Teachers working together, and engaging in reflective dialogue, with the common goal of improving practice and increasing students’ learning (according to Woodland et al., 2013 ).
Published in Chapter:
Science and Mathematics Teacher Collaboration in Higher Education: A Pedagogical Experience Using Inquiry Learning Spaces
Bento Cavadas (Lusófona University, Portugal & Polytechnic Institute of Santarém, Portugal) and
Neusa Branco (Polytechnic Institute of Santarém, Portugal & CIAC, Algarve University, Portugal)
Copyright: © 2023
|Pages: 28
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-6684-5765-8.ch009
Abstract
Collaboration between teachers is essential for professional development. This work presents two collaborative teacher cycles of inquiry, with the aim of characterizing the dynamics between four higher education teachers involved in a collaborative experience related to the creation, implementation, and evaluation of interdisciplinary inquiry learning spaces (ILS). Written communications between the participants, field notes, the ILS produced, ILS assessment rubrics, and meetings summary were used as data sources. Initially, teachers met to organize the interdisciplinary work, and two subteams were formed, each one with one math teacher and one science teacher. Collaborative work is evident in each subteam and between both teams on dialogue, decision making, action, and evaluation components. The interdisciplinary collaboration had a strong focus on mathematical and science content knowledge as well as pedagogical content knowledge of the ILS. Furthermore, it promoted the reflection on teachers' own practice and their effects on student learning.