Views About Scientific Inquiry Research Articles

Examining Bhutanese Science Teachers’ Epistemic Views of Scientific Inquiry

AbstractScientific inquiry is regarded as the bedrock of science education in Bhutan. Bhutanese science teachers, for example, are increasingly required to possess accurate and deep epistemic views of scientific inquiry. Hence, this cross-sectional study was carried out to examine Bhutanese science teachers’ epistemic views of scientific inquiry. The study recruited 301 science teachers using convenience and snowball sampling procedures. Data was collected using Views About Scientific Inquiry (VASI) questionnaire administered through an online survey mode and analysed using descriptive statistics and inferential statistical methods. Findings from this study revealed Bhutanese science teachers as being ignorant of epistemic aspects related to questions and hypotheses, procedures of investigations, results, and procedures of investigations, scientific data and scientific evidence, and scientific explanations and scientific theories. The independent sample t-test revealed no significant difference between Bhutanese male and female science teachers’ epistemic views of scientific inquiry (p > .05). The one-way ANOVA revealed significant differences amongst Bhutanese science teachers’ epistemic views of scientific inquiry based on academic qualification (p < .05). The Tukey HSD post hoc test, however, showed the differences existing only between science teachers with master’s degree and certificate qualification in favour of the former (p < .05). The three-way ANOVA revealed Bhutanese science teachers’ epistemic views of scientific inquiry as being independent of individual and interaction effects of school type, teaching subject, and teaching experience (p > .05).

Pre-service Primary Teachers’ Views about Scientific Inquiry

While scientific inquiry is a critical goal in science education reform, worldwide research indicates that students and educators misunderstand it. The present study investigates the scientific inquiry views of 170 senior-year pre-service primary school teachers using the VASI (Views About Scientific Inquiry) questionnaire. This standardized tool assesses learners’ understanding of scientific inquiry. The analysis of student responses demonstrates that the sampled pre-service primary education teachers hold naïve views on several aspects of scientific inquiry. Findings show that participants seem to have difficulty understanding that scientific inquiry begins with a question and are unclear on whether a single procedure generates the same results or if scientific data is equivalent to scientific evidence. The inability of pre-service teachers to understand scientific inquiry confirms a lack of general consideration of its process, raising doubt over the opportunities for learners to adopt and engage in scientific inquiry. Consequently, the implications of curriculum reform are discussed.

Investigating the immersion of inquiry in lecture in improving students’ understanding about scientific inquiry

This study aimed to examine the extent to which scientific inquiry procedures during a lecture improvelead to an improvement in students’ understanding of scientific inquiry. The study implemented a one-group pretest-posttest design. Participants were 53 first-year students from the Chemistry Department atin a public university in Malang Ccity. Students’ understandings of scientific inquiry were assessed before and after the instruction using the Views About Scientific Inquiry (VASI) questionnaire. TThe participants’ responses were analysed descriptively and classified into three categories: informed, partially informed, and naïve, with Cohen’s inter-rater reliability value of 0.81.he participants’ responses were analysed descriptively and classified into three categories, namely informed, partially informed, and naïve views with Cohen’s inter-rater reliability value of 0.81. The results showed that (1) before treatment, students' understanding of scientific inquiry was at the level of partially informed and naïve, and (2) the immersion of scientific inquiry procedures in lectures improved students' understanding of scientific inquiry with the improved strength of Cohen's d-effect size was 1.10 (much larger than the typical category) or average normalized gain was 0.3 (medium category).

Exploring Pre-service Science Teachers' Understanding of Scientific Inquiry and Scientific Practices Through a Laboratory Course.

