Improving CPD

Christian Ostermeier, Manfred Prenzel and Reinders Duit from the Leibniz-Institute for Science Education have worked with school teachers from over 1800 schools in a two-phase CPD (continuing professional development) project, which involved training sessions in particular topics that were underpinned by key messages from research in science education.¹    

The project focused on what problems the teachers encountered when helping pupils to learn, and was structured around 11 modules - eg scientific enquiry, learning from mistakes, providing feedback on progress towards learning goals etc. Teachers from each school had to choose at least two of the modules to work on. Cooperative learning between the teachers was seen as key to success, so systems were set up to promote cooperation within and between schools.