The effect of explanation-driven inquiry (EDI) and initial abilities on students’ scientific explanation skills (SES)

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of instructional model, initial ability, and the interaction between two variables on the scientific explanation skills on 11th grade student’s in the topic of acid-base. This research used experimental research method with 2 x 2 factorial design. The scientific explanation skills (SES) test was applied to the 60 students. The students were divided into four groups, and each group consisted of 15 students. Data analysis technique employed two ways MANOVA at significance level α = 0.05. The results show that: First, EDI instructional model gives better effect than the guided inquiry model on the students’ SES. Second, there is an influence of initial ability on SES of students. Third, there is an interaction between the instructional model and the initial ability to the SES of student. For students who have high initial ability, the guided inquiry model gives better influence to the students’ SES than the EDI one. For students who have low initial ability, the EDI model gives better influence to the students’ SES than the guided inquiry one.