Inquiry Capability Research Articles

사회과교육의 가상지리답사를 위한 학습공간 개발 연구

Objectives The purpose of this study is to develop a learning environment for social studies education that incorporates drone mapping and metaverse technology to enhance the sense of immediacy in virtual geographic fieldwork.
 Methods To achieve this, the first step involved conducting a quantitative and qualitative analysis of previous studies related to virtual geography exploration to understand the research trends. Following that, the components necessary for the development of a metaverse learning environment were derived. Subsequently, a prototype for a learning space designed for virtual geography exploration was developed based on these identified components. Finally, a validation process involving field teachers was used to carry out modifications and enhancements on the developed prototype, resulting in the final product.
 Results According to the research findings, drone mapping facilitated the development of a metaverse space with higher qualitative standards compared to conventional 3D data. This enhancement increases the authenticity of virtual geographic fieldwork, augments opportunities for interaction, strengthens self-directed learning abilities required in future education, and provides avenues for integration into STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics) curricula.
 Conclusions These results demonstrate that conventional virtual geographic fieldwork can no longer remain at the level of indirect geographical observation but can evolve into a distinctive teaching and learning approach by integrating with fourth industrial revolution technologies. Furthermore, learners can enhance their deep inquiry capabilities within metaverse spaces resembling the real world, connecting with local contexts for learning and thereby contributing to the uniqueness of social studies education.

Fostering Chinese preservice teachers’ global competence through inquiry learning in glocalised educational contexts

Informed by a theoretical discussion on teaching global competence, this case study explored how to use inquiry learning to foster Chinese teacher candidates’ acquisition of global competence. The results showed that inquiry learning helped student participants understand glocalised educational practices, perspectives, and ideologies; embrace global and intercultural engagement; and grasp the skills and dispositions to critically examine global and local educational issues, power discourses, and work for sustainable educational development. This study suggests pedagogical and programme improvement suggestions, including ensuring instructor guidance in inquiry learning and intercultural engagement, equipping students with critical sociocultural inquiry capabilities, and constructing international interaction platforms.

Nascent Inquiry, Metacognitive, and Self-Regulation Capabilities Among Preschoolers During Scientific Exploration.

There is common agreement that preschool-level science education affects children’s curiosity, their positive approach toward science, and their desire to engage with the subject. Children’s natural curiosity drives them to engage enthusiastically in all forms of exploration. Engaging in scientific exploration necessitates self-regulation capabilities and a wide repertoire of cognitive and metacognitive strategies. The purpose of this study was to examine to what extent preschoolers (aged 5–6 years) implement nascent inquiry skills, metacognitive awareness, and self-regulation capabilities during play-based scientific exploration tasks. An additional purpose was to investigate the relationships between these capabilities, a relationship not yet investigated in the context of play-based, scientific exploration among young children. The study consisted of 215 preschoolers, from 10 preschools. For this study, we developed two scientific exploration tasks – structured and open-ended. Our motivation was to examine whether preschoolers’ capabilities will differ in the context of structured task which is aligned with the view that young children need guidance and explicit instructions compared to the context of open-ended, play-based task–allowing the children to apply and test their intuitive theories and skills. During performance participants were videotaped. Their verbal and non-verbal responses were analyzed by means of a coding scheme. The results of a micro-analysis of about 100 h of video showed that given the opportunity, even without setting explicit goals and instructions, children exhibit inquiry capabilities: they ask questions, plan, hypothesize, use tools, draw conclusions. Asking questions and planning were better manifested during the structured task. Children also manifested higher levels of attention, persistence, and autonomy during the structured task. However, significant higher scores of self-regulation indications were revealed in the context of the open-ended, play-based, exploration task. Moreover, results indicate significant correlations between the five measures of preschoolers’ inquiry capabilities and measures of metacognitive strategic awareness and self-regulation. The results of the present study suggest the importance of combining various learning environments and experiences in early science education that encourage children to engage in structured exploration alongside play-based, open-ended, exploration.

TRANSFORMATION OF THE STUDENTS’ INQUIRY CAPABILITY THROUGH MINDMAP EDUCATIVE BY USING GAME OBSERVATION NORMATIVELY (MEGONO) LEARNING MODEL

This classroom action research was conducted to analyze the development of the students’ inquiry abilities in science learning by a learning model of mindmap educative by using game observation normatively (Megono). The study was conducted in three cycles. In each cycle, the students were divided into five groups, each groups consisted of seven students. Each group was mandated to observe and to analyze the images/photos. After the image observations, they were asked to discuss, write and compile the information into a concept map. One of the students was act as a representative of the group in a game of observation. Data were obtained through the pre-test, post-test, and observation by the observers as well as from the photo and video recording. The results showed that the students’ inquiry ability increased by 63.27% at the end of the cycle. At the initial conditions, the ability of the student was low (0.49). After the first cycle, it increased to 0.63 (medium), and then increased to 0.68 (moderate) on the second cycle, and finally it increased to 0.80 (high) in the third cycle. The average increase in every aspect was 68.59%. The highest inquiry capability was achieved in aspects of reasoning amounted to 89.29 (very high). It was suggested to use the observation games fairly and needed more time adjustment to obtain higher learning outcomes.

