30 years of life of the Heureka project

Heureka (“Eureka” in English) is a long-term project aimed at improving physics education in lower and upper secondary schools in the Czech Republic. It began informally “from below” about 30 years ago. Since then, it has expanded to include three series of weekend seminars for physics teachers, along with various other activities such as the annual conference. The project’s proceedings are freely available on the Heureka website for teachers; many other materials can be found on the wiki for participants. Despite the restrictions due to covid pandemic, the project has continued to thrive, maintaining its inquiry-based teaching approach and active learning style even in the online environment. This paper provides more detailed information about the project, feedback from participants, and the lessons learned from the experience. We hope that this information will prove useful and inspiring for leaders of similar projects targeting physics teachers.


Introduction: what is Heureka?
Heureka ("Eureka" in English) encompasses several interconnected elements and activities.It can be seen as: a) A teaching methodology and approach for physics education that emphasizes interaction, active student participation, discovery (or inquiry-based) learning, creating a safe environment (where it is possible to learn from mistakes), and adopting a formative approach to students' development.Overall, its objective is to enhance students' thinking skills and foster a growth mindset, particularly in the context of physics education.This approach utilizes a variety of experiments, problems, and tasks, supported by advanced methodological and supplementary materials.However, it also allows teachers the flexibility to adapt their teaching to specific circumstances and individual needs.
b) A long-term project dedicated to providing professional development for physics teachers and preparing future educators.It guides teachers in implementing and advancing the aforementioned instructional approaches in their teaching practice.These approaches are also integrated into seminars and other project-related events, enabling participants to experience them first-hand as students.This experiential aspect enhances the clarity of the approaches, as they are not described only in theory.Furthermore, this aligns with the notion that teachers tend to teach as they have been taught.c) A community of teachers who have undergone Heureka seminars and continue to share and develop their experiences.It is a loosely connected network of lower and upper secondary school teachers (including some university physics teacher educators) who gather at conferences and other events to exchange ideas, offer advice, and support one another.They are willing to listen, provide guidance, and assist their colleagues in schools, often encouraging them to participate in Heureka seminars as new participants.
d) The foundation and "seedbed" of the broader Elixir to Schools project, which provides and develops a network of regional centres across the Czech Republic where teachers from each respective region meet on a monthly basis.These centres are led by experienced physics teachers, most of whom have participated in Heureka seminars.Heureka and Elixir to Schools do not compete; rather, they collaborate and complement each other.In the subsequent sections of this paper, we will primarily focus on Heureka as a project.

Nature of the project
One of the fundamental aspects of the project is that it is developed from below, through the efforts of physics teachers.It initially began as an informal initiative led by a small group of individuals and, despite having now attracted hundreds of participants, it has maintained its informal nature.This is evident, for instance, in the practice of teachers staying overnight at the schools where Heureka seminars and conferences are held, which allows discussions to extend well into the evening.
Voluntary participation and intrinsic motivation are also key features of the project.While participants do receive a certificate of completion, it is not the primary reason for their attendance at the seminars.They return to Heureka events because they believe it benefits them in their work and personal development.This is another crucial aspect of Heureka: it is strongly focused on supporting teachers.
Creating a safe environment is important.At Heureka, we emphasize that students can make mistakes and learn from them without fear of criticism or ridicule.The same principle applies to working with teachers.Additionally, openness to new suggestions and ideas is highly valued.For example, participants in seminars often share alternative teaching approaches, which enrich discussions and provide new suggestions to everyone involved.The Heureka methodology, however detailed, is not presented as the only correct way to teach certain topics.Teachers are free to find and develop their own ways.
Longevity is also a critical aspect of Heureka, as mentioned earlier.It is not an activity limited to a year or a few years, for example, because linking to some formal project funded from above.This longevity allows for gradual development of the entire project, which we will discuss further below.
Certainly, the project requires funding, and it seeks and combines funds from various sources.However, its essential characteristic is its non-commercial nature.Participation in the seminars and conferences is completely free of charge; what participants invest is their time and willingness to travel, sometimes long distances.They also invest the willingness to actively participate, dedicating sufficient energy and mental effort, including the courage to expose their own misconceptions and lack of understanding in certain areas and the determination to address these shortcomings.Associated with its non-commercial nature is the way we view the project leaders and leaders of seminars and other events.We do not see them as "course providers" with participants as "clients".Instead, we perceive all people involved in Heureka as collaborators, partners, and members of one team-a community striving to enhance physics education.
Collaboration is a characteristic feature that extends to other stakeholders in the field of physics education in our country, such as physics educators in universities, departments of faculties involved in training physics teachers, and, last but not least, the non-profit organization Elixir to Schools mentioned earlier.Once again, we all share a common goal: to develop and enhance physics education to benefit lower and upper secondary school students and to provide teachers with a fulfilling and satisfying experience.

