Teachers’ competences about Inquiry Based approaches to the analysis of Thermal Phenomena: implications for an appropriate training

Abstract

In this paper we present some preliminary results of a course for in-service teacher education held at University of Palermo in the framework of ESTABLISH, an EU FP7 Project aimed at extending the use of Inquiry Based Science Education in secondary level schools across Europe. In particular, we will report results of a survey performed with 15 second level Italian teachers about the ways they approach the analysis of a simple thermal physics situation, their typical conceptions and some aspects of their attitude with respect to methods aimed at performing classroom investigation in the light of the specific operative processes of an IB approach.