lessons, and these resulted from reasons such as shortcut of intended inquiry
opportunities; tasks that were too demanding; over ambitious timing; and ineffective
communication with pupils. However, Dutch, Slovak and Vietnamese participants
were able to identify the shortcomings in their ICT in IBSE lessons and suggest
relevant revisions of their lesson plans for future use. To conclude, the basic design
of the ICT in IBSE course was effective, practical and transferable in the different
educational and cultural contexts of pre- and in-service teacher education in different
countries. The course can cater to diverse groups of teachers and teacher-education
programmes, and it fits into time-constraint conditions. For all three cases, the ICT in
IBSE course achieved its objectives to the pre-determined acceptable level, except
that for the ICT in IBSE part there was still much room for improvement.
Considering the issue of teachers learning to teach by inquiry, we prepared and
expected our course participants to get their first experience with inquiry teaching
with ICT. The theory-practice cycle was valuable to make them more aware of what
IBSE involves, of what are differences between guided versus open inquiry, and of
how to involve pupils in planning and interpretation of an experiment. It was
concluded that the educational and cultural system influences teachers’ perception
and implementation of inquiry-based teaching with ICT. This results in different
typical patterns of ICT in IBSE in different countries. The analysis of the lesson
plans and classroom tryouts using the inquiry-analysis inventory revealed considerable inconsistency between inquiry objectives and activity specifications and noticeable deviations between intended and actual IBSE lessons. These are persistent
problems, which have been reported worldwide (Abrahams and Millar 2008; Abrahams and Reiss 2012; Tamir and Lunetta 1981). Many teachers do have problems to
operationalise inquiry in the classroom, even in countries like the UK and the US
where inquiry has been emphasised in the curriculum for a long time. Research
findings from the Vietnamese case study shed light on challenges of and potential
solutions to the application of IBSE in a hierarchical education culture. Obviously,
the ICT in IBSE course under the time constraints does not push its participants far
enough yet in the direction of inquiry teaching with ICT. Participants’ achievement
through the course is a starting point; more theory-practice cycles are needed to bring
them further in such ICT in IBSE direction.
In the present research, the applied pedagogical principles proved to be valid in
providing not only the framework for implementing, evaluating, and optimising the
course in a specific context but also guidelines for effective adaptation of the course
to varying boundary conditions. When adapting the course to a different context, the
“one theory-practice cycle” principle should not be changed. Instead, the “depthfirst” and “distributed learning” principles can be adjusted by the course instructor to
some extent to the specific context, considering the entrance level and other characteristics of the participants and the scheduling requirements. The “ownership of
learning” principle has to be enabled to provide a dial for participants to self-tune the
course to their own interest and ability. The adjustment with distributed learning and
depth-first makes the first flexible phase: ICT mastery, which can be lengthened
(Slovak case) and compressed (Vietnamese case) in order to compensate for the low
ICT entrance, accommodate diversity of the participants, and align their activities,
156
T. Ellermeijer and T.-B. Tran
opportunities; tasks that were too demanding; over ambitious timing; and ineffective
communication with pupils. However, Dutch, Slovak and Vietnamese participants
were able to identify the shortcomings in their ICT in IBSE lessons and suggest
relevant revisions of their lesson plans for future use. To conclude, the basic design
of the ICT in IBSE course was effective, practical and transferable in the different
educational and cultural contexts of pre- and in-service teacher education in different
countries. The course can cater to diverse groups of teachers and teacher-education
programmes, and it fits into time-constraint conditions. For all three cases, the ICT in
IBSE course achieved its objectives to the pre-determined acceptable level, except
that for the ICT in IBSE part there was still much room for improvement.
Considering the issue of teachers learning to teach by inquiry, we prepared and
expected our course participants to get their first experience with inquiry teaching
with ICT. The theory-practice cycle was valuable to make them more aware of what
IBSE involves, of what are differences between guided versus open inquiry, and of
how to involve pupils in planning and interpretation of an experiment. It was
concluded that the educational and cultural system influences teachers’ perception
and implementation of inquiry-based teaching with ICT. This results in different
typical patterns of ICT in IBSE in different countries. The analysis of the lesson
plans and classroom tryouts using the inquiry-analysis inventory revealed considerable inconsistency between inquiry objectives and activity specifications and noticeable deviations between intended and actual IBSE lessons. These are persistent
problems, which have been reported worldwide (Abrahams and Millar 2008; Abrahams and Reiss 2012; Tamir and Lunetta 1981). Many teachers do have problems to
operationalise inquiry in the classroom, even in countries like the UK and the US
where inquiry has been emphasised in the curriculum for a long time. Research
findings from the Vietnamese case study shed light on challenges of and potential
solutions to the application of IBSE in a hierarchical education culture. Obviously,
the ICT in IBSE course under the time constraints does not push its participants far
enough yet in the direction of inquiry teaching with ICT. Participants’ achievement
through the course is a starting point; more theory-practice cycles are needed to bring
them further in such ICT in IBSE direction.
In the present research, the applied pedagogical principles proved to be valid in
providing not only the framework for implementing, evaluating, and optimising the
course in a specific context but also guidelines for effective adaptation of the course
to varying boundary conditions. When adapting the course to a different context, the
“one theory-practice cycle” principle should not be changed. Instead, the “depthfirst” and “distributed learning” principles can be adjusted by the course instructor to
some extent to the specific context, considering the entrance level and other characteristics of the participants and the scheduling requirements. The “ownership of
learning” principle has to be enabled to provide a dial for participants to self-tune the
course to their own interest and ability. The adjustment with distributed learning and
depth-first makes the first flexible phase: ICT mastery, which can be lengthened
(Slovak case) and compressed (Vietnamese case) in order to compensate for the low
ICT entrance, accommodate diversity of the participants, and align their activities,
156
T. Ellermeijer and T.-B. Tran