International collaborative follow-up investigation of graduating high school students’ understandings of the nature of scientific inquiry: is progress Being made?

authored by

J. S. Lederman, N. G. Lederman, S. Bartels, J. Jimenez, K. Acosta, M. Akubo, S. Aly, M. A. B. S. de Andrade, M. Atanasova, E. Blanquet, R. Blonder, P. Brown, R. Cardoso, P. Castillo-Urueta, P. Chaipidech, J. Concannon, O. K. Dogan, H. El-Deghaidy, A. Elzorkani, T. Ferdous, N. Fukuda, E. Gaigher, L. Galvis-Solano, Q. Gao, S. Guo, Y. Gwekwerere, J. Gyllenpalm, S. Hamed Al-Lal, C. Han-Tosunoglu, A. Hattingh, G. Holliday, X. Huang, S. Irez, J. Jiménez, G. Kay, A. Koumara, K. Kremer, P.-C. Kuo, J. Lavonen, J. S. C. Leung, Z. Liao, M. R. Librea-Carden, S.-F. Lin, C. Liu, E. Liu, S.-Y. Liu, R. Mamlok-Naaman, C. V. Mcdonald, A. Möller, M. Morales, B. K. Mulvey, I. Neumann, A.-L. Neurohr, Y. Pan, P. Panjaburee, M. Penn, K. Plakitsi, E. Picholle, U. Ramnarain, Z. Raykova, C.-J. Rundgren, S. Salonen, D. Santibáñez-Gómez, R. Schwartz, R. Sharma, N. Srisawasdi, S. Takiveikata, T. Urueta-Ortiz, K. Vitlarov, F. Voitle, J. Wishart

Abstract

Understandings of the nature of scientific inquiry (NOSI), as opposed to engaging students in inquiry learning experiences, are included in science education reform documents around the world. However, little is known about what students have learned about NOSI during their pre-college school years. The purpose of this large-scale follow-up international project (i.e. 32 countries and regions, spanning six continents and including 3917 students for the high school sample) was to collect data on what exiting high school students have learned about NOSI. Additionally, the study investigated changes in 12th grade students’ NOSI understandings compared to seventh grade (i.e. 20 countries and regions) students’ understandings from a prior investigation [Lederman et al. (2019). An international collaborative investigation of beginning seventh grade students’ understandings of scientific inquiry: Establishing a baseline. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 56(4), 486–515. doi.org/10.1002/tea.21512]. This study documents and discusses graduating high school students’ understandings and compares their understandings to seventh grade students’ understandings of the same aspects of scientific inquiry for each country. It is important to note that collecting data from each of the 130+ countries globally was not feasible. Similarly, it was not possible to collect data from every region of each country. A concerted effort was made, however, to provide a relatively representative picture of each country and the world.

Organisation(s)

Biology Education Section
Power Electronics and Drive Control Section
Geodetic Institute
Institute of Environmental Economics and World Trade

External Organisation(s)

Illinois Institute of Technology
Valparaiso University
UNIVERSIDAD DE TARAPACA
Florida State University
American University in Cairo
Universidade Estadual de Londrina
University of Plovdiv
Universite de Bordeaux
Weizmann Institute of Science
Fort Zumwalt School District
Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Peru
Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM)
Khon Kaen University
William Woods University Fulton, Missouri
Marmara University
Kent State University
University of Tsukuba
University of Pretoria
ECCI University
The 3rd Middle School of TangXi, Hangzhou
Beijing Normal University
Laurentian University
Stockholm University
Universidad de Sevilla
University of Cape Town (UCT)
University of Akron
Zhejiang Normal University
University of Ioannina
National Pingtung University of Science and Technology
University of Helsinki
The University of Hong Kong
Wuzhou Foreign Language School of Jinhua
Arizona State University
National Taiwan Normal University
Griffith University Queensland
University of Vienna
Zhejiang University
Mahidol University
University of Johannesburg
CRNS Nice
Universidad Finis Terrae
Georgia State University
Fiji National University
University of British Columbia
University of Bristol

Type

Article

Journal

International Journal of Science Education

Volume

Pages

991-1016

No. of pages

ISSN

0950-0693

Publication date

24.04.2021

Publication status

Published

Peer reviewed

Yes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Education

Sustainable Development Goals

SDG 4 - Quality Education

Electronic version(s)

https://doi.org/10.1080/09500693.2021.1894500 (Access: Closed)