Existing research recognizes the crucial role played by imagination in giving meaning to our experience, thinking critically and paying attention to difference. By using a design based on what we called 'embodied imagination' (analogical reasoning) and 'narrative imagination' (contributions from universal stories), we conduct an exploratory study…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to understand how the creativity of pupils and teachers is nurtured through the use of a virtual world (VW) within a sociotechnical network affecting pupils' learning in a pilot secondary school. Design/methodology/approach: The analysis is the result of a pluri-disciplinary systemic analysis involving…

Discursive formative assessment (FA) practices during instruction have grown in importance in the education literature as a way of improving teaching and learning. This study involves three years of design-based research as part of an educational project. We examine lower secondary school teachers' qualitative Informal Formative assessment (IFA)…

This chapter reports the results of three research studies on peer assessment carried out in different countries where it is an unusual practice (France, Switzerland, and the Czech Republic). The three research studies focus on different competences and different disciplines (sciences and mathematics), but they all involve inquiry-based approaches…

Developing inquiry-based science teaching (I.B.S.T.) methods in lower secondary schools challenges many schools and educational bodies. The paper addresses the influence of teacher collaboration on science teachers' approaches and practices regarding I.B.S.T. The research emphasises three case studies: two science teachers, one expert and one new…

Scientific literacy is a central aim of science education. The "Programme for International Student Assessment" (PISA) provides a measure of secondary students' scientific literacy and reported science instruction in 72 countries. Researchers have analyzed PISA data to identify important relationships between science instruction and…

Inquiry-based science teaching (IBST) is promoted without any clear definition of the teaching strategies that are expected. The paper portrays the variety of the nature and development of teacher professional knowledge and practice regarding inquiry-based science teaching. It proposes and tests a model built upon six dimensions that represent the…

In this article the authors introduce "La main a la pate," an international programme based in France that focuses on enquiry-based science. Since 1996, the Academie des sciences in France has been engaged in serious intervention in order to renew science education in primary schools. Based on enquiry-teaching principles, and closely…