Seminar 3: Study on third grade students’ understanding of scientific inquiry

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Seminar 3: Study on third grade students’ understanding of scientific inquiry

Academic: Tisha Morrell, Jodie Miller, and Jana Visnovska
Discussant: Stephen Heimans

Description:
Understandings of scientific inquiry (SI) are included in science education reform documents around the world. While there have been investigations about 7th and 12th graders’ understanding of SI, there is limited knowledge regarding primary school students’ understandings of SI. The purpose of this project is to get the baseline data on what primary school students know about SI. Our sample was approximately 100 third graders who completed the ‘Views About Scientific Inquiry-Elementary’ (VASI-E) open-ended instrument and a follow up interview with about 20 students. This is part of an international effort, as researchers from 37 countries and 43 individual sites have signed on to conduct similar projects. It is anticipated that with these data we can begin to identify best practices to strengthen student understandings of SI. We also expect that we will disseminate our findings through both conference presentations and journal publications.