Inquiry-based Science Lessons Research Articles

The shifting educational landscape: science teachers’ practice during the COVID-19 pandemic through an activity theory lens

In March 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic closed all educational institutions. Teachers were called upon to respond quickly to the needs of K-12 students. They had to learn how to navigate online learning systems while simultaneously delivering engaging inquiry-based activities in high-stakes school science courses. To understand how teachers navigated these dual tensions, we have drawn on Cultural-Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) to describe how teachers learned and mediated their professional practices to meet the educational needs of their students. We examine the rapidly changing school activity system and how these changes impacted teachers’ epistemological beliefs about student engagement and evaluation. We report that teachers developed new styles and attitudes about teaching that reflected the new educational landscape imposed by the pandemic. We explore the pedagogical shifts that characterize this specific time and how the newly acquired pedagogies could find permanence in teachers’ activities post-pandemic. This study reports on the experiences of ten teachers from two high schools as they adapt to change during the global pandemic. We followed the teachers’ professional journey as they worked in a professional learning community to develop online practices. Professional learning meetings, semi-structured interviews, and participant journals captured teachers’ successes and failures as they struggled to adapt inquiry-based science lessons to meet the challenges of teaching online. Their practices shifted as they engaged students in synchronous collaborative projects and laboratory activities, and they developed alternative formative and summative assessment practices. This study contributes to a growing body of research of teacher practice through a CHAT theoretical framework to understand teachers’ professional learning during a time of change and upheaval.

The Impact of Pre-service Teachers’ Pedagogical Beliefs on Teaching Science as Inquiry: A Silent Antagonist for Effective Inquiry-Based Science Lessons

Teachers’ beliefs are strong predictors of their practices. They guide how teachers understand the implementation of effective inquiry-based lessons. The cross-case analysis indicated that the fundamental problems observed in many Thai pre-service science teachers’ classroom inquiries stemmed from their beliefs on teaching science. Although the teachers agreed on the importance of having students engage in scientific inquiry through hands-on activities, they believed that its purpose was to help students’ sense-making of what the teachers told them. They believed an emphasis should be placed on asking as many knowledge questions as they would like, providing answers, giving procedural instructions to students, and offering specifics of what students should observe in the hands-on activities. The teachers believed that these were effective avenues to help students gain scientific knowledge in terms of concrete experiences. The observed lessons evidenced that teachers failed to elicit students’ interest, curiosity, and engagement in inquiry lessons. This study suggests that pre-service teachers’ benefits from being provided with real-world opportunities to reflect on their educational beliefs and get suitable supports to transform their beliefs for delivering inquiry-based science lessons.

Instructional improv to analyze inquiry-based science teaching: Zed\u2019s dead and the missing flower

In inquiry-based science lessons teachers face the challenge of adhering to curricular goals while simultaneously following students’ intuitive understandings. Improvisation (improv) provides a useful frame for understanding teaching in these inquiry-based contexts. This paper builds from prior work that uses improv as a metaphor for teaching to present a translated model for analysis of teaching in an inquiry-based, elementary school science lesson context. We call our model instructional improv, which shows how a teacher spontaneously synthesizes rules of improv with teaching practices to support student learning, engagement, and agency. We illustrate instructional improv through case study analysis of video recorded classroom interactions with one teacher and 26 first and second grade students learning about the complex system of honey bee pollination in a mixed reality environment. Our model includes the following defining features to describe how teaching happens in this context: the teacher 1) tells a story; 2) reframes mistakes as opportunities; 3) agrees; 4) yes ands; 5) makes statements (or asks questions that elicit statements); and 6) puts the needs of the classroom ensemble over individuals. Overall, we show how instructional improv helps explain how teachers can support science discourse and collective storytelling as a teacher (a) shifts power and agency to students; (b) balances learning and agency; and (c) makes purposeful instructional decisions. Findings have immediate implications for researchers analyzing interactions in inquiry-based learning environments and potential future implications for teachers to support inquiry learning.

