•We identified and summarized the core features of the inquiry learning process.•We identified five general inquiry phases: Orientation, Conceptualization, Investigation, Conclusion, and ...Discussion.•Our inquiry framework can be flexibly applied to build different pathways between 9 inquiry phases and sub-phases.
Inquiry-based learning is gaining popularity in science curricula, international research and development projects as well as teaching. One of the underlying reasons is that its success can be significantly improved due to the recent technical developments that allow the inquiry process to be supported by electronic learning environments. Inquiry-based learning is often organized into inquiry phases that together form an inquiry cycle. However, different variations on what is called the inquiry cycle can be found throughout the literature. The current article focuses on identifying and summarizing the core features of inquiry-based learning by means of a systematic literature review and develops a synthesized inquiry cycle that combines the strengths of existing inquiry-based learning frameworks. The review was conducted using the EBSCO host Library; a total of 32 articles describing inquiry phases or whole inquiry cycles were selected based on specific search criteria. An analysis of the articles resulted in the identification of five distinct general inquiry phases: Orientation, Conceptualization, Investigation, Conclusion, and Discussion. Some of these phases are divided into sub-phases. In particular, the Conceptualization phase is divided into two (alternative) sub-phases, Questioning and Hypothesis Generation; the Investigation phase is divided into three sub-phases, Exploration or Experimentation leading to Data Interpretation; and the Discussion phase is divided into two sub-phases, Reflection and Communication. No framework bringing together all of these phases and sub-phases was found in the literature. Thus, a synthesized framework was developed to describe an inquiry cycle in which all of these phases and sub-phases would be present. In this framework, inquiry-based learning begins with Orientation and flows through Conceptualization to Investigation, where several cycles are possible. Inquiry-based learning usually ends with the Conclusion phase. The Discussion phase (which includes Communication and Reflection) is potentially present at every point during inquiry-based learning and connects to all the other phases, because it can occur at any time during (discussion in-action) or after inquiry-based learning when looking back (discussion on-action).
This study addresses the issue of curiosity‐driven inquiry learning by examining the interplay among students’ inquiry‐related curiosity, laboratory engagement, and inquiry abilities and investigates ...how their learning experiences would associate with such interplay. We employed structural equation modeling to analyze data collected from 920 eighth graders and 1,090 eleventh graders, including their performances on a multimedia‐based assessment of scientific inquiry abilities and their responses to items in an online questionnaire. The results revealed that, for students from both grades, inquiry‐related curiosity was associated with their inquiry abilities, and that the association was mediated by their inquiry‐related laboratory engagement. Furthermore, the analyses showed that both formal and informal experiences were associated with the laboratory engagement of students from both grades through curiosity. Yet, the results indicated that, although the roles of the two types of experiences varied in the associations, formal science experience had stronger associations with students' inquiry abilities than informal science experience for both graders. Taken together, this study supports the importance of having curiosity‐driven engagement and suggests that the science education community should collaboratively offer secondary school students such learning opportunities in formal and informal science learning settings.
Inquiring Minds Want to Improve Falbo, Arianna
Australasian journal of philosophy,
04/2023, Volume:
101, Issue:
2
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Much of the recent work on epistemology of inquiry defends two related theses. First, inquiry into a question rationally prohibits believing an answer to that question. Second, knowledge is the aim ...of inquiry. I develop a series of cases which indicate that inquiry is not as narrow as these views suggest. These cases can be accommodated if we take a broader approach and understand inquiry as aiming at epistemic improvement, described more generally. This approach captures a wider range of inquiring phenomena because it accounts for forms of epistemic improvement that fall short of, or go beyond, coming to know the answer to a question.
This book elucidates and defends C.S. Peirce’s pragmatist account of truth. Peirce was interested in exploring truth’s connections to the practices of inquiry, belief, and assertion. This distinctly ...pragmatic project resulted in the view that truth is what would be agreed upon, were inquiry to be pursued as far as it could fruitfully go. The view that a belief is true if it would be indefeasible connects truth to human practices, but which takes truth to be something to be discovered. That is, Peirce’s view of truth is much more objectivist than some currently popular brands of pragmatism. In this expanded edition, advances in the understanding of Peirce’s theory of truth are noted, and include a new chapter which shows how Peirce’s view of truth is friendly to moral judgements.
