What type and level of science content knowledge of elementary education students affect their ability to construct an inquiry-based science lesson

Although various governmental and professional organizations recommend that teachers use an inquiry-based approach to science education, most teachers do not use this pedagogy. Lack of content knowledge and/or insufficient skills in planning inquiry-based lessons may contribute to teachers ’ reluctance to utilize this methodological approach. This study explores the relationship between science content knowledge and inquiry-based lesson planning ability. The authors found a significant positive relationship between content knowledge and the ability to create an inquiry-based science lesson. These data are of great interest since proficiency in lesson-planning is believed to contribute significantly to the ability to teach an inquiry-based lesson. Elementary teachers are expected to know science content and be able to teach science using an inquiry approach (National Research Council [NRC], 1996). Often, the content is determined by the teachers ’ state science standards or benchmarks. Many times, teachers fall short of these expectations. This is partly because they lack content knowledge (Greene, 1990) and/or the ability to develop inquiry-based lessons (Crawford, 1999; Stofflett & Stoddart, 1994). Are these tw