The intervention study presented in this paper explored pre-service science teachers’ (PSSTs) understanding of scientific inquiry (SI) and scientific practices (SPs) during a laboratory application in science education course. Thirty-nine secondary school PSSTs, who study in the Science Education Department in a public university in Turkey, enrolled in a 14-week-long course and volunteered to participate in the study. The participants were exposed to a method is called the 4-phase implementation that includes laboratory-based inquiry activities addressing SI and SPs and they completed microteaching presentations. Their understanding of SI and SPs was examined through the course period. The main data sources included Views about Scientific Inquiry (VASI) Instrument and concept maps were used to track the changes in these understandings. The findings indicated that PSSTs had inadequate understanding of inquiry on some aspects even after the treatment. Yet, the method had positive impact in PSSTs’ understanding inquiry especially in terms of facilitating the comprehension that scientific investigations begin with questions, there is no single method in investigations, and explanations are derived from collected data. The concept maps created by some of the participants also supported these results and revealed a more coherent and holistic understanding of SPs by integrating both epistemic and social components into their maps. However, PSSTs did not seem to have totally understood other aspects of inquiry including the inquiry procedures, the research conclusions, and the difference between data and evidence. Further implications are critically discussed in terms of designing future laboratory applications for science education courses.

Understandings About Scientific Inquiry in a South African School Prioritizing STEM

This paper reports on a case study of South African Grade 12 learners’ views about scientific inquiry. The study focuses on a non-fee-paying government school that receives curricular support and resources to specifically develop Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) teaching in a low socioeconomic setting. Data were collected using the Views About Scientific Inquiry (VASI) questionnaire. The learners demonstrated high levels of understanding of some inquiry aspects, while other aspects were poorly understood. The best understood aspects relate to questions, data and conclusions, whilst the aspects related to multiple methods, previous knowledge and differences in interpretations were poorly understood. Results were compared with those of Grade 12 learners at other South African schools who also completed the VASI questionnaire. The findings suggest that the case study school’s emphasis on STEM and high performance may support understandings of scientific inquiry in general, but at the same time encourages some naive views such as believing that scientific investigations are rigid processes, independent of human creativity.

What Do Pre-Service Science Teachers Views about the Nature of Scientific Inquiry?.

The nature of scientific inquiry is a concept associated with the nature of science and is an important product of inquiry-based teaching. Inquiry-based teaching is an important method proposed in science education all over the world. The aim of this study is to determine the pre-service science teacher’s views about nature of scientific inquiry. As a data collection tool, The Views about Scientific Inquiry (VASI) questionnaire which developed by Lederman et al. (2014) was used. The questionnaire was translated in to Turkish by the researchers, and experts were assisted by their opinions and arrangements. The pilot data of the study were obtained with the participation of 56 pre-service teachers in the mathematics teacher program and 252 pre-service science teachers participate to get the main data. In addition, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 pre-service teachers. The results of the data variety are used to confirm the analysis of each other. In the analysis of the data, the participant's views are coded as uncategorized, naive, mixed, and informed. The results are presented as frequency and percentage. The data were evaluated by comparing with the pre-service teachers' grade levels. It was determined that the views of pre-service teachers about nature of scientific inquiry were not sufficient, but they were informed in terms of some aspects.

Views About Scientific Inquiry: A Study of Students’ Understanding of Scientific Inquiry in Grade 7 and 12 in Sweden

ABSTRACT This paper analyses data from the Swedish sample of the international VASI (Views about scientific inquiry) study (Lederman et al. [2019]. An international collaborative investigation of beginning seventh grade students’ understandings of scientific inquiry: Establishing a baseline. Journal of Research in Science Teaching. Published online. https://doi.org/10.1002/tea.21512). Understandings about scientific inquiry involve knowledge about the processes of inquiry, and are not the same as being able to do inquiry although these are related domains. This paper focuses on what students know about scientific inquiry and what impact school science may have on this knowledge. Data were collected using the VASI instrument developed previously and was administered to 126 students at the beginning of year seven and 145 students at the end of year 12 in a cross-sectional design. Results indicate that the majority of students do not have an informed understanding of key aspects of scientific inquiry in either grade. Although students in year 12 are more informed, the average is still less than 50% as measured by the VASI and with a large spread.

