DISSEMINATING INQUIRY-BASED SCIENCE

Fi b o n a cci N e w s l ett e r
AND MATHEMATICS EDUCATION IN EUROPE
I s s u e n ° 0 1 - J u ly 2 0 1 0

Table of contents
Launch of the project............................ p.1
Starting Package.................................. p.2
Twinning............................................... p.3
What happened in the centres?............ p.3
Fibonacci Website................................. p.3
European Launch Conference............... P.4
External Evaluation.............................. p.4
Dissemination Actions
at a European Level........................... P.4-5
Greenwave............................................ p.5
Other Information................................ p.5
What is the Fibonacci Project?.......... ... p.6
Newsletter Credits
This newsletter is produced by the Euro-
pean coordination of the Fibonacci
Project.
Pictures: the Fibonacci partners
Design and layout: Lezard Graphique
Launch of
the project
With a start on 1st January 2010, the Fibonacci Project was launched at
the kick-off meeting on 21st January in Sèvres, near Paris. This meeting,
which took place over two and a half days at the Centre International
d’Etudes Pédagogiques, offered a complete programme to the parti-
cipants: after a presentation of the scientific background and a general
overview of the project, the core aspects of Fibonacci were explained,
namely the educational innovation from the local level and the basic
patterns. A twinning session enabled the partners to better know each
other for future joint work. The operational aspects were also dealt with,
through the presentation of the planning of the first year and the admi-
nistrative management of the project.
About 50 participants from 22 countries attended: the representatives
from each Fibonacci centre (Reference and Twin Centres), the members
of the Scientific Committee, the European coordination, as well as the
evaluators of the project, Educonsult.
On the previous day (20th January), the Scientific Committee of the project
held its first meeting on. This Committee is composed of the following
European experts: Michèle Artigue, Professor at the University Paris
Diderot, Paris 7 - Justin Dillon, Professor at King’s College London - Wynne
Harlen, Professor at the University of Bristol - and Pierre Léna, Delegate for
Education at the French Academy of Sciences. This Committee provides
advice and orientation for the scientific coordination of the project.

Contact details
La main à la pâte (Académie des
Sciences, École Normale Supérieure de
Paris, Institut National de Recherche
Pédagogique)
1, rue Maurice Arnoux
92 120 Montrouge, France
Tel.: + 33 (0)1 58 07 65 97
contact@fibonacci-project.eu

