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The NTA program- A Swedish School
Improvement Program for Science Education,
The Compulsory School, Kindergarten- Grade 9Kerstin Reimstad, The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
www.nta.nu
The NTA program ( NTA is the Swedish acronym for Science and Technology for Children)has been integrated as part of the regular curriculum since 2004. It was run as a project from 1997-2003 by The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and The Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences.The NTA program has two divisions: NTAP&S (NTA Production and Services) and NTA R&D(NTA Research and Development). NTA P&Sis a cooperative economic association, started by the participating municipalities. The academies established a new project, NTA R&D.
NTA P&S provides curricular units consisting of guides for teachers and students; experiential materials and services; professional development programs (e.g. professional development for NTA trainers); seminars and conferences for NTA coordinators; follow-up sessions and assessment of the units and services; marketing of the NTA program; and an ongoing network with members of the association.
NTA R&D adapts, improves and develops new and supplementary units on the basis of research and experiences of participating teachers and students in the NTA program. A research program is being designed for practice-oriented research in educational science, using the NTA program and the participating municipalities as an arena for such research.
I. The Swedish School SystemThe Swedish compulsory school (between the age of 7 and 15) got a radically new curriculum in 1994, which includes teaching and learning in science and technology starting in grade 1. The syllabus for each subject contains detailed goals to attain and goals to aim for in grade 5 and 9. Goals to attain define the minimum knowledge to be attained by all students in the fifth and ninth year of school. The syllabi are designed to make clear what all students should learn while leaving it to local school authorities, teachers and students to choose their own materials and working methods.
Around the same time in the early 1990’s the full fiscal and academic responsibility for implementation in the compulsory school was transferred from the national to the local governments of Sweden’s 283 municipalities.
Many primary school teachers have little training and experience in science teaching.Municipalities were not well prepared for the challenge of local school development and to provide teachers’ in-service training. Thus there are often serious difficulties in meeting the goals of the national curriculum, in particular in Science and Technology.
II. The Academies and the NTA ProgramThrough self studies and external ones conducted in the 1980’s, The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences became increasingly concerned about what appears to be a falling interest for science among young people. While being in general enthusiastic at the start of their education, a majority of students’ interest seems to diminish by the time they enter middle school. To help improve this situation, the academy found it important to support science teachers by offering yearly teacher conferences throughout Sweden and awarding annual teacher prizes in Mathematics, Biology, Chemistry and Physics.
In 1996, The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, together with The Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Science, launched a program to develop and support inquiry based learning and teaching in science and technology in the Swedish compulsory school. The Swedish program is based on an ongoing collaboration with The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) and The National Sciences Resources Center (NSRC) in the US.
The NTA program is built around a number of components that were inspired by the NSRC, including its curriculum, Science and Technology for Children (STC) which has been translated and adapted for use in the Swedish school system and culture.
III. The NTA Start-up PhaseThe year 2003 marks the end of the start-up phase of the NTA program in K-6 levels in Swedish municipalities and independent schools. The program was built up by the academies in close cooperation with the participating municipalities. By the start of 1997 the participation had increased to 34 municipalities and 4 independent schools. The goal for this phase set in 1977 was to expand to 20 municipalities and 14 units for F-6 and has thus been reached by a good margin.
Sustainability of NTAThe municipalities, their teachers, students and parents appreciated NTA as stimulus and support for their improvement of education in Science and Technology. The academies also appreciated the impact of NTA and its reception by the educational community and decided together with the participating municipalities to continue the program in two new organizations.
The municipalities and schools active in 2003 formed a cooperative economic association, NTA P&S (NTA Production and Service), in order to continue and finance the regular work with existing materials and services. NTA P&S also takes care of the further dissemination of NTA to new municipalities and schools by recruiting them as members of the association, thereby obtaining further scale-up benefits.
A condition posed by the municipalities for forming NTA P&S was that the academies continue the development of new and maintenance of old curricular units, education and services. To this end, the academies have formed a new project called NTA R&D (NTA Research and Development).
NTA P&S provides curricular units consisting of guides for teachers, guides for student experiments, materials, and professional development for teachers. The units are: 1) Solids and Liquids; 2) Comparing and Measuring; 3) Changes; 4) Balancing and weighing; 5) Soils; 6) The Life Cycle of Butterflies; 7) Plant Growth and Development; 8)Electric Circuits; 9) Chemical Tests; 10) Motion and Design; 11) Measuring Time; 12)Food Chemistry; 13) Floating and Sinking; and 14) Magnets and Motors.
