Presently, educators in the field of science education have reached a consensus regarding scientific inquiry in facilitating learners’ successful exploration and comprehension of science concepts. Teachers’ perception of scientific inquiry was especially deemed critical to take shape deriving context in classroom. This study hence aims at exploring perceptions of scientific inquiry within the classroom environment, as held by high school science teachers. The investigation also tried to figure out if perception gaps existed in what participants expected and experienced. To afford the research purposes, this study spent two years to investigate Taiwanese high school teachers’ perceptions regarding scientific inquiry in classroom. During the initial year, a combination of bibliographic coupling analysis and qualitative interviews was employed to comprehensively explore participants’ perceptions of the scientific inquiry classroom environment. The insights from this phase were subsequently used to formulate a conceptual framework for developing and validating a questionnaire to elicit teachers’ perceptions of the scientific inquiry classroom environment in the second year. In addition to the questionnaire, existing instruments that measure teachers’ self-efficacy of science teaching, science teacher knowledge, as well as conceptions of learning science were also administered to unveil how these factors moderated perceptions of scientific inquiry classroom environment. Drawing from the research findings of the research, this study provides recommendations that extend to researchers, teachers, and educational stakeholders, outlining strategies for enhancing science education through the effective implementation of scientific inquiry.

Authors:
Tzu-Chiang Lin, National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology, Taiwan

About the Presenter(s)
Professor Tzu-Chiang Lin is a University Assistant Professor/Lecturer at National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology in Taiwan

See this presentation on the full schedule – Wednesday Schedule

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