Ortaokul Öğrencilerinin Bilimsel Sorgulama Görüşleri: Cinsiyet, Sınıf Düzeyi ve Okul Türü Değişkenlerinin İncelenmesi

Bilimsel sorgulama (BS), bilim okuryazarı öğrencilerin hedefine ulaşmada en önemli bileşenlerden birisidir. Öğretim programında ‘anlayış’ ve ‘beceri’ olarak farklı ifade edilmiş olsa da BS hakkında bilinçli düzeyde görüşlere sahip olan öğrencilerin bu konudaki becerilerinin de daha fazla gelişeceği açıktır. Sorgulama becerilerinin ve anlayışının geliştirilmesi, sorgulamaya dayalı stratejilerin ve sınıf içi uygulamalarının dikkatli bir şekilde planlanmasını ve uygulanmasını gerektirir. Ancak, sorgulamaya dayalı stratejileri planlama ve uygulama öncesinde, uygulamaların kalitesini ve içeriğini planlama adına öğrencilerin bu konudaki hazırbulunuşluluklarını ve görüşlerini inceleyen betimleyici çalışmalara ihtiyaç vardır. Bu nedenle bu çalışmanın amacı, sosyo ekonomik düzeyleri farklı beş okulda öğrenim gören toplam n = 599 5, 6 ve 7. sınıf öğrencilerinin bilimsel sorgulama hakkındaki görüşlerinin betimsel olarak ortaya konulmasıdır. Çalışmanın birincil veri kaynağı, Lederman vd. (2014) tarafından geliştirilen, açık uçlu Bilimsel Sorgulama Hakkında Görüşler Anketi’ne (VASI) verilen öğrencileri yanıtlarıdır. Çalışma sonuçları, ortaokul öğrencilerinin bilimsel sorgulamanın tüm bileşenleri hakkında görüşlerinin yetersiz düzeyde olduğunu göstermiştir. Çalışmanın s onuçları derinlemesine incelendiğinde ise, bilinçli düzeyde görüşlere sahip olan ortaokul öğrencilerinin büyük bir kısmını, özellikle üst-orta sosyoekonomik düzey okulların 6. sınıflarında öğrenim gören öğrencilerin oluşturduğu görülmüştür.

Views of Nature of Scientific Inquiry of Students in Different High Schools

The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore different high school students’ views of Nature of Scientific Inquiry (NOSI). Eleventh grade students in Science High School (SHS, 69 students), Teacher High School (THS, 99 students), and Anatolian High School (AHS, 99 students) were participated in the study. Views about Scientific Inquiry (VASI) questionnaire was applied at their classroom and some of them were interviewed just after filling out the questionnaire. Analysis of the data was done by establishing a profile for each student by assigning naive, mixed, and informed codes for each NOSI aspect. Then, frequency of each code was determined and tabulated. Two researchers’ coding agreement of the questionnaires was 85%. The results of the study revealed that SHS students demonstrated more informed views than other two high schools on three NOSI aspects which were ‘scientific investigations all begin with a question and do not necessarily test a hypothesis’, ‘there is no single set of steps followed in all investigations’, and ‘inquiry procedures are guided by the question asked’. SHS students and THS students were close to each other and had more informed views than AHS students in two NOSI aspect of ‘data are not the same as evidence’ and ‘explanations are derived from data and what is already known’ aspects. On the other hand, AHS students provided less informed view on two aspects (‘same procedures may not get the same results’ and ‘procedures influence results’), but had also least naive views on both aspects which means that they have more merit to develop these aspects. The NOSI aspect of ‘conclusions must be consistent with data’ was the aspect that most of high school students in each school had informed views. SHS had the more science courses than THS and AHS. Based on the results of this study, it seems that more science courses and more previous science experience help developing more informed NOSI views, but it should be researched more before making a clear conclusion.