Differentiated inquiry-based science lesson modules specific to gifted students: Views regarding practice

Üstün yetenekli öğrencilerin eğitimlerinde özel farklılaştırma yaklaşımları ve stratejilerin kullanılması gerektiği bilinmektedir. Bu nedenle ülkemizde eksikliği hissedilen ve MEB tarafından 2023 vizyon belgesi ve MEB-TUBITAK tarafından hazırlanan üstün yetenekli strateji belgesinde üstün yeteneklilere özgü yaklaşım, materyal ve öğretim planı geliştirilmesi hedeflenmiştir. Bu bağlamda üstün yetenekli öğrenciler için fen derslerine yönelik farklılaştırılmış bağlam temelli modüller geliştirilmiş ve uygulanmıştır. Modüllerin uygulayıcısı olan öğretmenin modüller hakkındaki görüşleri bu çalışmanın konusudur. Çalışma durum çalışması desenine göre düzenlenmiş olup, katılımcı olarak öğretmene modüllere ilişkin görüşleri sorulmuştur. Toplanan veriler betimsel olarak analiz edilmiştir. Elde edilen sonuçlar pozitif ve negatif görüşler olarak kategorilendirilmiş, kategorilerde öğretmen tarafından önemli olarak görülen modül ve süreçle ilgili noktalar blirtilmiş ve benzer materyallerin ileriye dönük uygulamaları için öneriler sunulmuştur.

A coteaching model for developing pre-service teachers’ practice and confidence in teaching primary science through inquiry

ABSTRACT Teaching primary science through inquiry offers a number of benefits including developing pupils’ science skills, progressing thinking skills and personal capabilities, and making science relevant to children’s everyday experience. Ensuring that pre-service teachers (PSTs) are fully confident and competent in teaching inquiry-based science (IBS) however presents a number of challenges to initial teacher educators as teaching through inquiry calls for a high level of competence in classroom practice and an understanding of science concepts and theory. Opportunities to observe or teach IBS lessons during school experience are often limited thereby preventing PSTs acquiring personal experience of planning, teaching and evaluating inquiry-based lessons. This paper presents a model for coteaching where PSTs, initially, teach alongside peers before progressing to teaching with in-service teachers. Feedback from PSTs’ written and oral evaluations indicate that the model is effective at developing their confidence and competence at each stage of their learning journey. We propose a sociocultural interpretation suggesting that coteaching addresses the cognitive and affective needs of PSTs and point to the valuable contribution which coteaching offers to all phases of science teacher education.

Dialogic Teaching during Cooperative Inquiry-Based Science: A Case Study of a Year 6 Classroom

Teachers play a critical role in promoting dialogic interaction in their students. The purpose of this case study was to investigate how one very effective teacher taught two, cooperative, inquiry-based science units to her Year 6 class. In particular, the case study focused on how she used different discourses to capture students’ curiosity in the inquiry-based tasks, provided hands-on activities to enable them to test out their hypotheses and develop explanations for what they found in order to help them become more scientifically literate and have a broader understanding of the role of science in the world in which they live. The results showed that the students engaged constructively with their peers on the inquiry group tasks; they used the correct scientific language to discuss phenomena, make claims, and compared findings. Furthermore, they became more adept at expressing their opinions and providing explanations and justifications for the ‘scientific’ positions they had adopted across the six inquiry-based science lessons; core cognitive practices that support learning. This case study highlights the importance of utilizing both authoritative and dialogic discourse to challenge and scaffold students’ thinking to support enhanced understandings and reasoned argumentation during inquiry-based science. This case study fills a gap in the literature on how teachers can utilize different communicative approaches during inquiry-based science units to promote student engagement and learning.

Evaluating the effect of differentiated inquiry-based science lesson modules on gifted students' scientific process skills

The concept of “Global citizenship”, which has become more and more important, based on the students' multi-focused individual development, has brought to the fore based on 21st century skills and has required appropriate educational environments for gifted students. In this context, the development of differentiated inquiry-based science lesson modules for gifted students will fill the current gap as it is important for the literature. The aim of this study is to examine the impact of differentiated inquiry-based science lesson modules for gifted students on the students' scientific process skills (SPS). As a method, the nature of the study was directed us to mixed nested patterns and developed three modules that applied to 16 gifted students in Science and Art Centers. In the evaluation process, we used “Diet Cola SPS test” as quantitative data source for pre and posttests. Also, we used observations in the implementation process and SPS activity reports filled out by students as qualitative data sources. As a result of data analysis, we found that SPS improved significantly (t (14) = -5.06, p <.05). Accordingly, we have seen that this development in students is in basic and causal SPS, there is less development in experimental processes. We concluded that the gifted students needed more in depth and challenging activities in longer periods using modules like given in this study.

