Grade 12 physical and life sciences learners’ understandings about scientific inquiry

Abstract : In recent decades, the teaching and learning of science as inquiry has become the international position for curriculum reforms in science teaching and learning for K-12 internationally and R-12 in South Africa. Within the parameters of science education, scientific inquiry is multifaceted in that it is a “means”, a pedagogic approach for science teaching by science teachers, and also an “end”, a learning outcome for science learners. In recognition of the latter aspect, this study investigated Grade 12 Physical and Life Sciences learners’ views and understandings about scientific inquiry and how these understandings compare and contrast in differently resourced school types within three education districts of the city of Johannesburg and its environs. A directed qualitative content analysis approach, based on a conceptual framework of eight knowledge aspects about the nature of scientific inquiry (NOSI), was employed in analysing grade 12 learners’ understandings about the nature and manner in which scientists investigate the natural world. Purposive criterion sampling was employed to select 90 Grade 12 learners from six high schools in Johannesburg as participants for the inquiry. Responses from questionnaires and transcribed text from semi-structured interviews were coded using a hybrid of open and “a priori” codes: no response, naïve, informed or mixed understandings, based on the conceptual framework of the aforementioned eight aspects about scientific inquiry and previous studies. Chi-square tests of association were used to compare learners’ understandings for significant differences in the three differently resourced school types. Findings from the analysis of data revealed that the best understood NOSI aspect was that “conclusions should be consistent with the data collected”, where 44.4% of the 90 Grade 12 learners (40 learners) provided informed responses. On the other hand, the least understood aspects were the aspects “multiple methods” and “data versus evidence”, where only 1.1% (1 learner) expressed informed understandings in phase 1 of the study. These findings indicate that the majority of the participant Grade 12 science learners held mostly mixed and naïve understandings about the eight aspects which characterise the NOSI; chi-square test of association (X2) for categorical variables revealed a significant difference in learners’ NOSI understandings about only one aspect “explanations are developed from a combination of collected data and what is already known” for the differently resourced school types, X2 (4), N = 90 (19.22), p =.01. For the remaining seven NOSI aspects, though differences were seen in learners’ understandings in the different school types, the observed differences were not significant...M.Ed. (Science and Technology Education