Teaching and Learning of Nature of Scientific Knowledge and Scientific Inquiry: Building Capacity through Systematic Research-Based Professional Development

ABSTRACTThis study provides an example of a systematic professional development project designed to build capacity for the teaching of nature of science and scientific inquiry, while not sacrificing the learning of more traditional science subject matter. Specifically, this project examined the impact of a 5-year professional development project on K-12 science teachers’ content knowledge and pedagogical knowledge, and their students’ knowledge, related to nature of scientific knowledge (NOSK) and scientific inquiry (SI). For five years a total of 236 science teachers in K-12 participated in the project and over 23,000 students were affected by the project. During each year of professional development teachers engaged in science internships, NOSK and SI activities, model lessons, curriculum development, microteaching presentations, and assessment practices related to NOSK/SI. The pre- and post-test results from the Views of nature of Science, Form D (VNOSK-D) and the Views About Scientific Inquiry (VASI) instruments indicated that teachers and their students significantly improved their understandings of NOSK/SI. In addition, analysis of teachers’ microteaching lessons showed that there was a developmental continuum of teaching NOSK/SI from implicit to didactic to explicit teaching as teachers progressed through the program.

Chemistry Teachers’ Views about Scientific Inquiry: A Study in East Java Province of Indonesia

Scientific inquiry is a part of scientific literacy which is probably one of the main goals of science education. This paper reports a preliminary study on chemistry teachers’ understanding about scientific inquiry carried out using a Questionnaire of Views about Scientific Inquiry (VASI) with background of chemistry knowledge. Sample of the study is 32 chemistry teachers of senior and vocational high schools. Results showed that (1) the chemistry teachers held more informed views than science teachers reported in the previous study and (2) the pattern of chemistry teachers’ understanding about aspects of scientific inquiry is the same as senior high school students’ understanding. These indicate that (1) the complexity of leraning material people learned may be influences their inference ability and (2) the first year university chemistry students’ understanding of scientific inquiry are the strengthening of the perception they get from their teachers when they were school students.

Improving Science Teachers’ Views about Scientific Inquiry

The present study specifically focuses on science teachers’ views about scientific inquiry and their use of scientific inquiry in their lesson plans, which were prepared at a professional development workshop designed for better utilization of science centers (SCs). As an impact evaluation research, qualitative data was collected from 41 purposively selected volunteer science teachers. The project team provided the participants with intense instruction in inquiry, and fostered them to learn nature of science and nature of scientific inquiry explicitly. The participants designed lesson plans that integrate school science curricula with exhibits at SCs before and after the workshop. An open-ended questionnaire about the views about scientific inquiry (VASI) was administered before and after the workshop, and teachers’ post-lesson plans were analyzed to detect the presence of scientific inquiry aspects. The majority of teachers exhibited improved views about scientific inquiry based on the VASI instrument. Also, lesson plan analyses indicated that teachers, who showed more improvement in VASI, included more scientific inquiry (SI) elements in their post-lesson plans. It was observed that science teachers’ lesson plans are limited in terms of teaching science in line with real scientific inquiries in SCs to make students learn about the nature of scientific inquiry while learning science. Only two groups embedded SI properly in the SC-oriented lesson plans, and teachers rather used inquiry-based methods of teaching (e.g., argumentation, predict-observe-explain) and process skills (e.g., questioning, explanations). Accordingly, further studies are suggested to develop a specific pedagogical content knowledge framework for teaching with/in SCs.

PRESERVICE SCIENCE TEACHERS’ VIEWS ABOUT SCIENTIFIC INQUIRY

The goals of this study are to determine the Turkish preservice science teachers’ views about scientific inquiry. In this research, simple descriptive survey is conducted for the purpose of describing pre-service science teachers’ views about scientific inquiry. For this purpose, “Views about Scientific Inquiry (VASI) Questionnaire” was utilized to collect data. Seventy two senior preservice teachers in a Science Teacher Education Program at a large university participated in this study. Data were collected using qualitative research methods of individual open-ended instrument, and semi-structured interviews. Findings revealed that the majority of the preservice teachers’ responses of the scientific inquiry aspects are naive. On the other hand, for only three aspects of SI, the pre-service science teachers have informed views. These aspects are inquiry procedures are guided by the question asked and all scientists performing the same procedures may not get the same results. In this research “All scientists performing the same procedures may not get the same results” was the best understood aspect of inquiry and “Scientific investigations all begin with a question” was the least understood aspect of inquiry. This lack of aspect means that senior PST were not well aware that investigations are based on questions. Also, data analysis indicated that preservice science teachers have difficulties with defining the experiment, observation, data, evidence, and different scientific methods. Article visualizations:

