \u0219i Analize Educa\u021bionale<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\u201cWe bypassed the system,\u201d<\/em>\u00a0Hatu explains.\u00a0\u201cHow can we include change in a system which is so obsolete and mediocre? You start the reform from the grassroots. You come with solutions and use the breaches in the system\u201d<\/em>. He is now almost finished with the project, although one more hurdle still awaits: the ministry needs to approve it.<\/p>\n

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The new teaching method is analyzed from the point of view of scientific rigor and pedagogical effectiveness. If approved, the ministry would provide financial support for training the remaining teachers around the country and introduce teaching physics by the inquiry-based method at the national level. If the money were there, trainings for teachers would last one and a half years, but no funds are available at the moment (the ministry says they are waiting for the new European funding cycle).<\/p>\n

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The method would also be suitable for biology and chemistry, but no such move has been initiated for these subjects. The disadvantages of the inquiry-based method reside in the amount of time necessary for covering the curriculum (some teachers say they would be lagging behind if they taught by conducting experiments during every class) and the need for resources (physics labs, where they are still operational, have little equipment).<\/p>\n

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The counterpoint is that a change in the way of teaching and assessing students is absolutely necessary in today\u2019s society.\u00a0\u201cWhen they finish school, many people forget a lot. But if you have problem-solving and investigation skills, here is an educational system that really does its job\u201d,<\/em>\u00a0teacher Gabriel Negrea concludes.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":12393,"parent":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"tax_categories":[87],"class_list":["post-12443","poveste","type-poveste","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tax_categories-stem-education"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rafonline.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/poveste\/12443","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rafonline.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/poveste"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rafonline.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/poveste"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rafonline.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12393"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rafonline.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12443"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"tax_categories","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rafonline.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tax_categories?post=12443"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}