NTA P&S also provides services such as professional for the NTA trainers, conferences for the NTA coordinators, seminars for other various groups, follow-up sessions.It also assesses the units and the services and has an ongoing collaboration with the members in the association. NTA P&S also takes care of the further dissemination of NTA to new municipalities and schools by recruiting them as members of the organization, thereby obtaining further scaling-up benefits.
In collaboration with the Stockholm Institute of Education, Stockholm university and Linköping university various university-level courses aimed specifically at NTA teachers,NTA instructors, prospective NTA instructors andcoordinators have been developed. The participants have studied scientific concepts and phenomena built into the NTA units and have also planned and carried outlocal development projects.
NTA R&D adapts, improves and develops new units and the existing units, professional development programs and other services, improves these based on research and experience gained in the schools and in the municipalities.NTA R&D also continues and expands the NTA program for grades 7-9 on the demands from NTA P&S.
NTA R&D is also developing a program for practice-oriented research in educational science and to use the NTA program and the participating municipalities as an arena for such research. In several countries (including US and UK, see e. g. W. Harlen in this conference) the curriculum includes excessive testing at high stakes, which appears to stigmatize real school development in particular for S&T.
The present Swedish curriculum is an almost perfect match with the philosophy of inquiry based education and this has been intentionally exploited in its implementation in NTA. This situation may change if Sweden decides to follow the present trend of curricula developments in many other countries. It is therefore an important challenge to explore with careful innovative research to what extent the NTA Program helps the municipalities to improve the education and attitudes towards science among young people and to meet the goals in the curriculum. By April of 2005, 49 municipalities and 9 independent schools are members of The NTA Program.
IV. The Swedish NTA-program and its FrameworkThe U. S. National Academy of Sciences in cooperation with the Smithsonian Institution founded the National Science Resources Center (NSRC). Its aim is to improve the learning and teaching of science in the school districts around the US.
The Swedish NTA program is, to a large extent, developed and organized around a number of components, (e.g. curriculum development, professional development, organized materials support, community and administrative support, and assessment ), that were inspired by the NSRC. Some details of the original concept have changed and adapted to Swedish circumstances and the Swedish National Curriculum and Syllabi.
The NTA program is presently focused on 14 thematic experiential units (Table 1). The NTA units are translated and adapted from the American curriculum Science and Technology for Children. Students make inquiries while discussing and documenting the process they follow and their findings. The teaching sequence often involves brainstorming, making predictions, observing or conducting experiments, and applying knowledge to contexts outside school. Units also help the teacher to follow what students learn. A unit takes 10 to 12 weeks to complete and consists of a number of assignments connected by a common theme. All units are tested in several versions in multiple classrooms.
Table 1. NTA Unitsin Use (2005)
Grade
NTA unit
The students investigate
K-2
Solids and Liquids
Solid objects and liquids.
K-2
Comparing and Measuring
Different methods of measuring length.
K-2
Changes
Changes of everyday substances.
1-2
Balancing and Weighing
Size and weight by making a scale.
1-3
Soils
Soils and decomposition.
2-3
The Life Cycle of Butterflies
Study insect biology by raising butterflies.
3-5
Plant Growth and Development
The life cycle of plants by growing plants.
3-5
Electric Circuits
How circuits work and can be used.
4-5
Chemical Tests
Properties of substances to identify them.
4-6
Motion and Design
Mechanics by making a toy car.
5-6
Measuring Time
Astronomy and making time measuring devices.
5-6 (7)
Food Chemistry
Basic nutritive substances in food.
5-6 (7)
Floating and Sinking
What causes floating and sinking.
6 (7)
Magnets and Motors
Different kinds of magnets and their use.
VI. The Swedish Adaptation of NTA UnitsAlthough the American and Swedish systems are quite similar, there are differences in culture and pedagogical approaches that have to be taken into account in the adaptation of the program. Consequently, the success of the project to some extent depends on the adjustment of the text of the manuals and the illustrations to better fit activities in the Swedish classrooms. Thus, although there are no fundamental differences between the STC and the NTA units, the way they are presented and used differ in some respects.
Organized Materials SupportAnother component is organized materials support that supplies the teacher with all the material needed for a unit (experiential materials and written instructions for the teacher and sometimes also for the students). When the unit is completed, the teacher returns the material to a centre, where it is refurbished, and prepared for distribution to another class.