French teachers’ informal formative assessment in the context of inquiry-based learning

ABSTRACT Discursive formative assessment (FA) practices during instruction have grown in importance in the education literature as a way of improving teaching and learning. This study involves three years of design-based research as part of an educational project. We examine lower secondary school teachers’ qualitative Informal Formative assessment (IFA) practices during inquiry-based Science, Mathematics and Technology-Engineering (STEM) lessons. In-service teachers (N = 9) were filmed during a whole-classroom discussion session with respect to students’ alternative solutions or predictions in the context of problem-solving or investigating a natural phenomenon. The analysed discussions in the project’s third year lasted 15–30 minutes. The ESRU (Eliciting, Student response, Recognising and Using phases) model is adapted to analyse IFA practices, while also considering the role played by students. Inquiry dimensions (e.g. conceptual and epistemic) were used to examine the inquiries given priority in these discussions. The results show frequent (>30%) ESRU complete-cycle implementations by most teachers, which is associated with effective IFA practices. Frequent complete-cycle implementation led to teachers eliciting the same students at different moments of the session with longer consecutive cycles. The dimensions the teachers implement are more epistemic than conceptual. Moreover, students took charge of several ESRU phases.

A Primary Teacher Learning to Use Scaffolding Strategies to Support Pupils’ Scientific Language Development

Although learning scientific language is crucial for learning science, many primary school teachers lack the knowledge and skills to support this. The present case study reports on a primary school teacher who learned to use a repertoire of scaffolding strategies for stimulating pupils’ scientific language development in inquiry-based science lessons (14 pupils; grade 4). Teacher support included an instructional sequence, participation in interviews and writing reflective reports. The aim of this study is to identify how the teacher used the scaffolding strategies in a classroom with native speakers and which challenges she experienced during the process. Analysis of lesson transcripts showed that the teacher applied all scaffolding strategies suggested to her. Analysis of interview transcripts gave insight into five categories of challenges the teacher experienced while using scaffolding strategies, including her expectations regarding pupils’ scientific language level and dealing with differentiation in the classroom. The findings show that a teacher can learn to apply multiple scaffolding strategies for stimulating scientific language development. Patterns in the use of scaffolding strategies arose related to the aim of the strategy, the situation (i.e., phase of the empirical cycle and teaching approach) and the required pedagogical content knowledge (and skill) of the teacher.

Action Research: First-Year Primary School Science Teachers\u2019 Conceptions on and Enactment of Science Inquiry in Singapore

This action research project examines first year science teachers’ conceptions of scientific inquiry and their challenges in implementing inquiry-based lessons. Classroom observations and interviews represent two first-year primary school science teachers’ conceptions of science as inquiry. Because the current educational landscape emphasizes inquiry-based learning as a foundation of science education, teacher-training in Singapore focuses on augmenting the quality of inquiry-based science lessons. Through a mandatory reduced workload, first-year primary school science teachers can focus on transitioning from being student teachers to full-time teachers. A video of each teacher’s lesson was analysed using the EQUIP (Electronic Quality of Inquiry Protocol) instrument. Data analysis of the interviews involved a process of a priori coding based on the essential features of inquiry as well as grounded theory to expose the challenges the teachers faced in their enactment of inquiry-based instruction. Findings suggest that the two first-year teachers formed conceptions of inquiry through their teacher training programs. The teachers revealed three key considerations that affected their practice of inquiry: (1) assessment demands, (2) lack of resources and (3) lack of time to plan and to teach inquiry lessons. Findings in this action research project provide salient implications for other Asian countries which need to improve in-service teacher professional development programs in order to successfully enactment inquiry-based instruction.

The Connection Between Forms of Guidance for Inquiry-Based Learning and the Communicative Approaches Applied—a Case Study in the Context of Pre-service Teachers

Recent research has argued that inquiry-based science learning should be guided by providing the learners with support. The research on guidance for inquiry-based learning has concentrated on how providing guidance affects learning through inquiry. How guidance for inquiry-based learning could promote learning about inquiry (e.g. epistemic practices) is in need of exploration. A dialogic approach to classroom communication and pedagogical link-making offers possibilities for learners to acquire these practices. The focus of this paper is to analyse the role of different forms of guidance for inquiry-based learning on building the communicative approach applied in classrooms. The data for the study comes from an inquiry-based physics lesson implemented by a group of five pre-service primary science teachers to a class of sixth graders. The lesson was video recorded and the discussions were transcribed. The data was analysed by applying two existing frameworks—one for the forms of guidance provided and another for the communicative approaches applied. The findings illustrate that providing non-specific forms of guidance, such as prompts, caused the communicative approach to be dialogic. On the other hand, providing the learners with specific forms of guidance, such as explanations, shifted the communication to be more authoritative. These results imply that different forms of guidance provided by pre-service teachers can affect the communicative approach applied in inquiry-based science lessons, which affects the possibilities learners are given to connect their existing ideas to the scientific view. Future research should focus on validating these results by also analysing inservice teachers’ lessons.

