The Inquiry Science Implementation Scale: Development And Applications
International Journal of Science and Mathematics Education
Paul R. Brandon, Donald B. Young, Francis M. Pottenger and Alice K. Taum
Instruments for evaluating the implementation of inquiry science in K-12 classrooms are necessary if evaluators and researchers are to know the extent to which programs are implemented as intended and the extent to which inquiry science teaching accounts for student learning. For evaluators and researchers to be confident about the quality of these instruments, information about their development and validation—particularly about teacher self-report instruments—must be available. In this article, we present the Inquiry Science Implementation Scale, describe the instrument’s development and the results of analyses of the validity and reliability of data collected with it, and discuss the possible uses of the instrument.
Showing posts with label inquiry. Show all posts
Showing posts with label inquiry. Show all posts
2009-04-19
2008-10-02
Geier Blumenfeld Marx Krajcik Fishman Soloway Clay-Chambers - JRST 2008
Standardized test outcomes for students engaged in inquiry-based science curricula in the context of urban reform
J Res Sci Teach 45: 922-939, 2008
Robert Geier, Phyllis C. Blumenfeld, Ronald W. Marx, Joseph S. Krajcik, Barry Fishman, Elliot Soloway, Juanita Clay-Chambers
Considerable effort has been made over the past decade to address the needs of learners in large urban districts through scaleable reform initiatives. We examine the effects of a multifaceted scaling reform that focuses on supporting standards based science teaching in urban middle schools. The effort was one component of a systemic reform effort in the Detroit Public Schools, and was centered on highly specified and developed project-based inquiry science units supported by aligned professional development and learning technologies. Two cohorts of 7th and 8th graders that participated in the project units are compared with the remainder of the district population, using results from the high-stakes state standardized test in science. Both the initial and scaled up cohorts show increases in science content understanding and process skills over their peers, and significantly higher pass rates on the statewide test. The relative gains occur up to a year and a half after participation in the curriculum, and show little attenuation with in the second cohort when scaling occurred and the number of teachers involved increased. The effect of participation in units at different grade levels is independent and cumulative, with higher levels of participation associated with similarly higher achievement scores. Examination of results by gender reveals that the curriculum effort succeeds in reducing the gender gap in achievement experienced by urban African-American boys. These findings demonstrate that standards-based, inquiry science curriculum can lead to standardized achievement test gains in historically underserved urban students, when the curriculum is highly specified, developed, and aligned with professional development and administrative support.
J Res Sci Teach 45: 922-939, 2008
Robert Geier, Phyllis C. Blumenfeld, Ronald W. Marx, Joseph S. Krajcik, Barry Fishman, Elliot Soloway, Juanita Clay-Chambers
Considerable effort has been made over the past decade to address the needs of learners in large urban districts through scaleable reform initiatives. We examine the effects of a multifaceted scaling reform that focuses on supporting standards based science teaching in urban middle schools. The effort was one component of a systemic reform effort in the Detroit Public Schools, and was centered on highly specified and developed project-based inquiry science units supported by aligned professional development and learning technologies. Two cohorts of 7th and 8th graders that participated in the project units are compared with the remainder of the district population, using results from the high-stakes state standardized test in science. Both the initial and scaled up cohorts show increases in science content understanding and process skills over their peers, and significantly higher pass rates on the statewide test. The relative gains occur up to a year and a half after participation in the curriculum, and show little attenuation with in the second cohort when scaling occurred and the number of teachers involved increased. The effect of participation in units at different grade levels is independent and cumulative, with higher levels of participation associated with similarly higher achievement scores. Examination of results by gender reveals that the curriculum effort succeeds in reducing the gender gap in achievement experienced by urban African-American boys. These findings demonstrate that standards-based, inquiry science curriculum can lead to standardized achievement test gains in historically underserved urban students, when the curriculum is highly specified, developed, and aligned with professional development and administrative support.
