Beginning Secondary Science Teachers' Conceptualization and Enactment of Inquiry‐Based Instruction

Abstract

This study investigates the conceptions and use of inquiry during classroom instruction among beginning secondary science teachers. The 44 participants were beginning secondary science teachers in their first year of teaching. In order to capture the participants' conceptions of inquiry, the teachers were interviewed and observed during the school year. The interviews consisted of questions about inquiry instruction, while the observations documented the teachers' use of inquiry. All of the interviews were transcribed or coded in order to understand the conceptions of inquiry held by the teachers, and all of the observations were analyzed in order to determine the presence of inquiry during the lesson. The standard for assessing inquiry came from the National Science Education Standards. A quantitative analysis of the data indicated that the teachers frequently talked about implementing “scientific questions” and giving “priority to evidence.” This study found a consistency between the way new teachers talked about inquiry and the way they practiced it in their classrooms. Overall, our observations and interviews revealed that the beginning secondary science teachers tended to enact teacher‐centered forms of inquiry, and could benefit from induction programs focused on inquiry instruction.