Student’s social interaction in inquiry-based science education: how experiences of flow can increase motivation and achievement

This research investigated how student social interactions within two approaches to an inquiry-based science curriculum could be related to student motivation and achievement outcomes. This qualitative case study consisted of two cases, Off-Campus and On-Campus, and used ethnographic techniques of participant observation. Research participants included eight eighth grade girls, aged 13–14 years old. Data sources included formal and informal participant interviews, participant journal reflections, curriculum artifacts including quizzes, worksheets, and student-generated research posters, digital video and audio recordings, photographs, and researcher field notes. Data were transcribed verbatim and coded, then collapsed into emergent themes using NVIVO 9. The results of this research illustrate how setting conditions that promote focused concentration and communicative interactions can be positively related to student motivation and achievement outcomes in inquiry-based science. Participants in the Off-Campus case experienced more frequent states of focused concentration and out performed their peers in the On-Campus case on 46 % of classroom assignments. Off-Campus participants also designed and implemented a more cognitively complex research project, provided more in-depth analyses of their research results, and expanded their perceptions of what it means to act like a scientist to a greater extent than participants in the On-Campus case. These results can be understood in relation to Flow Theory. Student interactions that promoted the criteria necessary for initiating flow, which included having clearly defined goals, receiving immediate feedback, and maintaining a balance between challenges and skills, fostered enhanced student motivation and achievement outcomes. Implications for science teaching and future research include shifting the current focus in inquiry-based science from a continuum that progresses from teacher-directed to open inquiry experiences to a continuum that also deliberately includes and promotes the necessary criteria for establishing flow. Attending to Flow Theory and incorporating student experiences with flow into inquiry-based science lessons will enhance student motivation and achievement outcomes in science and bolster the success of inquiry-based science.

예비 화학 교사의 논의와 글쓰기가 강조된 탐구 중심 과학 수업 계획과 수행: 어려움과 극복과정을 중심으로

본 연구에서는 예비 화학 교사가 논의와 글쓰기가 강조된 탐구 중심 과학 수업을 개발하고 적용하는 과정에서 직면하는 어려움과 이를 극복해나가는 과정을 분석하였다. 이를 위해 예비 화학 교사가 각 주제 수업 개발 후, 10개 주제 전체 수업 개발 후, 각 주제 수업 수행 후, 10개 주제 전체 수업 수행 완료 후에 작성한 반성적 저널, 수업 지도안, 수업 녹음, 학생 작성 활동지 등을 분석하였다. 예비 화학 교사는 논의와 글쓰기를 강조한 탐구 수업 과정에서 자신의 과학 지식이 부족함을 인식하고 이후의 수업 준비에서는 철저한 과학 개념 확립을 위한 노력을 하였다. 학생 수준 파악의 어려움은 현장 경력교사의 조언, 학생들과의 상호작용, 교과서의 서술 내용 분석 등을 통하여 극복하려 노력하였다. 또한 다양하고 방대한 과학 수업 자료를 참고하여 탐구 중심 과학 수업 지도안을 개발하는데 어려움을 겪었고, 각 주제의 수업 목표를 명확히 세운 후 구체적인 교수-학습 활동을 선정할 수 있었다. 수업 시간을 효율적으로 운영하고 적극적인 학생 참여를 유도하는데도 어려움을 겪었고 현장 경력 교사의 조언을 토대로 격려와 통솔을 병행함으로써 향상되었다. 또한 수업을 진행하면서 논의와 글쓰기에 대한 구체적인 가이드 제공의 필요성을 느끼고 이를 실시하여 학생들의 논의 참여와 글쓰기 수준 향상을 도모하였다. The purpose of this study was to investigate inquiry-based science instruction developed and implemented by a pre-service chemistry teacher regarding the difficulties that she encountered and the ways how she tried to solve out problems. Main data of this study were pre-service teacher reflections that were written after developing both each lesson plan and the whole 10 lesson plans, and after implementing both each lesson and the whole classes. Supplemental data were lesson plans, class audio recordings, and student written journals. The pre-service teacher learned that she was lack of science content knowledge and understanding of students’ understandings. Also she had difficulties of developing inquiry-based science lesson plans, managing classrooms, and guiding students to engage in science inquiry. In order to overcome the difficulties, she asked for advice to experienced teachers, studied science concepts using textbooks and internet resources, provided detailed and concrete guidance for student argumentation and writing.