2008-09-29
diSessa - C&I 2008
A “Theory Bite” on the Meaning of Scientific Inquiry: A Companion to Kuhn and Pease
Cognition and Instruction, Volume 26, Issue 4 October 2008 , pages 427 - 429
Andrea diSessa
No abstract given, but here's a description of a "theory bite" that suggests why you should read this:
Cognition and Instruction, Volume 26, Issue 4 October 2008 , pages 427 - 429
Andrea diSessa
No abstract given, but here's a description of a "theory bite" that suggests why you should read this:
With respect to dialectical approaches and also to theory, I have taken the privilege of exemplifying a small innovation focused on both of these in this issue. I call the genre a “theory bite,” and it was suggested to me by Bruce Sherin. The idea is to comment briefly on the theoretical perspective of a work in such a way as to (a) succinctly identify and clarify a theoretical position in an article, and (b) situate it with respect to alternatives. “Essences and possibilities” might be a helpful slogan. This is largely an analytical enterprise, and it can usually be carried out without the author staking a position. I hope for simple, clear, and short expositions that can illuminate background assumptions for senior researchers, and attune junior researchers to perspectives that they may miss because researchers in particular lines seldom go back to first principles, and, similarly, they seldom review very different framings. This dialectical genre is tricky to nurture. Editors in charge may be the best people to think about possible contributions, but rarely will they be the best people to make the contribution. It is easier to identify people who are allies of positions and lines, and those who will dispute them. Where neutral but illuminating analytical perspectives can come from is more problematic. So, initiative on the part of readers and contributors is urgently requested. You may use my note on the Kuhn and Pease article in this issue as a model, but I hope this modest example also spurs different and better innovations. Obviously, feedback on genres we do or could try out is strongly invited.
Kuhn Pease - C&I 2008
What Needs to Develop in the Development of Inquiry Skills?
Cognition and Instruction, Volume 26, Issue 4 October 2008 , pages 512 - 559
Deanna Kuhn; Maria Pease
To identify the challenges that students must meet to engage in effective self-directed inquiry, a class was followed for three years, from the fourth through the sixth grades, as they engaged in a sequence of progressively more demanding inquiry activities. Students made substantial progress in understanding the objectives of inquiry, identifying questions, attending to evidence, identifying patterns, making controlled comparisons, interpreting increasingly complex data, supporting claims, and drawing justified conclusions. Retaining awareness of inquiry objectives and integrating influences of multiple variables in predicting outcomes were two areas that remained challenging. A comparison group of seventh graders who had not been involved in the program displayed strikingly different approaches to an inquiry task, indicating that the skills identified here are not ones that develop in the absence of appropriate kinds of educational experiences.
Cognition and Instruction, Volume 26, Issue 4 October 2008 , pages 512 - 559
Deanna Kuhn; Maria Pease
To identify the challenges that students must meet to engage in effective self-directed inquiry, a class was followed for three years, from the fourth through the sixth grades, as they engaged in a sequence of progressively more demanding inquiry activities. Students made substantial progress in understanding the objectives of inquiry, identifying questions, attending to evidence, identifying patterns, making controlled comparisons, interpreting increasingly complex data, supporting claims, and drawing justified conclusions. Retaining awareness of inquiry objectives and integrating influences of multiple variables in predicting outcomes were two areas that remained challenging. A comparison group of seventh graders who had not been involved in the program displayed strikingly different approaches to an inquiry task, indicating that the skills identified here are not ones that develop in the absence of appropriate kinds of educational experiences.
2008-09-12
McDonald Butler Songer - Science Education 2008
Enacting classroom inquiry: Theorizing teachers' conceptions of science teaching
Science Education, Volume 92, Number 6 (November 2008), p. 973 - 993
Scott McDonald, Nancy Butler Songer
Translating written curricular materials into rich, complex, learning environments is an undertheorized area in science education. This study examines two critical cases of teachers enacting a technology-rich curriculum focused on the development of complex reasoning around biodiversity for fifth graders. Two elements emerged that significantly impact teacher enactment - their conceptions of authenticity (authentic learning/authentic science) and their view of science (descriptive/inferential). The results suggest that disentangling the common conflation of these two elements supports a broader definition of inquiry science teaching that is more sensitive to context and individual teacher enactment.