What drives Heureka
Considering that Heureka has endured for such a long time, it is natural to ask what its "driving forces" are.Since the project's most vital component is its people, understanding the long-term motivation of individuals is key to answering this question.
For participants, dissatisfaction with the current state of affairs often serves as the primary motivation for joining Heureka workshops initially.(In fact, this was the main reason why one of the authors of this article, I.D., began searching for ways to enhance her teaching so that both she and her students could enjoy it.This, in fact, started the entire Heureka project, as referenced in [1].)New participants also include teachers from other subjects who have been assigned to teach physics due to a shortage of physics teachers.For them, the determination to master physics teaching becomes a significant driving force.
Another crucial factor, on a positive note, is the experience of effective teaching methods in physics-the kind of instruction that engages students and improves their comprehension of the subject matter and associated skills.This first-hand experience is invaluable for the project leaders (and seminar leaders).Likewise, participants benefit from a similar positive factor: the realization that they can make improvements, as what they learn in the project seminars genuinely enhances their own classroom teaching.Naturally, it is not a miraculous remedy that effortlessly improves everything by 1,000 percent; progress is gradual and requires effort and careful consideration from teachers on how to apply these methods and methodologies to their specific classroom conditions.Often, it involves taking small steps, but it is a process that yields rewarding results for teachers, affirming their belief that the endeavour is worthwhile.
Both participants and leaders are strongly motivated by the need for sharing and a sense of community.Participants frequently report arriving tired but finding their energy revitalized ("their batteries recharged", as they say) during the meetings.
From the perspective of the leaders, what truly matters is perceiving their work as meaningful.The fact that teachers repeatedly attend the meetings serves as evidence that Heureka genuinely provides them with something valuable for their teaching practice and personal development.

