Secondary students’ views about scientific inquiry

Galano, Silvia and Zappia, Alessandro and Smaldone, Luigi and Testa, Italo (2015) Secondary students’ views about scientific inquiry. Il nuovo cimento C, 38 (3). pp. 1-10. ISSN 1826-9885

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Abstract

In this study we investigated the views about Scientific Inquiry (SI) of about 300 students at the beginning of the secondary school course (14–15 years old). An adapted version of the Views On Scientific Inquiry (VOSI) questionnaire was used as research instrument. The questionnaire, focused on six specific aspects of SI, was submitted before and after a six-hours in-classroom delivery of a teachinglearning sequence (TLS) that targeted explicitly the six SI aspects. We first analyzed responses using a five-level categorization: a) informed view; b) mixed or partially correct view; c) na¨ıve view; d) unclear; e) not given. Two independent researchers iteratively analyzed the data with a final inter-rater reliability of about 90%. Then, we collapsed the initial categories into three macro-categories: C1) informed/partial view; C2) na¨ıve view; C3) unclear or not given; and calculated the shift in the macrocategorization between pre- and post-test. Finally, we investigated a possible relationship between how the TLSs were enacted and the students’ achievements. Data show that the percentage of students’ informed responses only slightly increased between pre- and post-test in the majority of the targeted aspects. Moreover, students’ achievements seem to depend on how the teachers enacted the TLSs. Our results suggest that short inquiry-based teaching interventions are not sufficient to effectively teach SI aspects. Moreover, our results suggest to develop specific training courses aimed at improving teachers’ own beliefs and practices about SI.

Item Type: Article
Subjects: 500 Scienze naturali e Matematica > 530 Fisica
Depositing User: Marina Spanti
Date Deposited: 28 May 2020 16:05
Last Modified: 28 May 2020 16:05
URI: http://eprints.bice.rm.cnr.it/id/eprint/19091

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