Inquiry Learning of High School Students Through a Problem‐Based Environmental Health Science Curriculum

The purpose of this study was to examine the degree to which high school students improved their inquiry capabilities in relation to scientific literacy through their experience of a problem‐based environmental health science curriculum. The two inquiry capabilities studied were scientific questioning and approaches to inquiry into their own questions. A total of 129 high school students taught by two teachers in one school wrote responses to environmental health issues at the beginning and at the end of a 10‐week long inquiry curriculum. An additional group of 46 students of one of the two teachers learned an alternative curriculum and participated as a comparison group. The students using the inquiry curriculum performed significantly better than those using the alternative curriculum in posing active inquiry questions and generating hypothesis‐driven approaches to inquiry into their questions. The inquiry curriculum students also improved significantly from the pretest to the posttest in both measures of inquiry capacity. Among the students who were less prepared for inquiry in the beginning, 68% improved inquiry‐questioning capability, while among the students who were more prepared for inquiry, 36% improved in generating hypotheses‐driven approaches. Implications for curriculum design and implementation were provided along with further research suggestions.

Creating young scientists through community science projects

This research aimed to develop an STS-based learning unit on biological control to enhance scientific inquiry capability of secondary school students through community science projects. It was framed by the science-technology-society (STS) teaching approach, and focused on collaboration between individual students, peers, teachers, agriculturists, and local experts. Students were assessed for their scientific inquiry ability at the beginning and the end of the learning process using five instruments: experimental skill test, students’ laboratory reports, students’ science projects, semi-structured interview and classroom observation. The results showed that the STS-based learning unit on biological control helped students gain significant improvement in scientific inquiry. They were able to apply and integrate the scientific knowledge learned in both classroom and field studies to help solve agricultural problems in their own communities. Moreover, this learning unit encouraged students’ skills in solving problems in other situations.

Pragmatic Learning Theory: An Inquiry-Action Framework for Distributed Consumer Learning in Online Communities

We examine consumer social learning from distributed inquiry capabilities in online communities. Using an inquiry-action framework rooted in pragmatic learning theory, we longitudinally trace community inquiry processes and their link to individual action in six health-related online communities. Our interpretive analyses reveal leaps and lapses in social learning. Generative learning is evident when collective productive inquiry is linked to expanding individual action repertoires. Individual disengagement diverts inquiry and disrupts inquiry-action linkages, creating lapses that degenerate learning. Within these extremes, instances of individual faltering are evident when inquiry is productive but individuals fail to leverage inquiry for empowered action.

Pendulum Phenomena and the Assessment of Scientific Inquiry Capabilities

Phenomena associated with the pendulum present numerous opportunities for assessing higher order human capabilities related to scientific inquiry and the discovery of natural law. This paper illustrates how systematic assessment of scientific inquiry capabilities, using pendulum phenomena, can provide a useful tool for classroom teachers and program planners. Structured inquiry, a technique of teacher-facilitated student inquiry involving direct interaction between students and natural phenomena, is presented as a way to establish student competence in applying scientific inquiry capabilities (e.g., conceptualizing variation due to error). This approach to assessment can heighten student curiosity and provide a concrete referent for complementary cultural, historical, and scientific instruction. The role of assessment in constructively shaping science education programs is considered.

Setting theoretical and empirical foundations for assessing scientific inquiry and discovery in educational programs

This study was designed to develop measures of student competence in conducting scientific inquiry. Two assessment techniques were developed. The first measures Scientific Inquiry Capabilities, variables which are indicators of diverse aspects of competence in conducting scientific inquiry. The second measures Scientific Discovery, an indicator of success in attaining scientific concepts as a result of direct investigations into natural phenomena. Thirty-two high school students were presented with tasks requiring the building and testing of logical–mathematical models of natural phenomena. The relationship between each Scientific Inquiry Capability and success in making discoveries was tested. Several Inquiry Capabilities were identified as strongly correlated with success in Discovery, notably: Proportional Reasoning, the Coordination of Theory with Evidence, and the Disposition to Search for Necessary Underlying Principles. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 37: 938–962, 2000

Immediate Pathologic Confirmation of Radiologic Interpretations by Computer Feedback

A computer system is used to provide automatic pathology diagnostic feedback to radiologists. This feedback occurs on a daily basis whenever surgical specimens are obtained for which pertinent radiologic examinations have been performed. On-line inquiry capability is also provided. The implementation relies on linkage between two operational computer systems at Massachusetts General Hospital, for pathology specimen accession management and radiology examination scheduling.