Investigating instructional practices and student learning during the enactment of an inquiry-based chemistry unit.

Abstract

The interplay between instructional practices and student learning during inquiry instruction was examined in four seventh grade urban science classrooms. The chemistry unit incorporates features of project-based science inquiry and aligns with content learning goals specified in national standards. Unit materials support teachers in employing instructional practices that are meant to promote learning as students engage in inquiry activities. This study characterized instructional practices that were evident as teachers used the materials and connected these practices to student learning of a challenging chemistry content learning goal. To examine teachers' practices, classroom lessons were documented on videotape and an observation scheme was employed. Observations focused on teachers' efforts in building and sustaining lesson coherence, contextualizing instruction, providing opportunities for student sense-making, supporting student sense-making, creating a classroom climate for learning, and enacting lessons with congruency to the unit materials. Data sources for examining student learning included selected items from pretests and posttests that focused on students' understandings of the learning goal. Structured interviews with a subset of students at three time points as they progressed through the unit provided another source of data for investigating students' developing understanding of the chemistry content. Exploratory data analysis was used to explore how learning was shaped through teachers' instructional practices. The exploratory analysis process involved examining the overall impact of classroom instruction on achievement scores, exploring differences in instructional practices among teachers that might account for differences in student achievement, and exploring connections between teaching and learning around a single lesson. Findings showed that learning was enhanced when teachers guided students in accomplishing inquiry tasks and in making sense of their inquiry experiences. Simply telling students science knowledge and providing explanatory rules for differentiating key science ideas appeared less effective for helping students learn. One implication from this study is that inquiry teachers may need to use explicitness during instruction, such as making science ideas clear and giving direct guidance about how to engage in tasks, to support the learning of students who have limited prior content knowledge and inquiry experience. This work demonstrates how aligned unit materials can benefit teachers, students, and researchers.