The objective of the current study was to identify an effective learning environment for kindergarten students as they acquire an initial understanding of scientific inquiry activities (SIA) and a simple (idealized) scientific inquiry cycle (SIC). The study aimed to examine (a) the effects of instructional support and (b) the role of similarity…

Question generation is theorized to support comprehension, self-regulation, and achievement, yet the empirical base for whether and how student-generated questions are associated with comprehension monitoring and whether they predict performance remain open questions. To address these, we investigated the questions undergraduate students in an…

Previous research has shown that in prehigher education stages, inquiry-based teaching is not sufficient for forming a mature understanding of the nature of science (NOS). However, there is relatively little research conducted on colleges. Inquiry-based teaching should not overlook cognitive frameworks, as students' limited scientific reasoning…

The objectives of this research were: (1) To develop and examine a learning model using STEM activities for pre-service science teachers; and (2) To study the condition and develop a learning model using STEM activities in science teaching integrated with Thai local context using schools and communities as bases. The target group of the research…

Scientific observation is central to classroom inquiry and children's investigations and explanations in science. Young children can struggle with observation, and research has shown that professional scientists who engage in complex observation tasks, observe detailed patterns when they have well-developed disciplinary knowledge. However, fewer…

The ability to do inquiry does not necessarily translate to understandings about scientific inquiry or the processes by which scientific knowledge is generated. The study reported in this paper focuses on what students know about scientific inquiry and what impact school science may have on this knowledge. We investigated grade 12 physical and…

The paper presents an assessment of the impact of teaching physics using the Inquiry Based Science Education (IBSE) method on the level of competence and knowledge of primary school students in Poland (second educational stage). The method is based on the teacher-inspired teamwork of students to solve experimental physical problems. This results…

Data from PISA and TIMSS have recently fuelled the debate on the efficacy of Inquiry-Based Science Teaching (IBST). Some analyses of these data show that the effects of different scientific activities related to IBST carried out with students vary according to the frequency of their implementation. Extending this research, the present study…

This study examined the impact of integrating virtual science inquiry activities with Predict-Observe-Explain (POE) teaching strategies on 5th graders' understanding of science concepts and epistemic beliefs in science. A cohort of 80 5th graders (mean age of 12 years old, 40 boys and 40 girls) from a public primary school in North China took part…

This dissertation examines students' social-emotional experience with knowledge building pedagogy from the lenses of grit and growth mindset. The goal of this dissertation is to understand how interest, perseverance of effort and growth mindset oriented feedback engage students social emotionally in knowledge building to sustain and deepen their…

This study explored the differences in the effects of directive versus reflective feedback on elementary school students' conceptual understanding and epistemological beliefs in a simulation-based online science inquiry environment, by comparing more fine-grained differences in the inquiry behaviors of students who received the two types of…

In recent years, there has been an effort to develop reform-oriented and inquiry-based early science instruction. Preliminary studies suggest that participation in inquiry-based learning activities promotes preschoolers' learning and interest in science. In addition, science education in early childhood is of great importance to many aspects of a…

Background: Scientific thinking is an essential learning goal of science education and it can be fostered by inquiry learning. One important prerequisite for scientific thinking is procedural understanding. Procedural understanding is the knowledge about specific steps in scientific inquiry (e.g. formulating hypotheses, measuring dependent and…

For decades, the case has been made for inquiry-based activities that enable teaching and learning of science concepts through the process of doing science. Laboratory courses provide a unique setting with opportunities for students to learn to ask questions, plan and carry out investigations, analyze data, and construct scientific arguments. Yet,…

In this study we investigated pre-service early childhood teachers' (referred to as student teachers) beliefs that might influence their intention to use inquiry-based learning methods that have been taught on an inquiry-based science course. During this course, the student teachers (N = 17) participated in a number of classroom experiments…