The Fibonacci partners at the Centre International d’Etudes Pédagogiques,

WITH THE SUPPORT OF
22nd January 2010, Sèvres.
Starting Package
To support a consistent implementa-
tion of the project, a Starting Package
of tools offering advice, guidelines
and learning units is provided in
the project. As part of this Starting
Package, the following documents
were issued:
Fibonacci presentation
booklet
This booklet gives a general presenta-
tion of the project, its core structuring
elements, the common activities and
dissemination actions.
A list of the centres and a map give an
overview of the partners and of the
European dimension of the project.
The main resources to be produced in
the course of the project are presented
at the end of the booklet.
To enable the partners to issue a local
edition in their own language, the
booklet is also available in Adobe Inde-
sign format.
Fibonacci visual code
As part of the visual code of the project,
you will find:
- the logos of Fibonacci and of the
EU/7th Framework Programme,
- the general graphic charter,
- the Fibonacci template, i.e a blank
template with the Fibonacci graphic
layout, useful for any publication:
books, booklets, flyers, posters, etc.
This template provides the cover
and inner pages in Adobe Indesign
format,
- a template for a powerpoint presen-
tation.
T he Fibo n a cc i P r oje c t N e w s l e t t e r - Is s u e n ° 01 - Ju ly 201 0
Scientific background
This document drafted by the Scien-
tific Committee gives the rationale of
inquiry, and its approach and explana-
tion on the following themes: inquiry-
based education in science and in
mathematics; design, technology and
engineering; ICT and inquiry-based
learning in mathematics and sciences;
cross disciplinary approaches; the boun-
dary between primary and secondary.
Implementing Inquiry-
Based Science Education
This guide presents the science inquiry-
based approach, its important princi-
ples and considerations, specific peda-
gogical strategies, with examples and
practical suggestions under each of
these points.
The Inquiry-Based Educa-
tion in Mathematics
The Inquiry-Based Education in Mathe-
matics is presented through the
following documents:
- Toward new teaching in mathe-
matics. This document provides
the conclu­sions from the Sinus and
Sinus-Transfer Pilot Studies
- Dynamic worksheets: a tool for
Problem-based Individual and
Cooperative Learning
Support Handbook for esta-
blishing a reference centre
for science and mathema-
tics education
- Strategies, objectives, examples and
recommendations
This booklet provides an organisational
framework for a Fibonacci Reference or
Twin Centre which would like to esta-
blish and coordinate a structured and
ongoing initiative in schools, at a local
level, in a city, district or county, or at
a regional level. It covers the seven
following strategies: professional
development and teacher support,
establishing a network of professional
2
development, giving teachers access
to resources, assessment, coordina-
ting a local support network, mobilising
decision-makers, project management.
Each item is presented with its objec-
tives, real-life examples and recom-
mendations.
The Basic patterns of
Fibonacci.
These patterns describe the opportu-
nities and ways to successfully change
and develop teaching and learning. The
document of presentation will soon
be issued. Meanwhile, the Fibonacci
centres can consult them in the folder
given at the kick-off meeting (pp. 19-21)
and in the approved proposal (pp.
15-18).
Examples of learning units
for IBSE in primary school
This selection of 14 units is designed
to help the Fibonacci partners start
primary science activities in classroom
with ready to use material.
Model of strategic plan
The strategic plan is the main reference
document for each local coordinator of
Reference and Twin Centres to describe
the implementation of the project
and the dissemination of IBSME acti-
vities over 2010-2013. It includes the
main elements which form the system
needed to create and sustain a school
development programme in science
and mathematics, as well as the twin-
ning/tutoring between the Reference
and Twin Centres.
These tools are available in a pdf
format on the project website:
www.project-fibonacci.eu
(Resources section) .
Twinning
Twinning refers to all the services,
resources and experiences that will be
transferred from a Reference Centre
to its partners Twin Centre 1 and Twin
Centre 2 so that they obtain the adequate
competency regarding inquiry-based
science and mathematics education.
The twinning actions will be carried out
through field visits, tutoring and profes-
sional development.
The trainer/tutor of each Reference
Centre will be the appointed person
to provide help and guidance to the
Twin Centres (apart from helping local
teachers).
With the selection of the Twin Centres
2 in March of this year, Fibonacci now
gathers 38 partners from 24 countries
(in comparison to the 25 initial partners
from 21 countries). Three centres come
from outside the European Union:
Switzerland, Serbia and Turkey.
What happened in the centres ?
The first six months were devoted to the
setting up of the project in the centres:
they established their local coordina-
tion structure and partnerships, identi-
fied the teachers and classes involved
in the project, and prepared their parti-
cipation (professional development,
equipment, follow up). The Reference
Centres and their Twin Centres have
also made their first contacts, either
Fibonacci Website
This period was devoted to the deve-
lopment of the project website by the
University of Bayreuth, in close link with
the European coordination.
The website was online on 12th May
2010 at: www.fibonacci-project.eu.
This site provides different sections:
Homepage updated during the project.