Changes in Students’ Views about Nature of Scientific Inquiry at a Science Camp

Although nature of science (NOS) and nature of scientific inquiry (NOSI) are related to each other, they are differentiated as NOS is being more related to the product of scientific inquiry (SI) which is scientific knowledge whereas NOSI is more related to the process of SI (Schwartz et al. 2008). Lederman et al. (Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 51, 65–8, 2014) determined eight NOSI aspects for K-16 context. In this study, a science camp was conducted to teach scientific inquiry (SI) and NOSI to 24 6th and 7th graders (16 girls and 8 boys). The core of the program was guided inquiry in nature. The children working in small groups under guidance of science advisors conducted four guided-inquiries in the nature in morning sessions on nearby plants, animals, water, and soil. NOSI aspects were made explicit during and at the end of each inquiry session. Views about scientific inquiry (VASI) (Lederman et al. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 51, 65–8, 2014) questionnaire was applied as pre- and post-test. The results of the study showed that children developed in all eight NOSI aspects, but higher developments were observed in “scientific investigations all begin with a question” and “there is no single scientific method,” and “explanations are developed from data and what is already known” aspects. It was concluded that the science camp program was effective in teaching NOSI.

Blending Problem Based Learning and History of Science Approaches to Enhance Views about Scientific Inquiry: New Wine in an Old Bottle

In 2016, the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) showed that approximately 44.4% of students in Turkey obtained very low grades when their scientific knowledge was evaluated. In addition, the vast majority of students were shown to have no knowledge of basic scientific terms or concepts. Science teachers play a significant role in facilitating students’ understanding of science, conceptions of scientific inquiry (SI) and the nature of science (NOS), and the transfer of those conceptions into classroom practice. Therefore, in this paper, I present my experiences of blending problem-based learning (PBL) and the history of science (HOS) with technological approaches. The study aimed to determine the effectiveness of this innovative approach in improving pre-service science teachers’ SI views. The Views about Scientific Inquiry (VASI) questionnaire was used as a data collection tool (Lederman et al., 2014). The findings showed that most of the views of pre-service science teachers improved for all SI items except “Consistent with data collected.” The results also indicated that the teachers that used these approaches were able to overcome initial barriers in preparing lesson plans for teaching science and SI.

Profile of High School Students’ Understanding of Scientific Inquiry

Scientific inquiry is the main objective of education. The purpose of this study is to investigate the understanding of scientific inquiry from high school students in grade 11. This study has involved 32 high school students. The scientific inquiry understanding is measure by using VASI (Views About Scientific Inquiry) questionnaire. Then, all responses are categorized as informed, partially informed, and naïve. The result showed group of respondents have a comprehension in informed category at the relationship among procedures and research questions. In the other side, there are some group of respondents that still have lack comprehension in the aspect of characteristic scientific research and the relation between questions. There’s group of respondents still didn’t comprehend about the differences between scientific evidence and scientific data’s, the reason to select procedures, and also the relation between conclusion and data’s collection.

Exploring Korean Middle School Students’ View about Scientific Inquiry

Background:The aim of this study is to examine Korean middle school students’ view about scientific inquiry with the Views About Scientific Inquiry (VASI) Questionnaire.Material and methods:This instrument deals with 8 aspects of scientific inquiry. 282 Korean middle school students participated in this study, and their responses were classified as informed, mixed, and naive.Results:The results revealed that Korean middle school students primarily held mixed or naive views about scientific inquiry. To discover why students held these views, their responses were analyzed in detail. For instance, they did not understand the meaning of ‘experiment’, ‘scientific’, ‘data’, and ‘evidence’ well. They understood scientific terminology and scientific inquiry in everyday contexts. Students also tended to regard science process skill as scientific method.Conclusions:In general, Korean middle school students held mixed or naive views about scientific inquiry. According to the results mentioned above, explicit and reflective instruction is necessary to develop students’ views about scientific inquiry.

