Inquiry learning can be a powerful tool in teacher training. Teachers can improve their teaching and research skills by performing inquiries into their own practice in an action research format (Elliot, 1994). Moreover, they can develop the skills necessary to continuously improve their practice, a competence commonly recognized as required for teachers. 

The CORF system (in Dutch: Collective Educational Research Facility) is an internet platform that facilitates student teachers in doing scientifically adequate inquiries induced by problems and questions from practice, their own teaching practice in particular. Data gathering facilities (web-questionnaires, tests and evaluation tools), are tailored to the type of inquiries commonly made by students. Methodological support is integrated in the CORF system. Within the CORF system, student teachers co-operate with experienced teachers as well as researchers in designing, performing and concluding/reporting. These various users all bring to the CORF community their questions, expertise, and their research results. In return, they get: answers, knowledge and support from others. Researchers for instance, may appreciate CORF as a way of efficient data collection, while schools may appreciate the opportunities to get easy access to research capacity that can help them to solve some of the problems emerging in school-practice.

In the paper the CORF system is presented and its use is illustrated by case studies of student teachers using the system for problem based inquiry learning in a project shaped according to the cognitive apprenticeship model. Functional aspects of the system are evaluated. The learning result in terms of teaching competencies as well as inquiry skills is evaluated by: a) pre- and post-tests based on the so called ‘quick scan’ – a commonly Dutch questionnaire on teacher competencies, b) the analysis of the student teachers’ regular portfolios, c) a skill-test concerning inquiry skills.

Inquiry learning can be a powerful tool in teacher training. Not only can teachers learn to demonstrate to their pupils how to do an inquiry within the domain they teach, they can also teach them accordingly. Teachers themselves can also improve their teaching and research skills by performing inquiries into their own practice in an action research format (Elliot, 1994). Moreover, they can develop the skills necessary to continuously improve their practice, a competence commonly recognized as required for teachers. Inquiry learning can be an organizing principle in teacher training programs.

The CORF system (the Dutch acronym stands for: Collective Educational Research Facility) is an internet based platform designed to facilitate student teachers in doing scientifically adequate inquiries induced by problems and questions from practice, their own teaching practice in particular. Data gathering facilities (web-questionnaires, tests and evaluation tools), are tailored to the type of inquiries commonly made by students. Methodological support is integrated in the CORF system. Within the CORF system, student teachers co-operate with experienced teachers as well as researchers in designing, performing and concluding/reporting. These various users all bring to the CORF community their questions, expertise, and their research results. In return, they get: answers, knowledge and support from others. Researchers for instance, may appreciate the CORF system and community as a way of efficient data collection, while schools may appreciate the opportunities to get easy access to research capacity that can help them to solve some of the problems emerging in school-practice.

In the paper the outline of the CORF system is presented and its use is illustrated by case studies of student teachers using the system for problem based inquiry learning. The inquiry learning project was part of the current pre-service teacher training program of physics teachers for upper general secondary education at Eindhoven School of Education (ESoE). These students are all previously trained in research in the science domain. Hence, the main focus in the project was a) to invoke transfer of their skills to the domain of practice based inquires on one’s own practice as a teacher, and b) to complement their skills with skills specific for research in such a social domain (i.e. formulating adequate research questions, designing and using questionnaires; see Altrichter, Posch & Somekh (1993)).

The project was structured according to the cognitive apprenticeship model (Collins, Brown & Newman, 1989). First, the teacher – who also is an experienced researcher – models the process by demonstrating how a question emerging from school practices can be converted into a workable research question, and how this can be instrumented in the CORF system. The students then do so themselves on an example problem provided by CORF. Scaffolds were provided by the teacher/researcher and the supports within CORF. These we based on the handbook of Baarda & de Goede (2006)). The students then were challenged to repeat the whole procedure for a problem occurring in their own practice. In defining the problem the student teachers were coached. In the instrumentation phase the scaffolds were again integrated within CORF system and its help options. Reflection and articulation were organized in group meetings where the learners discussed the problems they encountered and shared their solutions.

The project is currently being performed and results will be available in the spring of 2007. Functional aspects of the learning project and the CORF system are evaluated. The learning result in terms of the student teachers’ knowledge and competence as acquired in the project are addressed. For this, pre- and post-tests design is used. The first part of the instrument addresses general teaching competence and is based on the so called ‘quick scan’ – a questionnaire commonly used in Dutch teacher education. The second part is a test on inquiry skills as trained in the project (i.e. distinguishing adequate and inadequate research questions, using the findings in the project to improve school practice). In addition an analysis was made of the portfolios the student teachers regularly produce as a part of their teacher training. These comprise texts on this project indicating what was learned and attribute particular skills to curriculum activities – possibly the project.

 

Altrichter, H., Posch, P., & Somekh, B. (1993). Teachers Investigate Their Work: An Introduction to the Methods of Action Research. Routledge.

Collins, A., Brown, J. S., & Newman, S. E. (1989). Cognitive apprenticeship: teaching the crafts of reading, writing and mathematics. In L. B. Resnick (Ed.), Knowing, learning and instruction- Essays in honor of Robert Glaser (pp. 453-494). Hillsdale, New Jersey: Erlbaum.

Elliott, J. (1994). Educational Action Research. Taylor & Francis.