Approaches to Inquiry Teaching: Elementary teacher's perspectives

Learning science through the process of inquiry is advocated in curriculum documents across many jurisdictions. However, a number of studies suggest that teachers struggle to help students engage in inquiry practices. This is not surprising as many teachers of science have not engaged in scientific...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International journal of science education 2014-01, Vol.36 (10), p.1733-1750
Main Authors: Ireland, Joseph, Watters, James J., Lunn Brownlee, J., Lupton, Mandy
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Australia
Comparative Analysis
Elementary School Science
Elementary School Teachers
Elementary science
Foreign Countries
Inquiry
Inquiry approach
Inquiry stance
Inquiry Teaching
Jurisdiction
Learning
Phenomenography
Phenomenology
Primary science
Qualitative Research
Science Education
Science Instruction
Science teachers
Teacher Attitudes
Teacher's conceptions
Teaching Methods
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Summary:Learning science through the process of inquiry is advocated in curriculum documents across many jurisdictions. However, a number of studies suggest that teachers struggle to help students engage in inquiry practices. This is not surprising as many teachers of science have not engaged in scientific inquiry and possibly hold naïve ideas about what constitutes scientific inquiry. This study investigates teachers' self-reported approaches to teaching science through inquiry. Phenomenographic interviews undertaken with 20 elementary teachers revealed teachers identified six approaches to teaching for inquiry, clustered within three categories. These approaches were categorized as Free and Illustrated Inquiries as part of an Experience-centered category, Solution and Method Inquiries as part of a Problem-centered category, and Topic and Chaperoned Inquiries as part of a Question-centered category. This study contributes to our theoretical understanding of how teachers approach Inquiry Teaching and suggests fertile areas of future research into this valued and influential phenomenon broadly known as 'Inquiry Teaching'.
ISSN:0950-0693
1464-5289
DOI:10.1080/09500693.2013.877618