International collaborative investigation of beginning seventh grade students' understandings of scientific inquiry

Although understanding of scientific inquiry is included in science education reform documents around the world, little is known about what students have learned about inquiry during their elementary school years. This is partially due to the lack of any assessment instrument to measure understandin...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Sweeney Ledermana, Judith, Ledermana, Norman
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2017
País:España
Institución:Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
Repositorio:Dipòsit Digital de Documents de la UAB
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:ddd.uab.cat:183866
Acceso en línea:https://ddd.uab.cat/record/183866
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Science education
Scientific inquiry
Elementary school
Descripción
Sumario:Although understanding of scientific inquiry is included in science education reform documents around the world, little is known about what students have learned about inquiry during their elementary school years. This is partially due to the lack of any assessment instrument to measure understandings about scientific inquiry. However, a valid and reliable assessment has recently been developed and published, Views About Scientific Inquiry (VASI). The purpose of this large scale international project was to get the first baseline data on what beginning middle school students have learned. The participating countries for this symposium are: Brazil, China, Israel, South Africa, Spain, and Sweden. In many countries, science is not formally taught until middle school, which is the rationale for choosing seventh grade students for this investigation. This baseline data will simultaneously provide information on what, if anything, students learn about inquiry in elementary school, as well as their beginning knowledge as they enter secondary school. A concerted effort was made to provide a relatively representative picture of each country.