Inquiry-based Science Education

Robyn M. Gillies

• Publisher: CRC Press
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN: 9780367279233
• eBook ISBN: 9781000036312
• Topic: Pedagogía
• Subtopic: Educación general

Students often think of science as disconnected pieces of information rather than a narrative that challenges their thinking, requires them to develop evidence-based explanations for the phenomena under investigation, and communicate their ideas in discipline-specific language as to why certain solutions to a problem work. The author provides teachers in primary and junior secondary school with different evidence-based strategies they can use to teach inquiry science in their classrooms. The research and theoretical perspectives that underpin the strategies are discussed as are examples of how different ones areimplemented in science classrooms to affect student engagement and learning.

Key Features:

• Presents processes involved in teaching inquiry-based science

• Discusses importance of multi-modal representations in teaching inquiry based-science

• Covers ways to develop scientifically literacy

• Uses the Structure of Observed learning Outcomes (SOLO) Taxonomy to assess student reasoning, problem-solving and learning

• Presents ways to promote scientific discourse, including teacher-student interactions, student-student interactions, and meta-cognitive thinking

Inquiry-Based Science

1

Introduction

This chapter provides an introduction to inquiry teaching in science, models for teaching inquiry, and approaches to evaluating the inquiry process. In recent years, emphasis has been on teaching science using an inquiry approach where students are actively involved in scientific investigations that challenge their curiosity, encourage them to ask questions, explore possible solutions to problems, use evidence to explain phenomena, elaborate on possible effects, evaluate findings, and predict potential outcomes if different variables are changed. This chapter also presents examples of how students are cognitively challenged to make sense of the phenomena under investigation, develop evidence-based explanations, and communicate their ideas and understandings in discipline-specific language as to why solutions to problems work and others do not.

Background

Over the last two decades, emphasis has been on teaching science through inquiry. Inquiry-based science adopts an investigative approach to teaching and learning where students are provided with opportunities to scrutinise a problem, search for possible solutions, make observations, ask questions, test out ideas, and think creatively, and in so doing, learn to reconcile their developing understandings with previous knowledge and experience. Inquiry has many potential benefits. When students are involved in inquiry-based science, they are doing science where they are learning the processes communities of scientists employ to investigate phenomena. In so doing, they learn to explore possible solutions, develop explanations for the topic under investigation, elaborate on concepts and processes, and evaluate or assess their understandings in the light of the evidence available to them. This approach to teaching relies on teachers recognising the importance of presenting problems to students that will challenge their current conceptual understandings so they are forced to reconcile anomalous thinking and construct new conceptual understandings.

Cultivating students’ scientific habits of mind, developing their capabilities to engage in scientific inquiry, and teaching them how to reason in the scientific context is one of the principal goals of science education (National Research Council, 2012, p. 41). In fact, the essential elements in any science education programme must include: (a) the development of conceptual understanding; (b) the improvement of cognitive reasoning; (c) the improvement of students’ understanding of the epistemic nature of science; and (d) the affordance of effective experiences that are both positive and engaging (Osborne, 2006). Furthermore, this needs to occur within the context of social practices and values that both promote and sustain the scientific enterprise and lead to the production of reliable knowledge.

When students have opportunities to engage with their peers in collaborative scientific inquiries, they learn to ask questions about different phenomena, plan investigations, use a variety of tools and artefacts to collect and analyse data, and use evidence to develop claims and propose possible explanations for the phenomena they have observed (Bell et al., 2010; Llewellyn, 2014). In inquiry-based science, students not only learn the relevant content but also learn the discipline-specific reasoning skills and practices by collaboratively engaging in authentic problems or questions with their peers. In so doing, students are cognitively challenged to make sense of the phenomena under investigation, develop explanations that are based on evidence, and communicate their findings in discipline-specific language as to why certain solutions to a problem work and others do not.

When you have finished this chapter, you will know:

• What inquiry-based science is.
• How inquiry-based science challenges students’ thinking.
• Strategies teachers can use to promote inquiry-based science in their classrooms.
• Challenges teachers face when implementing inquiry-based science in their classrooms.

Inquiry-Based Science

Inquiry-based science is an investigative approach to teaching and learning where students are provided with opportunities to investigate a problem, search for possible solutions, make observations, ask questions, test out ideas, think creatively, and use their intuition. The inquiry process is complex as it involves students reconciling their current understandings with both the evidence obtained from an inquiry and the ability to communicate their newly acquired knowledge in a way that will be accepted as well-reasoned and logical. Such a process is challenging, requiring teachers to play an active role in helping students learn the steps in the inquiry process.

Scientific inquiry recognises the diverse ways in which scientists study the natural world and propose explanations based on the evidence derived from their work. It also refers to “the activities through which students develop knowledge and understanding of scientific ideas, as well as an understanding of how scientists study the natural world” (National Science Teachers Association, 2004, p. 1). When students have opportunities to engage in scientific inquiry, they learn to use their ideas and, in so doing, deepen their conceptual understanding of scientific content as well as their understanding of how to do science. “This science-as-practice perspective brings together content knowledge and process skills in a manner that highlights their interconnected nature” (Harris & Rooks, 2010, p. 229), facilitating student engagement with complex science ideas and participation in scientific activities. In effect, students gradually learn to understand the practices that scientists engage in when confronting various scientific problems (Herrenkohl et al., 2011).

Inquiry is the process of investigating a problem issue that requires critical thinking, observing, asking questions, testing out ideas and hypotheses, and engaging in collaborative discussions to communicate scientific knowledge and develop explanations or solutions on the topic under discussion (Lee et al., 2004; Metz, 2008). While children often demonstrate a natural curiosity about the world in which they live, research indicates that they rarely ask questions about what they have seen and heard. Helping students to understand the inquiry process where they learn to ask questions about phenomena that challenge their current understandings, propose possible explanations for what they see, and reconcile understandings with their current knowledge to create new knowledge and understandings takes a concerted effort on the part of the teacher. While there are many approaches to teaching students how to engage in inquiry, Figure 1.1 represents generally agreed steps in the process.

FIGURE 1.1 Steps in the inquiry process.

Inquiry learning is seen as critically important to helping students engage in science, yet teachers continue to struggle with what inquiry should look like and how it should be taught. Zuckerman et al. (1998) identified three factors that they considered crucial for teaching inquiry science to primary and middle years students. These factors are

1. 1. Arousing students’ imagination by presenting new and awe-inspiring phenomena that are already within students’ current level of development so the child has the capacity to recognise the new elements in the phenomena and to connect these new elements to the context and structure of existing background knowledge and experience.
2. 2. Teachers need to provide opportunities for students to work with others to investigate, discuss, and resolve challenging problems.
3. 3. Students need to be encouraged to participate in asking questions to help them test out their ideas and eventually verify their hypotheses.

The promotion of inquiry is highly dependent on the teachers’ efforts to guide and scaffold students’ learning as they engage in the inquiry process, so they understand how to think as they participate in tasks, as well as acquire the procedural knowledge of how to complete these tasks (Duschl & Duncan, 2009; Veermans et al....

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half-Title
• Series
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• 1 Inquiry-Based Science
• 2 Visual, Embodied, and Language Representations in Teaching Inquiry-Based Science: A Case Study
• 3 Developing Scientific Literacy
• 4 Promoting Scientific Discourse
• 5 Structuring Cooperative Learning to Promote Social and Academic Learning
• 6 The Structure of Observed Learning Outcomes (SOLO) Taxonomy: Assessing Students’ Reasoning, Problem-Solving, and Learning
• References
• Index