Guided Discovery Teacher Training Online

This paper presents our experience with online teacher workshops led by the guided discovery method. It gives concrete examples of the different activities we have tried in 2020-2021. The article also specifies the minimum necessary technical equipment of the workplace for online learning and the necessary organizational support. We did not conduct any statistical research on the effectiveness of our work during the online learning process, so here are quotes from teachers from the feedback we collected from each workshop.


Introduction
We consider guided discovery to be the basic and most effective method of working with students in physics.In [1], the author defines this approach as: "Guided discovery learning combines pointing the way to understanding or problem-solving by a guide with the discovery of facts, relationships, and solutions by students themselves, as they explore, manipulate objects, discuss, or perform experiments, drawing upon their own experience and existing knowledge."We have been using this method of teaching for many years in both junior and higher secondary schools within the Heureka project [2].The same approach is used also when working with teachers.We believe that teachers in in-service training seminars should learn the same methods that they will then use in schools.
The author of article [3] emphasizes the necessity of a correct understanding of basic concepts in physics by the teachers, which is achieved through the use of inquiry: "We have found that the sense of empowerment that results when teachers have developed a sound conceptual understanding of the science content that they are expected to teach greatly increases their confidence in their ability to deal with unexpected situations in the classroom." For this reason, we use inquiry-based education both in the long-term courses of the Heureka project and in the meetings of the regional centres of Elixir for schools.The basic principles of working with teachers in both of these projects have been described in [4].
The seminars of the projects Heureka and Elixir for schools are attended by physics teachers from lower and higher secondary schools, some of whom teach physics but do not have a degree in it (there is a shortage of approved physics teachers in the Czech Republic, especially in some regions).Approximately 15 -40 teachers participate in each seminar.

Transition to online learning -a significant change
In 2020, however, the situation suddenly changed completely.Due to the covid quarantine situation, classroom teaching and all live seminars were cancelled.In spite of these restrictions, we did not want to interrupt our work with teachers.We have been thinking about whether the inquiry-based approach can be transferred to the online space, and looking at ways how to do this.Many times we encountered the view that guided discovery requires direct interaction with students in the classroom, that it is not possible to teach online in this way.However, we have gradually found ways to teach in this way.It has shown that there is no need to give up on research-oriented teaching and learning in online education.

Experience with online teaching
In our paper, we present how we transferred the Heureka and Elixir for schools seminars to the online form.
Online learning has its specific aspects.The authors state in the paper [5] that it is necessary to take into account students' self-organization abilities, students' communication (with their peers and instructors), the technical conditions (for example, the accessibility to a computer and stable internet connection), students' attitudes towards online learning and also learning achievements and expected learning outcomes.
In our courses, we worked with teachers, but they were in the role of students, so the abovementioned aspects also concerned them.Even in our courses, in some cases it happened that the participants did not want to be actively involved in the work, preferring just to watch the lessons.Thanks to the fact that these were voluntary seminars, not mandatory classes, these situations occurred only rarely.
During the years 2020-2021, several dozen online seminars were held, lasting from two hours to 16 hours on two weekend days Approximately 15 -40 teachers participate in each seminar, many of whom participated in the entire course, i.e. five weekend seminars.
The objectives of the online seminars were the same as for regular work with teachers.On the one handour goals were to help them deepen their knowledge of physics themselves (because some participants do not have a professional education in physics), and above all we wanted to show them how they can use guided discovery learning in their work with pupils.The situation where everyone had to switch to online education overnight was new and surprising for all of us, we had no experience with online education.That is why we wanted to help teachers in our courses.Of course, this way of organizing seminars in our case requires appropriate conditions mentioned above, both technical -low-cost but well-working "broadcasting studio" from common equipment (video camera, "Jabra-type" microphone, large monitor, all attached to a PC), sufficient internet connection of all participants, etc. -and organizational.It is necessary to send a list of required tools to participants in advance, which must be very simple and easily accessible.Also, the cooperation of all participants is essential, of course.
Online seminars with teachers also had their advantages.Teachers who were unable to attend the inperson seminars due to illness or other reasons could participate online.Two lecturers from different towns can co-lead the seminar.Also, the organizers need not care for catering and accommodation of participants.

Several examples of the activities
In the paper, we give specific examples of activities with teachers, our experiences, advantages and disadvantages of this approach.

Do it yourself
This is a basic method of discovery learning that needs to be transferred to online seminars if we want to maintain the active work of participants.The leader must select experiments that will help to achieve the goals of the workshop and must share the list of necessary tools with participants in advance.The aids must, of course, be readily available to the participants.For this reason, we did not include topics such as voltage and current measurements, electromagnetic induction, etc., as the tools for these topics are not available to the participants when they connect from home.
Figure 1 shows how teachers experiment with a candle at home -specifically, they try to light it from a distance and thus verify the existence of wax vapors.