What is a scientific experiment?: The impact of a professional development course on teachers’ ability to design an inquiry-based science curriculum

Designing inquiry-based science lessons can be a challenge for secondary school teachers. In this study we evaluated the development of in-service teachers’ lesson plans as they took part in a 10-month professional development course in Peru which engaged teachers in the design of inquiry-based lessons. At the beginning, most teachers designed either confirmatory or structured inquiry activities. As the course progressed, however, they started designing guided and open inquiry lesson plans. We found four factors that accounted for this change: re-evaluating the need for lab materials, revising their views on the nature of science, engaging in guided and open inquiry activities themselves, and trying out inquiry-based lessons with their own students. Our results point to the importance of engaging teachers in prolonged and varied opportunities for inquiry as part of teacher education programs in order to achieve the challenge of changing teachers’ views and practices in science education.

Integrating Science and Technology: Using Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge as a Framework to Study the Practices of Science Teachers

In this study, we examined how teachers involved in a yearlong technology integration initiative planned to enact technological, pedagogical, and content practices in science lessons. These science teachers, engaged in an initiative to integrate educational technology in inquiry-based science lessons, provided a total of 525 lesson plans for this study. While our findings indicated an increase in technology-related practices, including the use of sophisticated hardware, very little improvements occurred with fostering inquiry-based science and effective science-specific pedagogy. In addition, our conceptual framework, technological pedagogical content knowledge, as a lens to examine teachers’ intentions as documented in their lesson plans, provided an additional platform from which to investigate technology integration practices within the ambit of reform science teaching practices. This study, therefore, contributes knowledge about the structure and agenda of professional development initiatives that involve educational technology and integration into content knowledge disciplines such as science.

Describing Elementary Teachers’ Operative Systems

AbstractThis case study introduces the notion of an operative system to describe elementary teachers’ knowledge and practice. Drawing from complex systems theory, the operative system is defined as the network of knowledge and practices that constituted teachers’ work within a lesson study cycle. Data were gathered throughout a lesson study cycle in which teachers designed and implemented an inquiry-based science lesson that integrated science notebook writing. The lesson occurred in a second-grade classroom with general and special education students. The findings describe a network of nodes—teachers’ knowledge and practices for science, writing, and working with their students—and the specific connections among these nodes in order to identify their operative system. The implications are discussed in terms of theoretical tools for the knowledge needed for teaching and teacher professional development, as well as the application of complex systems theory.

Teachers’ Autonomy-Relevant Practices within an Inquiry-Based Science Curricular Context: Extending the Range of Academically Significant Autonomy-Supportive Practices

BackgroundResearch in traditional classrooms and laboratories has indicated that autonomy support by teachers is infrequent and focused on the narrow provision of choice. One explanation for the limited autonomy support in classrooms is that typical school resources and tasks limit the availability of experiences that are interesting, relevant, with meaningful choice. Accordingly, it is critical to extend observation to contexts that enhance the likelihood of detecting significant autonomy support. In this way, it will be possible to (a) determine whether existing conceptualizations map onto behaviors in real classrooms and (b) enrich our understanding of the variety of ways in which teachers provide autonomy when the curriculum is designed not to constrain it but to expand it.ObjectiveIn the current study, we extend and develop conceptualizations of autonomy support based on our observations within an inquiry context that offers a broad range of forms of autonomy, thus gaining access to a more elaborated understanding of how real teachers offer this support. We elaborate on and richly describe how classroom teachers support autonomy in ways that extend the range of current conceptualizations, with implications for lending validity to the construct and providing concrete description for practitioners.Research DesignQualitative analyses were conducted based on videotaped observations of four 7th-grade science teachers, each enacting five inquiry-based science lessons designed to encourage scientific reasoning. We developed a coding protocol grounded in theoretical conceptualizations organized around five autonomy-support dimensions (i.e., procedural and organizational support, rationale and relevance, responsiveness, feedback, cognitive autonomy support). We were exploratory in our use of content analysis in ways that evolved our initial codes, given our aim to enrich and extend available characterizations of autonomy-supportive practice to incorporate new conceptualizations of higher quality practice.ConclusionsObserved enactments provide support for modifying our conceptualizations of the upper end points of autonomy support to include more academically significant forms as well as for making new distinctions in forms of autonomy support. This high quality and multifaceted enactment was possible because practice was embedded within an inquiry-based curriculum context that expanded opportunities for student agency. Implications for supporting educational leaders in facilitating teacher practice using this thick description and set of exemplars are discussed.

