Planning innovative teaching practices in a community of practice: a case study in the context of the project IPEC

Abstract

This paper presents an analysis of the contribution of the collaborative work developed by a Portuguese community, involving teachers and researchers, and created in the context of the project ‘Investigação e práticas lectivas em Educação em Ciência: Dinâmicas de interacção’ (IPEC), to the development of innovative practices in formal education. The community members developed, implemented, and evaluated curricular modules about sustainability, through continued interactions in an online platform and some face-to-face meetings. The case study revealed that the community created challenging innovative practices, since we uncover: a evidence of 13 of the 14 descriptors of innovative teaching practices taken into account for the analysis b disruptive practices when compared to traditional practices, presenting high risk-taking, large scope and complexity. In the final session, we present suggestions concerning design issues for web-based communities, such as the need to combine online interaction with face-to-face meetings.