A Community of Learners on Laboratory Work. Design and Implementation of a Teacher Training Programme

This study describes the design and implementation of a professional development programme for high school teachers, aimed at improving their competences in the use of practical work for the teaching and learning of physics. The framework for designing the programme was developed based on physics education research, adopting a learning community approach. In particular, we identified five features, the effectiveness of which was tested using multiple data sources. During the programme, teachers also carried on their own action research projects. Our results suggest that all the considered features contributed to a positive change in the use of practical work. However, we argue that action research and the learning community approach were the most decisive features.