Science Education, Volume 92, Number 6 (November 2008), p. 973 - 993
Scott McDonald, Nancy Butler Songer
Translating written curricular materials into rich, complex, learning environments is an undertheorized area in science education. This study examines two critical cases of teachers enacting a technology-rich curriculum focused on the development of complex reasoning around biodiversity for fifth graders. Two elements emerged that significantly impact teacher enactment - their conceptions of authenticity (authentic learning/authentic science) and their view of science (descriptive/inferential). The results suggest that disentangling the common conflation of these two elements supports a broader definition of inquiry science teaching that is more sensitive to context and individual teacher enactment.
2008-07-29
Blanchard Southerland Granger - Science Education 2008
No silver bullet for inquiry: Making sense of teacher change following an inquiry-based research experience for teachers
Science Education 1-39, 2008
Margaret R. Blanchard, Sherry A. Southerland, Ellen M. Granger
Inquiry is seen as central to the reform of science teaching and learning, but few teachers have experience with scientific inquiry and thus possess very naïve conceptions of it. One promising form of professional development, research experiences for teachers (RETs), allows teachers to experience scientific inquiry in the hopes that these experiences will then translate to inquiry in the classroom. As intuitively pleasing as these programs are, scant evidence documents their effectiveness. For this study, four secondary science teachers were followed back to their classrooms following a 6-week, marine ecology RET. The research employed qualitative and quantitative data collection to answer these questions: What were the teachers' initial conceptions and enactment of classroom inquiry, and how did they change after the RET?; How did changes in the nature and use of questions highlight changes in inquiry enactment?; and How were the teachers' changes linked to the RET and are there changes that cannot be explained by the RET experience? Teachers who entered the program with more sophisticated, theory-based understanding of teaching and learning were more apt to understand inquiry as a model and to use classroom-based inquiry throughout their teaching following the program. Implications for professional development are discussed.
Science Education 1-39, 2008
Margaret R. Blanchard, Sherry A. Southerland, Ellen M. Granger
Inquiry is seen as central to the reform of science teaching and learning, but few teachers have experience with scientific inquiry and thus possess very naïve conceptions of it. One promising form of professional development, research experiences for teachers (RETs), allows teachers to experience scientific inquiry in the hopes that these experiences will then translate to inquiry in the classroom. As intuitively pleasing as these programs are, scant evidence documents their effectiveness. For this study, four secondary science teachers were followed back to their classrooms following a 6-week, marine ecology RET. The research employed qualitative and quantitative data collection to answer these questions: What were the teachers' initial conceptions and enactment of classroom inquiry, and how did they change after the RET?; How did changes in the nature and use of questions highlight changes in inquiry enactment?; and How were the teachers' changes linked to the RET and are there changes that cannot be explained by the RET experience? Teachers who entered the program with more sophisticated, theory-based understanding of teaching and learning were more apt to understand inquiry as a model and to use classroom-based inquiry throughout their teaching following the program. Implications for professional development are discussed.
2008-04-12
Radinsky - C&I 2008
Students' Roles in Group-Work with Visual Data: A Site of Science Learning
Cognition and Instruction, Volume 26, Issue 2 April 2008 , pages 145 - 194
Josh Radinsky
Learning science includes learning to argue with inscriptions: images used to symbolize information persuasively. This study examined sixth-graders learning to invest inscriptions with representational status, in a geographic information system (GIS)-based science investigation. Learning to reason with inscriptions was studied in emergent participation patterns in groups, operationalized as roles. Cross-case analyses compared developmental trajectories for two roles in each group: competitive challenger and quiet bystander. Role development mediated learning to reason with inscriptions, including (1) co-assembling "representational states" of data and (2) managing dialectical tensions of argumentation. Role was operationalized as a site of learning, intersecting individual and collective processes, rather than a mechanism of one impacting another. Distributed conceptions of practice support this approach for understanding how students learn to do science.