Continuous Professional DevelopmentHigh-quality professional development is essential for effective science education. As teachers´ understanding of science and pedagogy increases, they become increasingly adept at engaging students in the sciences.
Local Development SupportIn participating municipalities the NTA program makes it possible to create a long-term plan for school development involving also the local industry and institutions for higher education and research. Each participating municipality appoints a local coordinator for the project. Municipalities also evaluate the progress made by the local NTA project.
The NTA program is an organized forum for an on-going discussion about the science and technology curriculum involving teachers and their students, school administrators, politicians, scientists, engineers and education researchers.
VII. Services – Support for School Reform
The Professional Development Programs in the NTA Program:
Continuous professional development for teachers
Every teacher using a unit completes one day of training in that thematic area. Teachers are also given repeated opportunities to share their classroom experiences. Professional development is also carried out in collaboration with local educators (experienced teachers), industry, colleges and universities. The one-day unit training involves teachers gaining an understanding of an NTA unit through work with the unit assignments (lessons), consideration of didactical issues, and emphasis on observation, reflection and documentation as development tools.
University coursesIn collaboration with the Stockholm Institute of Education and Linköping University, a 5+ 5 point university-level course, entitled Science and Technology, has been conducted. Among other things, the course involves planning and carrying out a local development project for NTA instructors, prospective NTA instructors, coordinators and teachers. In 2003, the Department of Physics of Stockholm University offered a partly web-based, 5 point course entitled “Physics – how things work”.The course is aimed specifically at NTA teachers. Also during 2003, Linköping University conducted a university course specially designed for NTA teachers. The teachers have studied the scientific concepts and phenomena built into the NTA units.
The professional development program, The Leadership Institute for NTA trainers, was conducted to meet the municipalities’ needs for local NTA trainers who would in turn train their colleagues and support the municipalities’ work with continuous professional development, and who would help municipalities make use of the possibilities for development inherent in the NTA program. The Leadership Institute for NTA trainers, which required four days as well as time for reading, working and planning. The goals of the course include: understanding why the schools teach science and technology, understanding the role of the experiments, acquiring deeper knowledge of and insight into the NTA concept’s basic ideas and qualitative aims in relation to the national curricula and syllabi, and understanding the issues of adult education. In April of2005, there are 165 NTA instructors (trainers) in Sweden.
Professional development for NTA municipality coordinators
The NTA coordinators are key persons in the municipalities, particularly as developers of teaching and learning in science and technology, working at a central level in the municipalities. The NTA coordinators participated in two two-day seminars during 2004. Important aims of these seminars were to build networks in which participating municipalities could share experiences as well as to develop and improve the project’s strategies for long-term school reform. In close collaboration with the NTA coordinators, the project has also worked specifically with elaborating, anchoring and formulating its strategy for school reform. Another important focus of the seminars is to deepen the understanding of the strategies to improve professional development for teachers locally in each municipality.
VIII. Products – Support for School ReformThe NTA project finished the adaptation of 14 units in June 2004. These units have been adapted and field tested in three versions.
Each unit consists of:
- Guide for teachers
- Guides for students
- Experiential materials for 30 students
- Professional development – one day for each unit
The units are:
- Solids and Liquids
- Comparing and Measuring
- Changes
- Balancing and weighing
- Soils
- The life cycle of butterflies
- Plant Growth and Development
- Electric Circuits
- Chemical Tests
- Motion and Design
- Measuring Time
- Food Chemistry
- Floating and Sinking
- Magnets and Motors
IX. NTA in grades 7 – 9 (Secondary School)
During 2002, the project began a preliminary study of NTA in grades 7-9 (Middle School). The goal was to see how services and products can be designed to support continued development of teaching and learning in science and technology in these grades as well. In spring of 2003, the Middle School unit Properties of Matter was piloted. The unit was improved on the basis of experiences from this first field test. During the academic year 2003/04, another field test was carried out. The unit was improved during the summer 2004 based on the experience from the teachers and students who field tested the unit.In August 2004, another larger field test was conducted in 15 municipalities and independent schools. Professional development was conducted for the teachers who field tested the unit during the academic year 2004/05.This development work was led by Professor Per-Olov Wickman of the Stockholm Institute of Education.
