Teachers’ Research Literacy for Science teaching (TRELIS)

Project TRELIS – Teachers’ Research Literacy for Science Teaching – concerns research-based teacher education and what this means in the case of the school science subject. We work with pre- as well as in-service teachers and seek to build professional learning communities where participants use research results coupled with classroom experience to reflect on and develop science teaching in schools. In TRELIS, science teacher educators from Oslo Metropolitan University (OsloMet) and Western Norway University of Applied Sciences (HVL) collaborate with a science education competence centre in Lillestrøm municipality, with a science centre in Bergen and with Leeds University in the UK. Four PhD fellows (three at OsloMet, one at HVL) are affiliated with the project, and as of November 2023, altogether 15 masters’ theses linked to the project have been submitted at HVL and OsloMet. One focus area in TRELIS is how pre-service teachers (PSTs) and their supervisors (science teacher educators) experience the students’ work with bachelors’ assignments and masters’ research projects in science education (since 2017, teacher education in Norway is a 5-year education including a master’s thesis project in the final year). Research in TRELIS has shown that pre-service teachers as well as teacher educators/supervisors see the master’s project as a relevant and important component in research-based teacher education and find that it contributes to developing PSTs’ professional competence. Still, some PSTs question the relevance of the master thesis work for their future classroom practice and would have preferred teacher education to remain within a more practice-near tradition. Our findings also indicate that teacher educators and PSTs could give more attention to how to integrate research-based knowledge in all parts of teacher education and how to use such knowledge in critical reflection processes. Another focus area in TRELIS is inquiry-based teaching and learning in science. In this area, TRELIS has contributed with theoretical knowledge through two review articles, one on inquiry-based science education in teacher education and one on inquiry-based chemistry education. Moreover, design-based research in TRELIS has resulted in several descriptions of research-based teaching approaches. Examples include «What’s in the bucket?» and «Technology conference», both of which in different ways let teacher students practice argumentation in science. A third intervention describes inquiry-based approaches to field work in science. Since 2020, programming is to be included in the natural science subject in Norwegian schools according to the national curriculum. TRELIS includes theoretical and practical approaches to how PSTs can be prepared to use programming purposefully to support pupils’ learning in science. A model of teacher competence, TPACK (Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge) is used to characterise the different kinds of knowledge and skills teachers need, and a questionnaire instrument has been developed and tested through several iterations to obtain information about PSTs’ self-reported knowledge in the various knowledge areas. The TPACK framework has also been used, coupled with instructional models such as «use – modify – create», to develop research-based learning activities for different phases of the five-year teacher education. For instance, PSTs work with «useful and useless robots» in a programming activity in their second year and with simulating phenomena such as moon phases or the spreading of disease in their fourth year. Through our collaboration with the science education competence center in Lillestrøm municipality, researchers from TRELIS have participated in a professional learning network and studied how research can stimulate teachers’ professional reflection on science teaching. In network meetings, teachers discuss research findings concerning inquiry-based science education and use this when designing science lessons for their own classrooms. Research in TRELIS indicates that teachers experience the network as a good arena for discussing science education research and relating it to their own practice, but support from research-trained persons greatly supports this reflective process. To sum up, TRELIS provides new insight into how teacher education can prepare candidates for using research-based knowledge when they teach science in school. Additionally, the project contributes to strengthening research activity and to staff competence development in the participating institutions (OsloMet and HVL) and in the wider science teacher education community nationally and internationally. For instance, TRELIS has presented research results at the annual national seminar for science teacher educators and at the international ESERA conference in 2023.

Project TRELIS (Teachers’ Research Literacy for Science teaching) aims to prepare research literate science teachers who are able to integrate research-based knowledge with practical classroom experience to develop rich science learning opportunities for pupils. Teacher education environments at Oslo Metropolitan University and Western Norway University of Applied Sciences collaborate in TRELIS with Lillestrøm Municipality (through schools and STEM centre) and other partners including VilVite science centre, University College Copenhagen, Nord University, University of Oslo, and Leeds University. Practitioner groups - pre- and in-service teachers, teacher educators and educational authorities - will be involved in developing the project. TRELIS will use case studies and design-based research approaches to study the conditions for and implementation of research-rich science education in teacher education departments and schools. It will look at the structure and content of teacher education programmes and how student teachers encounter research at different stages of their education. Specifically, students’ and teacher educators’ viewpoints on the role of research assignments (notably the master’s thesis) will be investigated. The new school science curriculum will be a starting point for research-based development of teaching and learning activities within two focus areas: inquiry-based learning and programming and modelling. This development will take place in the teacher education institutions and in local collaborative learning communities based in Lillestrøm and VilVite. TRELIS is uniquely positioned to document and develop teacher education and science education in Norway when a new, 5-year teacher education programme and new school science curricula are implemented. TRELIS will strengthen the research groups involved, provide new PhD-qualified scholars and contribute to the discussion about quality teacher education and science education.