Project In the Resources section, you will find
Centres the main documents of the starting
T he Fibo n a cc i P r oje c t N e w s l e t t e r - Is s u e n ° 01 - Ju ly 201 0
If the majority of the Reference Centres
are linked to 2 Twin Centres (one Twin
Centre 1 and one Twin Centre 2), there
are a few particular cases:
the University of Bayreuth is linked to
two Twin Centres 1, namely the Insti-
tute of Mathematics and Informatics
of the Bulgarian Academy of Science,
and the Universiy of Cantabria.
the Free University of Berlin will
support two Twin Centres 2: The
Chambers of Commerce and Industry
of Bonn & Cologne, and the Turkish
Academy of Sciences.
In the case of the University of
Amsterdam, several Twin Centres
1 which have interest in the ICT
pedagogical tools and expertise will
be linked to it. This twinning is still
open, so we invite you to apply! For
more information, please contact
Franck Schweikert: f.schweickert@
at a distance or through a short visit.
The overall strategy of each centre is
included in a plan for the three years of
the project (2010-2013).
In order to assist the centres in this
preparatory phase, the European coor-
dination organised phone interviews
with each centre in April and May. The
European coordination also visited 5
centres: École Nationale Supérieure
Principles package (see above).
Resources The homepage gives direct access to
News the European launch conference of the
Press info project (cf. following point).
Administration
Contact
It will regularly be developed and
3
uva.nl. Additional information can
be provided at the workshop on ICT
in Bayreuth. The twinning should be
closed in October 2010.
A table of twinning between the Refe-
rence Centres and their Twin partners
was included in the Consortium Agree-
ment (cf. attachment 4).
As part of the twinning, field visits in
the 12 Reference Centres are sche-
duled from September 2010 to April
2011. These visits which last 3 days are
open to about 10 participants from
other Reference and Twin Centres. This
will be the opportunity to discover the
local education system which is used to
implement IBSME and to better discuss
the modalities of tutoring between
the Reference Centres and their Twin
Centres. A catalogue of these visits has
been issued.
des Mines de St-Etienne (9th January),
École Nationale des Mines de Nantes
(4th March), University of Amsterdam
/ Amstel (8th March), University of
Tartu (29th-31st March) and University
of Leicester (24th - 27th May). Regular
support is provided to the centres at a
distance (by e-mail and phone) on diffe-
rent aspects of the project, whether
scientific or administrative ones.
European Launch Conference
21-22 September 2010, Bayreuth - Germany
In order to raise awareness about
inquiry-basedscienceandmathematics
education in the European countries
and about the objectives of the project,
a first public European conference will
be organised on 21-22 September 2010
in Bayreuth in Germany.
This launch conference is organised
by the European coordination and the
University of Bayreuth.
Its main objectives are:
to raise a broad awareness around
the project objectives, involving in
particular the scientific community
to arouse interest among entities
seeking to gain experience into
inquiry-based science and mathe-
matics education
External Evaluation
As you know, the external evaluation
will assess the activities scheduled to
largely disseminate and exploit the
IBSME method and the implementa-
tion of the organisation of the project.
During this period, Educonsult has
prepared the framework and tools for
the external evaluation of the project.
These tools consist of questionnaires
and checklists:
after a first part on the characteris-
tics of the Fibonacci schools, these
questionnaires will deal with the
evaluation of teaching inquiry-based
Dissemination Actions at a European Level
Information about Fibonacci was
provided at a European level through
two channels, Scientix and Elearningeu-
ropa, in the fields of science education,
and of education and culture.
Scientix
Scientix is a new Science Education
T he Fibo n a cc i P r oje c t N e w s l e t t e r - Is s u e n ° 01 - Ju ly 201 0
to emphasize the role of learning
environments
to bridge the gap between IBSME
theory and practice
to organize networks of cooperation
for inquiry-based mathematics and
science education.
The target audience is educationalists,
scientists, policy makers, stakeholders
and the interested public.
The programme includes plenary
sessions with keynote speakers,
workshops and sessions on specific
and innovative topics, as well as social
events. The workshops and sessions
will be coordinated by the Fibonacci
members.
education in science, mathematics,
technology and design; the evalua-
tion of support by Reference and
Twin Centres to teachers; twinning
between Reference and Twin Centres,
as well as the assessment of the
Community Board, common topics
and the European coordination.
checklists for interviews will be used
by the evaluators during their visits
in the centres.
The questionnaires will be filled in by
the teachers, at the beginning and at
the end of their involvement, and by
portal developed on behalf of the
European Commission (DG Research)
by European Schoolnet, a network of
31 Ministries of Education. Launched
in May 2010, this portal will provide
regular dissemination and sharing of
news, know-how and best practices in
science education across the European
4
More information about the programme
can be found at: http://www.fibonacci-
project.eu/conference
We invite you to largely promote this
conference around you. To register for
the conference, please fill in the online
form, by clicking on “Sign up to attend
this conference”, at the bottom of the
page. This form will also enable the