Cognition and Instruction, Volume 26, Issue 2 April 2008 , pages 145 - 194
Josh Radinsky
Learning science includes learning to argue with inscriptions: images used to symbolize information persuasively. This study examined sixth-graders learning to invest inscriptions with representational status, in a geographic information system (GIS)-based science investigation. Learning to reason with inscriptions was studied in emergent participation patterns in groups, operationalized as roles. Cross-case analyses compared developmental trajectories for two roles in each group: competitive challenger and quiet bystander. Role development mediated learning to reason with inscriptions, including (1) co-assembling "representational states" of data and (2) managing dialectical tensions of argumentation. Role was operationalized as a site of learning, intersecting individual and collective processes, rather than a mechanism of one impacting another. Distributed conceptions of practice support this approach for understanding how students learn to do science.
2008-04-09
Khishfe - JRST 2008
The development of seventh graders' views of nature of science
J Res Sci Teach 45: 470-496, 2008
Rola Khishfe
This study investigated the development in students' nature of science (NOS) views in the context of an explicit inquiry-oriented instructional approach. Participants were 18 seventh-grade students who were taught by a teacher with appropriateknowledge about NOS. The intervention spanned about 3 months. During this time, students were engaged in three inquiry-oriented activities that were followed by reflective discussions of NOS. The study emphasized the tentative, empirical, inferential, and creative aspects of NOS. An open-ended questionnaire, in conjunction with semi-structured interviews, was used to assess students' views before, during, and after the intervention. Before instruction, the majority of students held naïve views of the four NOS aspects. During instruction, the students acquired more informed and intermediary views of the NOS aspects. By the end of the intervention, the students' views of the NOS aspects had developed further still into informed and intermediary. These findings suggest a developmental model in which students' views develop along a continuum during which they pass through intermediary views to reach more informed views. Implications for teaching and learning of NOS are discussed.
J Res Sci Teach 45: 470-496, 2008
Rola Khishfe
This study investigated the development in students' nature of science (NOS) views in the context of an explicit inquiry-oriented instructional approach. Participants were 18 seventh-grade students who were taught by a teacher with appropriateknowledge about NOS. The intervention spanned about 3 months. During this time, students were engaged in three inquiry-oriented activities that were followed by reflective discussions of NOS. The study emphasized the tentative, empirical, inferential, and creative aspects of NOS. An open-ended questionnaire, in conjunction with semi-structured interviews, was used to assess students' views before, during, and after the intervention. Before instruction, the majority of students held naïve views of the four NOS aspects. During instruction, the students acquired more informed and intermediary views of the NOS aspects. By the end of the intervention, the students' views of the NOS aspects had developed further still into informed and intermediary. These findings suggest a developmental model in which students' views develop along a continuum during which they pass through intermediary views to reach more informed views. Implications for teaching and learning of NOS are discussed.
2008-01-02
Apedoe - Science Ed. 2008
Engaging students in inquiry: Tales from an undergraduate geology laboratory-based course
Sci Ed 1-33, 2007
Xornam S. Apedoe (xapedoe@pitt.edu)
Learning Research & Development Center, University of Pittsburgh, 3939 O'Hara St., Pittsburgh, PA 15260, USA
This paper reports the synthesis of three case studies of students' engagement in inquiry-based learning activities in an upper-level undergraduate geology course. Details of how students engaged in scientific questions, gave priority to evidence, formulated explanations, evaluated explanations, and communicated and justified their findings are presented. Data for this study included classroom observations and fieldnotes of classroom practices, questionnaires, archival data (e.g., student work samples), and audiotapes and transcripts of interviews conducted with the student participants throughout the course. The findings suggest that although these students were able to successfully appropriate inquiry practices (e.g., giving priority to evidence), it was not without its challenges (e.g., perceived lack of guidance). A detailed discussion of the ways in which students were successful, and where they had challenges engaging in inquiry is presented, with the goal of helping direct practitioners and researchers to strategies whereby students' inquiry experiences can be improved.
