Secondary students' views about scientific inquiry

In this study we investigated the views about Scientific Inquiry (SI) of about 300 students at the beginning of the secondary school course (14-15 years old). An adapted version of the Views On Scientific Inquiry (VOSI) questionnaire was used as research instrument. The questionnaire, focused on six specific aspects of SI, was submitted before and after a six-hours in-classroom delivery of a teaching-learning sequence (TLS) that targeted explicitly the six SI aspects. We first analyzed responses using a five-level categorization: a) informed view; b) mixed or partially correct view; c) naive view; d) unclear; e) not given. Two independent researchers iteratively analyzed the data with a final inter-rater reliability of about 90%. Then, we collapsed the initial categories into three macro-categories: C1) informed/partial view; C2) naive view; C3) unclear or not given; and calculated the shift in the macro-categorization between pre- and post-test. Finally, we investigated a possible relationship between how the TLSs were enacted and the students' achievements. Data show that the percentage of students' informed responses only slightly increased between pre-and post-test in the majority of the targeted aspects. Moreover, students' achievements seem to depend on how the teachers enacted the TLSs. Our results suggest that short inquiry-based teaching interventions are not sufficient to effectively teach SI aspects. Moreover, our results suggest to develop specific training courses aimed at improving teachers' own beliefs and practices about SI.