participants to register for the accom-
modation (please note the deadline
on 15th August).
Beside the conference, two meetings
will be organised: one with the Scientific
Committee on the eve, 20th September,
and one for the Steering Committee on
the 23rd September.
the coordinators of the Reference and
Twin Centres.
All the questionnaires will be made
available on line in English (the transla-
tion into the national languages of the
questionnaires to be filled in by teachers
will be made by the coordinators of the
Reference or Twin Centres).
The framework and tools will be
presented to the Fibonacci partners at
the Steering Committee in Bayreuth on
23rd September.
Union. Its target public is teachers,
researchers, policy makers and anyone
interested in science education.
Several contacts have been made with
the Scientix team, and a meeting was
hold in February with the University of
Bayreuth to present the 2 projects.
 Scientix will be a useful tool to
largely spread information about the
project and the activities implemented
at a European and national levels.
More specifically, Fibonacci was
presented at a Scientix meeting orga-
nised with the European Commission,
in Brussels on 21st May 2010. This
meeting gathered about 15 European
science experts, including represen-
tatives of the Ministries of Education.
The presentation was made by our
Belgian partner, the Free University
of Brussels, on behalf of the European
coordination.
Fibonacci can be found in the
“Project” section of Scientix: www.
scientix.eu.
Scientix will also be presented at
the Conference of Bayreuth on 22nd
September.
Elearning EuropA
Fibonacci is also described on elearnin-
geuropa.info, the portal of the Euro-
pean Commission Directorate General
Greenwave
As part of the global project, Greenwave
has started to define its strategy on
different aspects: scientific aspects
(choice of the animal or vegetal species
to study, parameters to measure),
technical aspects (development of the
multilingual website) and management
of the project (communication, training,
coordination).
Pilot actions were carried out in Ireland
and in the Netherlands (9 Dutch schools)
over this period.
Other Information
With the EU presidency held by
Belgium for the second semester 2010,
a special event is planned by the Free
University of Brussels, with a presenta-
tion of Fibonacci.
T he Fibo n a cc i P r oje c t N e w s l e t t e r - Is s u e n ° 01 - Ju ly 201 0
for Education and Culture that aims
to promote  the use of ICT for lifelong
learning since June. This site, managed
by P.A.U Education, gives information
about the projects and enables to share
experiences and discuss ideas.
www.elearningeuropa.info > Direc-
tory > Projects.
Links with others
FP7 projects
Contacts have been established with
other FP7 projects promoting the inquiry
approach and advanced methods in
the field of science and mathematics
education.
Establish
The objective of this project is to
disseminate and use an inquiry-based
teaching method for science with
second level students (age 12-18 years)
on a large scale in Europe. Fibonacci,
through its British and Irish partners,
will exchange with this project in a
workshop organised during the Science
Mathematics Education Conference
The European coordination visited the
Greenwave team in Dublin on 13th July
to review the development stage of
this project.
A concrete presentation of Greenwave
will be made at the Steering Committee
in Bayreuth on 23rd September. A
specific seminar for the Greenwave
coordinators in the Fibonacci centres
is also planned at the end of November
(25th-26th) in Dublin
After this preparation and launch
phase, the project enters its second
phase – the twinning phase – from
July 2010 to June 2011. This will be the
start of the operational work with the
5
on 16-17th September at Dublin City
University.
S-Team
This project promotes Science-Teacher
Education Advanced Methods across
Europe. Fibonacci will participate in
a market place for European projects
organised during the conference
“Science Fiction: Inquiries into the
future of science education” held on
13-15th of October in Glasgow.
Primas
Links are made with this project promo-
ting inquiry in mathematics and science
education across Europe through
Michèle Artigue, who is both a member
of the Scientific Committee of Primas
and Fibonacci.
After a first stage of mutual presen-
tation, links and common areas for a
possible collaboration will be discussed
and developed during the project. These
exchanges will be a good opportunity to
disseminate the objectives and results
of our projects.
Please note that the website will
be accessible at a new address:
www.greenwave-europe.eu
(the address mentioned in the booklet
is no longer available).
teachers (first school year) and with
the partners. Cross-work between
all the centres will also be developed
around the 5 main topics.
 What is the Fibonacci Project?
The ambition of the Fibonacci Project is to contribute to the dissemination of inquiry-
based science and mathematics education throughout the European Union, in ways
that fit with national or local specificities. It defines a process of dissemination from 12
Reference Centres to 25 Twin Centres, based on quality and a global approach. This is
done through the pairing of Reference Centres selected for their extensive school cove-
rage and capacities for transfer of IBSME with 12 Twin Centres 1 and 13 Twin Centres 2,
considered as Reference Centres-in-progress.
Started on 1st January 2010 for a duration of 3 years, the project is coordinated by the
French La main à la pâte programme, with a shared scientific coordination with the
University of Bayreuth (Germany).

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh

Framework Programme for Research and Development