© 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Received: 30 May 2007; Revised: 17 October 2007; Accepted: 21 October 2007
DOI: 10.1002/sce.20254
Sci Ed 1-33, 2007
Xornam S. Apedoe (xapedoe@pitt.edu)
Learning Research & Development Center, University of Pittsburgh, 3939 O'Hara St., Pittsburgh, PA 15260, USA
This paper reports the synthesis of three case studies of students' engagement in inquiry-based learning activities in an upper-level undergraduate geology course. Details of how students engaged in scientific questions, gave priority to evidence, formulated explanations, evaluated explanations, and communicated and justified their findings are presented. Data for this study included classroom observations and fieldnotes of classroom practices, questionnaires, archival data (e.g., student work samples), and audiotapes and transcripts of interviews conducted with the student participants throughout the course. The findings suggest that although these students were able to successfully appropriate inquiry practices (e.g., giving priority to evidence), it was not without its challenges (e.g., perceived lack of guidance). A detailed discussion of the ways in which students were successful, and where they had challenges engaging in inquiry is presented, with the goal of helping direct practitioners and researchers to strategies whereby students' inquiry experiences can be improved.
© 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Received: 30 May 2007; Revised: 17 October 2007; Accepted: 21 October 2007
DOI: 10.1002/sce.20254
2007-11-08
Lotter, Harwood, Bonner - JRST 2007
The influence of core teaching conceptions on teachers' use of inquiry teaching practices
© 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 44: 1318-1347, 2007
Christine Lotter 1 *, William S. Harwood 2, J. José Bonner 3
1University of South Carolina, Instruction and Teacher Education, 820 South Main Street, Wardlaw 223, Columbia, SC 29208
2University of Northern Iowa, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Cedar Falls, IA 50614
3Indiana University, Department of Biology, Bloomington, IN 47405
email: Christine Lotter (lotter@gwm.sc.edu)
*Correspondence to Christine Lotter, University of South Carolina, Instruction and Teacher Education, 820 South Main Street, Wardlaw 223, Columbia, SC 29208.
Funded by:
Howard Hughes Medical Institute; Grant Number: 52003732
a Maris M. Proffitt & Mary Higgins Proffitt Endowment Grant; Grant Number: 2940215
Abstract
This article investigates three teachers' conceptions and use of inquiry-based instructional strategies throughout a professional development program. The professional development program consisted of a 2-week summer inquiry institute and research experience in university scientists' laboratories, as well as three academic year workshops. Insights gained from an in-depth study of these three secondary teachers resulted in a model of teacher conceptions that can be used to direct future inquiry professional development. Teachers' conceptions of inquiry teaching were established through intensive case-study research that incorporated extensive classroom observations and interviews. Through their participation in the professional development experience, the teachers gained a deeper understanding of how to implement inquiry practices in their classrooms. The teachers gained confidence and practice with inquiry methods through developing and presenting their institute-developed inquiry lessons, through observing other teachers' lessons, and participating as students in the workshop inquiry activities. Data analysis revealed that a set of four core conceptions guided the teachers' use of inquiry-based practices in their classrooms. The teachers' conceptions of science, their students, effective teaching practices, and the purpose of education influenced the type and amount of inquiry instruction performed in the high school classrooms. The research findings suggest that to be successful inquiry professional development must not only teach inquiry knowledge, but it must also assess and address teachers' core teaching conceptions.