Writing Like a Scientist: Exploring Elementary Teachers’ Understandings and Practices of Writing in Science

This qualitative study examined the connections between elementary teachers’ conceptions of how scientists use writing and how the teachers used writing during science lessons. Data collected included lesson observations, interviews, handouts to students, and curriculum resources. The findings revealed that teachers in this study thought scientists write for several purposes: the presentation of data, observations, experiences, procedures, and facts. The teachers used writing tasks that mirrored this with their students. The teachers also had a limited definition of creativity in writing, and when they had students write creatively in science it was to add in fictional elements. Implications of this study include providing teachers with better models for how and why scientists write, including these models in more inquiry-based science lessons, and directly relating concepts of nature of science to elementary science writing.

Science Teacher Training in China

The most recent draft of the U.S. “next generation science standards” promoted a practice-oriented approach to inquiry-based science learning ([ 1 ][1]), guided by the 2011 U.S. National Research Council framework for K-12 science education ([ 2 ][2]). The key question is whether science teachers are able to implement practice-oriented, inquiry-based learning. Training is crucial to ensure the quality of teaching described in the “Next generation science standards” report. China faces similar challenges regarding how to offer effective training. The Ministry of Education of China began the National Teacher Training Project (NTTP) in 2010 ([ 3 ][3]) and has invested US$89.6 million every year to provide professional development opportunities for teachers, especially training in inquiry-based learning. The NTTP cultivates lead teachers, who in turn train local teachers. Approximately 68,700 middle school science teachers have taken the 15-day training to be lead teachers since 2010 ([ 3 ][3]). Lead teachers have provided training courses of 10 to 15 days to about 100,000 middle school science teachers ([ 3 ][3]). An effective science teacher training program, in China as well as in the United States, should engage scientists, education psychologists, and excellent middle school science teachers to provide trainees with research-oriented training. My experiences suggest that the NTTP program is meeting these goals. I have designed and led the lead science teacher training program of the NTTP in Soochow University for 4 years. We required the trainees to study science history, research the classic experiments underlying middle school science curriculum, identify problems in science and science teaching, research positive and negative cases of science instruction, and provide inquiry-based science lessons in our partner middle schools and report on the experience. We hope that such thorough training will fundamentally change science education in China. 1. [↵][4]Next Generation Science Standards ([www.nextgenscience.org][5]). 2. [↵][6]Committee on Conceptual Framework for the New K-12 Science Education Standards, National Research Council, A Framework for K–12 Science Education: Practices, Crosscutting Concepts, and Core Ideas (National Research Council, Washington, DC, 2011). 3. [↵][7]National Teacher Training Project ([www.gpjh.cn/cms][8]) [in Chinese]. [1]: #ref-1 [2]: #ref-2 [3]: #ref-3 [4]: #xref-ref-1-1 View reference 1 in text [5]: http://www.nextgenscience.org [6]: #xref-ref-2-1 View reference 2 in text [7]: #xref-ref-3-1 View reference 3 in text [8]: http://www.gpjh.cn/cms

Exploring Elementary Pre-Service Teachers’ Experiences and Learning Outcomes in a Revised Inquiry-Based Science Lesson: An Action Research

In order for teachers to implement inquiry-based teaching practices, they must have experienced inquiry-basedlearning especially during science content and methods courses. Although the impacts of inquiry-basedinstruction on various cognitive and affective domains have been studied and documented little attention hasbeen paid to how PSTs experience inquiry in these classrooms. The aim of this action research project was toexplore our instructional strategies and elementary PSTs’ learning experiences as we developed and implementedan inquiry-based lesson in a science content course for elementary education students. Video observation data,instructor reflections, and student reflections were analyzed to shed light on students’ conceptual understandingof the physical science concept, their learning experiences including team interactions, motivation and interest,and concerns and frustrations, as well as the role of the instructor in the revised lesson.