USING SCIENCE CAMPS TO DEVELOP UNDERSTANDINGS ABOUT SCIENTIFIC INQUIRY—TAIWANESE STUDENTS IN A U.S. SUMMER SCIENCE CAMP

Recent years have witnessed a dramatic rise in the number of middle and high school students from Asian countries participating in U.S.-based summer experiences (Perlez & Gao, 2013). Although summer science camps have been shown to improve students’ attitudes and interests related to science and science learning (Bhattacharyya, Mead & Nathaniel, School Science and Mathematics 111:345–353, 2011; Fields, International Journal of Science Education 31:151–171, 2009; Gibson & Chase, Science Education 86:693–705, 2002; Luehmann, International Journal of Science Education 31:1831–1855, 2009), whether there are cognitive gains for visiting students in these short-term experiences is not well understood (Liu & Lederman, School Science and Mathematics 102:114–123, 2002; Williams, Ma, Prejean, Ford & Lai, Journal of Research on Technology in Education 40:201–216, 2007). This study explored the efficacy of a U.S. summer science camp to engender improved understandings about scientific inquiry (SI) among a group of gifted Taiwanese students (n = 19) in grades 8 and 9. Participants were completing an 80-h summer science camp at a Midwestern U.S. university. The Views About Scientific Inquiry (VASI) questionnaire (Lederman, Lederman, Bartos, Bartels, Antink Meyer & Schwartz, Journal of Research in Science Teaching 51:65–83, 2014) was used to capture students’ views before and after camp participation, with modest gains evident for five of the eight aspects of scientific inquiry assessed. These gains were related to scientific investigations beginning with a question, the multiple methods of science, the role of the question in guiding procedures, the distinction between data and evidence, and the combination of data and what is already known in the development of explanations. Implications for the structure of science camps for supporting the development of SI understandings among students from Asian classrooms, and in general, are discussed.

Knowledge about Inquiry: A study in South African high schools

This paper reports a study on South African learners' knowledge about scientific inquiry using the Views About Scientific Inquiry (VASI) Questionnaire. The sample consisted of 105 grade 11 learners from 7 schools across the socio-economic spectrum in a South African city. A rubric for scoring the VASI Questionnaire was developed and refined during the process of coding and is presented. Results showed that the learners held more informed views than that reported in previous international studies, except for particularly naive views regarding multiple methods of investigation. The results are discussed in terms of the Revised National Curriculum Statement (RNCS) that was taught from 2003 to 2010 in South African schools. This curriculum was founded on outcomes-based principles, valuing process skills rather than content. The study found that examples provided in the RNCS document correspond closely to the aspects of inquiry as described by the National Research Council. It is argued that the RNCS contributed to the more informed views about inquiry found among South African learners in this study.

Meaningful assessment of learners' understandings about scientific inquiry-The views about scientific inquiry (VASI) questionnaire

Helping students develop informed views about scientific inquiry (SI) has been and continues to be a goal of K-12 science education, as evidenced in various reform documents. Nevertheless, research focusing on understandings of SI has taken a perceptible backseat to that which focuses on the “doing” of inquiry. We contend that this is partially a function of the typical conflation of scientific inquiry with nature of science (NOS), and is also attributable to the lack of a readily accessible instrument to provide a meaningful assessment of learners' views of SI. This article (a) outlines the framework of scientific inquiry that undergirds the Views About Scientific Inquiry (VASI) questionnaire; (b) describes the development of the VASI, in part derived from the Views of Scientific Inquiry (VOSI) questionnaire; (c) presents evidence for the validity and reliability of the VASI; (d) discusses the use of the VASI and associated interviews to elucidate views of the specific aspects of SI that it attempts to assess; and (e) discusses the utility of the resulting rich-descriptive views of SI that the VASI provides for informing both further research efforts and classroom practice. The trend in recent reform documents, unfortunately, ignores much of the research on NOS and SI and implicitly presumes that the “doing” of inquiry is sufficient for developing understandings of SI. The VASI serves as a tool in further discrediting this contention and provides both the classroom teacher and the researcher a more powerful means for assessing learners' conceptions about essential aspects of SI, consonant with the vision set forth in the recently released Next Generation Science Standards (Achieve, Inc., 2013). © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 51: 65–83, 2014