History and present
Let's delve into what has happened and is currently happening in Heureka: a) 30 years ago In the early 1990s, Heureka emerged as an initiative of a few individuals who contemplated ways to enhance the quality of physics education and make it interesting and beneficial for students.By "interesting", we don't merely mean making it entertaining or just "fun" in the narrow sense of the term.On the contrary, the approach that Heureka developed was more challenging for the pupils than rote learning.It encouraged them to think and work actively-although the slogan "hands-on, mindson" was not yet familiar to the participants.Nonetheless, through their experiences and observations, they independently arrived at an approach consistent with constructivism and inquiry-based science education.Notably, one of the authors of this article (I.D.) applied, validated, and refined this approach in her teaching at the lower secondary level.However, during these early days, Heureka remained a small circle comprising only a handful of people.
b) 20 years ago The author (I.D.) published several articles about her experiences in Czech journals.As a result, people began to show interest in the teaching system she had developed.In response, I.D. established a system of weekend seminars, which has proven successful and is still utilized today.The seminars start on Friday evening and end at noon on Sunday.They take place at the school premises, as mentioned before, with participants staying overnight to facilitate informal discussions and often engage in further physics experimentation late into the evening.New participants undergo a two-year cycle of seminars.Initially, the cycle consisted of eight or nine seminars, the number eventually settled at 10 seminars over two years.The number of participants ranges from 20 to 25, sometimes even more.Moreover, seminars specifically tailored for "traditional participants" and smaller regional seminars have gradually been organized.Also, optional seminars were introduced at the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, Charles University to familiarize future physics teachers with the Heureka methodology.
Additionally, since 2002, an annual weekend conference of the Heureka Workshop has been held in the autumn, inviting all project participants and other interested individuals (see [2]).Approximately 100 to 130 teachers attend this conference.Notably, this conference distinguishes itself by the absence of lectures or plenary presentations.Instead, it takes the form of workshops led by project leaders and, notably, the teachers themselves.Each workshop lasts 90 minutes and is repeated several times (up to four times) during the conference.Participants have the autonomy to create their own agenda and manage to attend eight different workshops over the weekend.c) 10 years ago The system of weekend seminars for new participants had become quite standard and well-established by this time, with the sixth two-year cycle taking place in 2013.The 11th edition of the Heureka Workshop Conference was also held.Peer-reviewed conference proceedings had been published since 2008 in electronic form on CD.By 2013, the proceedings from previous years were also available on CD, comprising a total of 158 papers spanning almost 1400 pages.Additionally, extensive methodological materials were produced for project participants.Irena Dvořáková delivered an invited lecture on the project, the Heureka approach, and how it fosters students' scientific thinking at the ICPE 2013 international conference.A written version of the lecture is available at [1].For further information on the project's development at this stage, refer to [3].Moreover, at the same time, Heureka played a crucial role in the establishment of a network of regional centres for physics teachers, which later evolved into the Elixir to Schools project.The leaders of the first 15 centres were experienced physics teachers who had previously participated in Heureka workshops.d) Today For several years now, two successful series of seminars for new Heureka participants have been running, along with a series aimed at teaching physics at upper secondary schools, particularly for participants who have completed the basic two-year seminar cycle.The number of seminar leaders has accordingly increased, gradually involving other (younger) assistants and collaborators to lead and support the seminars.
Since the start of Heureka, a total of 193 "basic weekend seminars" have been held, in addition to 99 additional weekend seminars for "old participants", regional seminars, and others.When combined with the Heureka Workshop conferences, this amounts to a total of 311 weekend seminars.Overall, Heureka has reached nearly six hundred current and future physics teachers, estimated to be around 8% of all physics teachers in the Czech Republic.Through Elixir to Schools, which Heureka helped initiate and develop, its reach extends even further to encompass over two thousand physics teachers in total.
The Heureka Workshop conferences are held annually, with the exception of 2020 due to covid.Proceedings are published electronically on the web, and older proceedings are accessible on the Heureka website, freely available to anyone interested, not just teachers who have participated in the project.To date, there have been 323 contributions comprising over 2700 pages.
A wide range of methodologies and materials are available for project participants on the project Wiki, covering all topics in physics at the junior secondary school level (age group 12-15).Some of these methodologies are also freely accessible to interested individuals outside of Heureka on the project website.
The project activity continued even in times of covid restrictions, with seminars being organized in an online format.The active and inquiry-based approach was maintained, as discussed in [4].However, once the restrictions were lifted, participants eagerly returned to the face-to-face format of the seminars.The seminars continue to evolve and adapt to meet the needs of participants, increasingly leveraging digital technology and further developing active participant engagement.
The Elixir to Schools project has expanded into an extensive network of regional centres.Taking inspiration from the physics centres (now numbering 30, along with 17 "flying centres" where leaders travel to), centres have been established to support the teaching of computer science and digital technology in schools, as well as several chemistry centres.Moreover, several centres focus on introducing science elements into kindergartens and primary schools.Heureka and Elixir to Schools maintain a close collaboration, mutually inspiring each other.Additionally, Heureka now receives a substantial portion of its funding through Elixir to Schools.