Let's work together (even if each from their own kitchen)
A proven method (and often surprising for the participants) was to work on a common task.Each participant took a measurement, put it into a common table and then we made conclusions together.For example, we investigated a mathematical pendulum in this way, with each participant measuring the time of ten oscillations for a given length.The participants filled in the measured values in a shared table, and the leader then created the corresponding graph, which was then discussed together.Figure 2 shows photos from the home experiments, as well as the results that the participants added to the common table and the resulting graph.The table is original in Czech, the translation of the words is given in the description of the picture.
The activity (though not in the online form) is described in detail in [2].

Let's go to the (virtual) excursion
At a time when it was not possible to visit scientific workplaces in real life, we could at least visit them virtually.For example, we visited the Czech nuclear power plant in Dukovany and the ITER research site during the seminars.During the excursion we were of course not able to touch the various devices, but we saw many of them in greater detail.And we didn't have to spend time travelling across the country or Europe.Thanks to the helpfulness of the experienced staff at the plant, we did not even miss out on the explanation during the online excursion, they prepared a detailed tour for us.

We need to discuss an issue in groups
Group work is a very common method of working in guided discovery learning.That is why we tried to include it also in the online seminars.We had to familiarize ourselves with different applications that enable and support group work.We then used them routinely -for initial pleasant chats, for collaborative problem solving, for sharing experiences, etc.For example, we used Jamboard, Padlet, White board and others.
Figure 4 shows the result of group work regarding different options for working with pupils during school closures because of the COVID pandemic (left in Czech as an illustration).

. Let's take a look back at what we have learned
The formative approach is important both in school when working with pupils and when working with teachers.Therefore, we needed to include it in the online seminars too.We used different reflective methods -the simplest ones included voting using thumbs up or down (answering yes-no) or answering a short reflective question in the chat.For deeper reflection, we again used various apps that allow more people to express their views or ideas.

Teachers' feedback on the seminars
At the end of each seminar, we asked teachers for their feedback on the program.Some of the teachers' responses expressing their feelings about the online format of the seminars are listed below. I liked that we were involved in discovering physical knowledge in the online environment as well.And I always like enough space for our questions, problems we didn't understand, and the like. Thank you so much, even through the screens you were able to bring us together. What I like about myself is that I stop worrying about embarrassing myself, I think we, as a collective where I don't have to worry about "slipping up", have grown. It was very helpful.I was afraid to teach this topic online, but now I dare to do it and I have many ideas about what to do with pupils during distance education. I admired how all materials were prepared and how you worked with us during online teaching.
It was very illuminating for me.

Conclusion
Although we believe that this extraordinary situation -the necessity of conducting long-term onlineonly seminars -will not happen again, we are transferring some of our experience to our regular work with teachers.
In addition to the face-to-face seminars, we have included occasional optional evening online meetings in the Heureka course since September 2022.In these sessions, participants share what they have tried out in their teaching, what they are doing well and what they need help with.By not having  Be able to recognize movement  We do not rely on technical details, what is important is the understanding of charts (creating a chart, reading from a chart). We do not try to create artificial situations (such as movement tasks).Instead, we draw from classroom situations (animal movement) and intersperse it with humour (animals, witches). That children can experience graphs as a story and get under their skin and not be afraid of them. We started with real displacements and then limited ourselves to uniform rectilinear motion  Whether a body moves or not depends on what we compare it to  The term acceleration does not need to be heart at all children perceive it intuitively. Graphs are more visual for children than calculations. Description of actual movements. Real measurements given in the graph.
to "go over" any content, there is more time to talk and discuss.These meetings are attended by about 20 people (out of 30 course participants).Their feedback could be interesting, too:  I appreciate it, it is a reminder and inspiration to me. A useful opportunity to share my experiences and get advice if needed. I found it great to share stories with each other and especially tips on individual experiments. Enjoyable, motivating. Enjoyable meeting, reminders of all that was done.
The second activity we have left out from online seminars is a reflection on the last meeting using Padlet.Participants consider it a pleasant reminder of the last meeting and a follow-up on their questions.Nowadays it is also quite normal for us to lead seminars in a hybrid way.If some of the participants cannot attend the seminar in person, they ask to join and participate online.Even if this is not quite full participation, (the program is not ready for online broadcasting), they will at least partially get an overview of what was done at the meeting.
In conclusion, the lockdown period has been challenging, but it has pushed us forward and we are doing things we would never have done otherwise and we would have thought them to be impossible.

Figure 1 .
Figure 1.Experiment with a candle

Figure 3 .
Figure 3. Virtual excursion to the Czech nuclear power plant Dukovany

Figure 4 .
Figure 4. Online discussion in groups 4.5.Let's take a look back at what we have learnedThe formative approach is important both in school when working with pupils and when working with teachers.Therefore, we needed to include it in the online seminars too.We used different reflective methods -the simplest ones included voting using thumbs up or down (answering yes-no) or answering a short reflective question in the chat.For deeper reflection, we again used various apps that allow more people to express their views or ideas.

Figure 5 .
Figure 5. Reflection on the seminar (the question was "What important ideas do you take away from the topic Movement?"The original is left in Czech, a few ideas are translated below)