Abstract:

Inquiry“ has been a fundamental approach in science teaching and learning in the last decades (National Research Council, 2012). In Slovakia, the request of inquiry for the subject of Chemistry is anchored in the National Education Programme for Lower Secondary Education (ŠVP ISCED 2, 2014).

The aim of research was to verify the effectiveness of implementing the inquiry-based teaching (IBT) into the teaching process of Chemistry in lower secondary school in the phase of revising the previous-year learning content.

The research sample comprised of eleven teachers and 292 students of the 8th grade from eleven classes of secondary schools. The experimental group consisted of five teachers and 143 students and the control group consisted of six teachers and 149 students.

In experimental classes the created inquiry activities were used within the revising of the learning content from the “Changes in Chemical Reactions” thematic unit – five activities. Inquiry activities (i.e. the Methodological Sheets for Teachers and Worksheets for Students) were created based on the 5E model (Bybee et al., 2006) and they were intended for the structured inquiry. In control classes, teachers used their own way of teaching during the revising process – traditional teaching methods were implemented such as questions and answers method, oral revision, written revision, work with a textbook, demonstration experiments and laboratory works.

The results of the questionnaire survey of the attitudes towards teaching confirmed a significant difference between the experimental group students (N = 143) where the IBT was implemented and the control group students (N = 149) where traditional teaching methods were implied.

The analysis of structured interviews with students showed out that most students expressed positive attitudes towards IBT. Learning in this way helped them to be engaged, entertained and motivated. They appreciated the conducting experiments, joint discussions, and group work. Group cooperation was especially appreciated by low-performing students (those with grades of 3 and 4). In a few cases, students reported about unwillingness of their classmates to cooperate with them. Considering the above mentioned fact, cooperation is the skill that needs to be further developed in students. Regarding the frequency of IBT use in Chemistry classes, most of students would welcome it at least once a month.

Acknowledgments:
This paper was supported by the grant VEGA No. 1/0265/17 “Formative Assessment in Natural Sciences, Mathematics and Informatics”.

References:
[1] Bybee, R. W., Taylor, J. A., Gardner, A., Van Scotter, P., Carlson Powell, J., Westbrook, A., & Landes, N. (2006). The BSCS 5E Instructional Model: Origins, effectiveness and applications. Colorado Springs, CO: BSCS.
[2] National Research Council. (2012). A framework for K-12 science education: Practices, crosscutting concepts, and core ideas. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/13165.
ŠVP ISCED 2 – Štátny vzdelávací program pre nižšie stredné vzdelávanie, Vzdelávacia oblasť: Človek a príroda, Chémia. [The National [3] Education Programme for Lower Secondary Education, Education Area: Man and Nature, Chemistry]. (2014). Bratislava, Slovenská republika: Štátny pedagogický ústav. Retrieved from http://www.statpedu.sk/files/articles/dokumenty/inovovany-statny-vzdelavaci-program/chemia_nsv_2014.pdf.

Keywords:

Inquiry-based teaching, revision, attitudes, secondary school students.