© 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 44: 1318-1347, 2007
Christine Lotter 1 *, William S. Harwood 2, J. José Bonner 3
1University of South Carolina, Instruction and Teacher Education, 820 South Main Street, Wardlaw 223, Columbia, SC 29208
2University of Northern Iowa, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Cedar Falls, IA 50614
3Indiana University, Department of Biology, Bloomington, IN 47405
email: Christine Lotter (lotter@gwm.sc.edu)
*Correspondence to Christine Lotter, University of South Carolina, Instruction and Teacher Education, 820 South Main Street, Wardlaw 223, Columbia, SC 29208.
Funded by:
Howard Hughes Medical Institute; Grant Number: 52003732
a Maris M. Proffitt & Mary Higgins Proffitt Endowment Grant; Grant Number: 2940215
Abstract
This article investigates three teachers' conceptions and use of inquiry-based instructional strategies throughout a professional development program. The professional development program consisted of a 2-week summer inquiry institute and research experience in university scientists' laboratories, as well as three academic year workshops. Insights gained from an in-depth study of these three secondary teachers resulted in a model of teacher conceptions that can be used to direct future inquiry professional development. Teachers' conceptions of inquiry teaching were established through intensive case-study research that incorporated extensive classroom observations and interviews. Through their participation in the professional development experience, the teachers gained a deeper understanding of how to implement inquiry practices in their classrooms. The teachers gained confidence and practice with inquiry methods through developing and presenting their institute-developed inquiry lessons, through observing other teachers' lessons, and participating as students in the workshop inquiry activities. Data analysis revealed that a set of four core conceptions guided the teachers' use of inquiry-based practices in their classrooms. The teachers' conceptions of science, their students, effective teaching practices, and the purpose of education influenced the type and amount of inquiry instruction performed in the high school classrooms. The research findings suggest that to be successful inquiry professional development must not only teach inquiry knowledge, but it must also assess and address teachers' core teaching conceptions.
2007-10-30
Afra Osta Zoubeir - IJSME 2007
Students’ Alternative Conceptions about Electricity and Effect of Inquiry-Based Teaching Strategies
online first publication
International Journal of Science and Mathematics Education
Nada Chatila Afra, Iman Osta and Wassim Zoubeir
Received: 16 August 2006 Accepted: 13 August 2007 Published online: 5 October 2007
Abstract This study attempted to investigate the alternative conceptions that a group of 12 Lebanese students in a grade 9 class hold about electricity. It also attempted to evaluate learning outcomes of implementing in that class an inquiry-based module for the acquisition of conceptual understanding of basic concepts in electricity. Fourteen mostly subjective tests were administered throughout the implementation phase of the inquiry-based module to assess the evolution of participants’ conceptions. The instrument DIRECT (Version 1.0) focusing on conceptual understanding was used as a post-instructional test to measure acquisition of understanding. The findings revealed that most of the alternative conceptions reported in literature were found amongst the participants. Results of the post-testing showed that the implemented inquiry-based approach was successful in enhancing participants’ conceptual understanding of the targeted DC circuit concepts.
Key words alternative conceptions - conceptual change - electricity - inquiry - physics teaching and learning
online first publication
International Journal of Science and Mathematics Education
Nada Chatila Afra, Iman Osta and Wassim Zoubeir
Received: 16 August 2006 Accepted: 13 August 2007 Published online: 5 October 2007
Abstract This study attempted to investigate the alternative conceptions that a group of 12 Lebanese students in a grade 9 class hold about electricity. It also attempted to evaluate learning outcomes of implementing in that class an inquiry-based module for the acquisition of conceptual understanding of basic concepts in electricity. Fourteen mostly subjective tests were administered throughout the implementation phase of the inquiry-based module to assess the evolution of participants’ conceptions. The instrument DIRECT (Version 1.0) focusing on conceptual understanding was used as a post-instructional test to measure acquisition of understanding. The findings revealed that most of the alternative conceptions reported in literature were found amongst the participants. Results of the post-testing showed that the implemented inquiry-based approach was successful in enhancing participants’ conceptual understanding of the targeted DC circuit concepts.
Key words alternative conceptions - conceptual change - electricity - inquiry - physics teaching and learning
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