Inquiry science: Issues in the implementation of a community of learners

This paper reports the problems of a researcher-teacher attempting to meet the challenge of inquiry learning in grade 8 science. The research was conducted in two classes the first being a class of 32 students taught over a term. During these 27 lessons, students were engaged in investigating the establishment of a space colony on Mars. The second class was taught the following year for six weeks during which students were engaged in a range of problems associated with the properties of matter. Issues concerning problems of scaffolding, group dynamics and goal direction that were identified in the first study were addressed in the second study. Analysis of videotapes of the lessons, survey data and interviews with the participants which included the regular classroom teacher provided insights into the dynamics of establishing a community of learners, and identified constraints and expectations held by stakeholders of what science teaching should be about. The implications for teaching science using these pedagogical practices are examined