Analysis of Articles in The American Biology Teacher for Essential Features of Inquiry Representation

Abstract

Most studies on inquiry have focused on student outcomes, teachers’ conceptions of inquiry, implementation of inquiry in science classrooms, and inquiry coverage in science textbooks. Little is known about the nature of inquiry representation in science practitioner journals that serve as sources of inquiry science activities for many science teachers, science teacher educators, college instructors, and informal science practitioners. Therefore, this study examined the nature of inquiry representation in the articles that were published in The American Biology Teacher from 1998 to 2015. The study also sought to find out if there was a difference in inquiry representation between the articles that were written by teachers and college instructors. The nature of inquiry representation in the articles was determined by establishing the extent to which six essential features of inquiry—question, evidence, analysis, explain, connect, and communicate—were addressed in the articles. Results showed that most essential features of inquiry were adequately represented in the articles analyzed. However, most science activities did not have investigative questions to guide the inquiry process. We also found a significant difference in inquiry representation between the articles written by biology teachers and college instructors. Teachers addressed more essential features of inquiry in the articles than college instructors. On the other hand, there was no significant difference in the degree of student-directedness inquiry in the articles written by the teachers and college instructors. Overall, there was more partial inquiry than full inquiry representation in the articles analyzed. Implications of the findings and recommendations are discussed.