Feedback from participants
Opinions of the participants are gathered through surveys conducted after each event, and the response is very positive.In the post-seminar surveys, we let participants rate how interesting (for them personally) and how useful (for their teaching) the different parts of the workshop were.Using a Likert scale of -2 to +2, the average ratings for each activity consistently exceed 1.5, often reaching 1.8 or higher.
To illustrate the benefits that teachers gain from participating in Heureka, here are some quotes: • "We have become convinced that teaching through inquiry makes sense.I think I still have a lot to improve on, but I'm on the right track.:-)" • "I now have a good understanding of the topic and look forward to teaching it, even though I used to be afraid of it."• "It's useful to try everything out for myself, create the tools, measure and plot the values.
Experiencing what it's like from a student's perspective, and keeping their attention while they engage in interesting experiments in the classroom, while the teacher is still trying to explain 'something'."• "This is like discovering a new continent for me.Not long ago, it was completely unexplored territory and Greek to me.I am enjoying it so much that I'm starting to understand it.Learning has become fun."• "I didn't enjoy learning about electricity and electromagnetism before, but this weekend I liked the subject because of the new experiments and simplifications I didn't know.Thank you very much."• "Everything was great.I don't have a degree in physics, but the seminar helps me gain insights and understanding, providing inspiration for experiments.Thank you very much for your help."• "I'm glad I'm finally gaining a better grasp of this area of physics.It's rewarding to see that the effort I put into rethinking has paid off." • "I really look forward to every meeting, and I live for preparing tools for kids.You are pushing me incredibly.Thanks and have a great summer!" • "What I like about myself is that I'm no longer afraid of embarrassing myself.I think we've grown as a collective where I don't have to worry about 'slipping up' too."• "I now understand what can cause problems for kids." • "Heureka has been an absolutely invaluable experience for my teaching career." • "Thank you so much for your work with preparation.This time, the mental support and ideas for my teaching from the teachers during informal discussions during breaks helped me a lot." • "The experiments that I know theoretically, I saw with my own eyes, with explanations and practical advice."• "I came home excited and recounted everything to my 22-year-old daughter, a law student.
Her reaction was: 'Mum, I should have gone to study physics.' :-)" • "As a mom of three young children, time is a truly precious commodity for me.I don't regret one minute I spent with you here.I really bring a lot to class, and you make my job a lot easier."• "Hold on, we need to continue to positively influence physics teachers to teach physics in an interesting and useful way."And here are some quotes from the final questionnaire of one of the cycles of Heureka seminars in response to the question, "What has changed in me or in my relationship with the students during my participation in Heureka?": • "I probably have better relationships with the students.One of the reasons is that I am less demanding.I have rethought the way I test, and I try to find out more about what the pupils know rather than what they don't know."• "I'm more confident, more self-assured, and less afraid of making mistakes." • "Again, I've realized how little I know and how much I appreciate new suggestions." • "I put more emphasis on experimentation and independent work by the pupils." • "I have started to use self-reflection and self-assessment with the pupils.It's a lot better than I thought it would be beforehand."

Experience gained
The partnership between the project leaders and the participants mentioned above has proven to be long-lasting.It is advisable to reflect, collect, and respond to participants' opinions and suggestions, both informally and through surveys.One appropriate form of reflection is to ask participants what they have taken away from previous seminars and how they have used it in their teaching.By doing so, the seminar series demonstrates how teachers gain confidence and what strategies work for them.This also contributes to increasing their motivation, as mentioned earlier.
For a project like Heureka, raising the necessary financial resources is essential.Experience has shown that long-term viability and a good reputation among teachers are advantageous in attracting sponsors and donors.While there have been times in the past when Heureka's funding was uncertain, funds have always been secured in the end.When seeking support, it is advisable to aim for longerterm commitments.
Having the backing of an institution that guarantees the professional accuracy of seminars´ content and lends credibility to the project is highly beneficial.Heureka has the advantage of being associated with the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics of Charles University, with which the core group of leaders is also linked in terms of personnel.The mutual trust between the institution and the project leaders is invaluable, as it allows the project considerable flexibility and freedom in developing support for teachers.
A project the size of Heureka cannot rely on a single person.Therefore, it is necessary to involve a wider group of individuals in project management, material development, and other activities, gradually including younger collaborators.Collaboration, experience sharing, and mutual support within the leadership team are also crucial to prevent burnout.
Another important lesson is the need to adapt to changing conditions.For instance, the Heureka Workshop conferences, which were traditionally held in one location, have transitioned to being hosted in schools across different cities in recent years.We have already mentioned the fact that covid disrupted face-to-face seminars, prompting their replacement with online seminars.Although not everything went perfectly and some face-to-face seminars had to be added later, it was discovered that inquiry-based and active forms of work can be conducted online.Additionally, efforts were made to encourage contact and sharing among seminar participants through other informal online meetings, which have continued to some extent even after the end of the restrictions.Undoubtedly, there will be further adaptations in response to changing conditions in the future.

Conclusion: Future Outlook
The current state of Heureka has been shaped through gradual evolution rather than dramatic shifts or top-down directives.It is our aim to maintain this evolutionary nature of the project in the future.We want to preserve the current essence of Heureka, characterized by informality, a safe and friendly environment, a non-commercial approach, and openness and partnership among all stakeholders.By doing so, we hope to continue supporting teachers for years to come.
If Heureka, or certain aspects of it, can serve as an example and inspire similar projects and initiatives that connect teachers and enable them to enhance their teaching of physics or any other subject, we would be glad.If you are interested, please feel free to contact us or consider attending a Heureka Workshop conference.Information can be found on our website [5].