X. NTA- Quality of Services and Products
The NTA-quality offered and developed in the form of products and services is based on the national curriculum and the syllabi in biology, chemistry, physics and technology. The following guidelines work as means of control of the NTA program at a national level as well as the central and school levels in each municipality.
- NTA shall stimulate curiosity about science and technology both for children and for their teachers.
- NTA shall encourage responsibility, learning and language development both for children and for their teachers.
- Children and teachers are given directly applicable advice on how to work together with complete sets of experiential equipment. The guidebooks should be detailed enough to form a complete concept for a given unit that teachers can use as a model.
- NTA is based on children's own investigations and collection of empirical data as well as discussion and documentation of their own work and results.
- NTA shall give continuity both within a unit and between units concerning the specific aims spelled out in the National Syllabus and the locally defined curriculum.
- NTA shall give the teachers possibilities to understand why things are done the way they are. It shall give teachers possibilities to help children understand why things are done the way they are. It shall also help the teachers encourage children to ask questions about why things are done in certain ways.
- NTA shall be designed to allow teachers and children to gain sufficient insight and knowledge that they are free to develop suitable methods and investigations different from the exact model proposed and to ask alternative questions of their own choice. NTA should allow children to be constantly aware of the problem being studied. The problems should be contextually linked to the children's own reality. It is from this context some simple scientific generalizations and notions should be drawn.
- NTA units shall maintain high quality both scientifically and linguistically concerning correctness as well as the knowledge level of children in each target group.
- NTA shall help the teachers and children to continuously evaluate what the children have learned.
Out of these 9 points, the first two constitute the aims, the rest the means.
XI. Evaluation and Follow-upsEvaluations of the NTA program are conducted continuously.Many diploma and several master theses based on the NTA program have been written and some professional researchers are actively studying its effectiveness. The results so far are overwhelmingly positive.The University of Linköping has completed the last two evaluations of the NTA program during the academic years 2001/2002 and 2002/2003. Comments from the evaluations include “NTAis a great idea. We don’t do things just to get bored but because we want to learn’ and ‘At first we got to use our imagination and that was fun”,.Evaluations of pupils’ and teachers’ learning and development within the NTA-program, Science and Technology for All. Professor Glenn Hultman of Linköping University is responsible for the evaluations.
The aim is to deepen our understanding of how the interaction between teachers and students is realized during instruction in science. Conclusions from the summary of the evaluations include:
- Pupils and teachers feel happy with the NTA program. The material fills a need and teachers and pupils have great opportunities to develop within it. But it demands active participation on the part of the pupils and teachers.
- The pupils have an opportunity to learn about and understand science, not just facts but also processes and ways of seeing, discovering and describing. They develop their ability to communicate about science with the help of words and terms.
- Among the participating teachers, science is no longer seen as particularly difficult and demanding and their view of the area has been broadened. Many teachers testify that they have changed their way of asking questions and talking to the children in the classroom. They now ask more open-ended questions. Here we feel we must advise caution. Questions and instructions that are too open-ended can be very confusing to the pupils, and it is essential that the teacher be present and able to support and sum up.
- The collaboration between teachers in the working teams can be developed in a similar fashion in the future. The NTA concept has a potential for reform that can be improved in the future. Our opinion is that the teachers in future projects should be given more time to discuss and learn more about what science means, about what the ¨essence¨ of science is.
XII. The NTA Program in the Participating Municipalities, the City of Linköping
Some examples:
Teachers in the NTA program have increased their competence and their knowledge of teaching science. Teachers with experiences from many NTA units describe how they have changed their approach to teach science and technology and how they have developed their methods. “The general level of competence has gone up and a certain amount of fear has disappeared. It’s a case of daring to let go and letting the imagination and the creativity of the students take over.” (Authentic quote from a participating teacher.)
The municipalities, teachers and students appreciate the NTA program as a whole. The municipalities make use of the NTA program as learning support for students and development support for the teachers. To a great extent, the NTA program helps the municipalities reach the goals specified in the curriculum and the syllabi. Each municipality uses and develops the NTA program in its own way and in terms of its own goals, prerequisites and needs.
In reports and meetings the municipalities assert that:
- the NTA coordinator is a key person in every municipality;
- the ongoing professional development of the teachers is a central part of the NTA program;
- work to create ties is crucial to how the NTA program will develop in the municipalities;
- the establishment of collaboration with industry and higher education is an important part ofthe NTA program; and
- regional networks of participating municipalities enrich the development of the NTA program in the municipalities.