This paper describes a multiple case study on open inquiry-based learning in primary schools. During open inquiry, teachers often experience difficulties in balancing support and transferring ...responsibility to pupils' own learning. To facilitate teachers in guiding open inquiry, we developed hard and soft scaffolds. The hard scaffolds consisted of documents with explanations and/or exercises regarding difficult parts of the inquiry process. The soft scaffolds included explicit references to and additional explanations of the hard scaffolds. We investigated how teacher implementation of these scaffolds contributed to pupils' self-directed learning during open inquiry. Four classes of pupils, aged 10-11, were observed while they conducted an inquiry lesson module of about 10 lessons in their classrooms. Data were acquired via classroom observations, audio recordings, and interviews with teachers and pupils. The results show that after the introduction of the hard scaffolds by the teacher, pupils were able and willing to apply them to their investigations. Combining hard scaffolds with additional soft scaffolding promoted pupils' scientific understanding and contributed to a shared guidance of the inquiry process by the teacher and her pupils. Our results imply that the effective use of scaffolds is an important element to be included in teacher professionalisation.
Inquiry-based science education (IBSE) has been promoted as an inspiring way of learning science by engaging pupils in designing and conducting their own scientific investigations. For primary school ...teachers, the open nature of IBSE poses challenges as they often lack experience in supporting their pupils during the different phases of an open IBSE project, such as formulating a research question and designing and conducting an investigation. The current study aims to meet these challenges by presenting a pedagogical framework in which four domains of scientific knowledge are addressed in seven phases of inquiry. The framework is based on video analyses of pedagogical interventions by primary school teachers participating in open IBSE projects. Our results show that teachers can guide their pupils successfully through the process of open inquiry by explicitly addressing the conceptual, epistemic, social and/or procedural domain of scientific knowledge in the subsequent phases of inquiry. The paper concludes by suggesting further research to validate our framework and to develop a pedagogy for primary school teachers to guide their pupils through the different phases of open inquiry.
Inquiry-based learning can be an effective approach when students are provided with sufficient guidance. However, there is an ongoing debate among practitioners about the nature, type, and level of ...such guidance. This study investigated the effects on middle school students' (N = 116) conceptual knowledge and inquiry skills acquisition of providing two different levels of guidance (support or direct presentation of information related to the inquiry process) in hands-on and virtual science laboratories on the topic of electricity. The study was based on a 2 × 2 between-subjects factorial quasi-experimental design. The effects of two different levels of guidance combined with either a hands-on or a virtual laboratory were examined. Findings revealed that although the level of guidance was important for students' conceptual knowledge development, it had no significant impact on their acquisition of inquiry skills. In terms of laboratory environments, it appears that a virtual laboratory and a hands-on laboratory are equally effective for the development of middle school students' conceptual knowledge and inquiry skills.
Maxwell analyses differences between knowledge-Inquiry and wisdom-Inquiry in relation to the revolution of thought and action in what to do about the world in crisis. His focus on creating a ...co-operatively rational world makes his book of particular interest to those, like me, concerned to create educational knowledge that contributes to the flourishing of Humanity.
Due to apartheid policies, Black African learners in South Africa have been severely disadvantaged in school science. Despite policy changes to redress these historical imbalances, Black African ...learners continue to underperform in science. Previous research has identified motivation as a key factor that impacts performance. Achievement goal orientation is a construct of motivation that explains learning behaviour. In an attempt to address the problem of learner motivation, this study investigated the effect of inquiry‐based learning on the achievement goal‐orientation of grade 10 physical sciences learners at historically disadvantaged township schools in South Africa. In South Africa, the term “township” usually refers to under‐developed urban areas that were historically created for “non‐whites” during the apartheid era. The findings showed that the experiment group of learners who experienced inquiry‐based learning significantly gained in mastery goal orientation, while the control that were taught through a traditional direct didactic approach had an insignificant change in their mastery goal orientation. From these results, it can be concluded that inquiry‐based learning does support a mastery goal orientation in learners. This orientation is regarded as desirable because mastery approach goals could support positive outcomes in conceptual learning, leading to an improvement in science achievement of learners.
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