Amanda Woods-McConney

This study provides a contemporary perspective on how teachers implement inquiry-based instruction and direct instruction in everyday science lessons. While science education researchers have historically positioned these instructional approaches as flowing from epistemological opposites, this research examines how teachers pragmatically combine inquiry-based and direct instruction by investigating how teachers integrate these instructional approaches, including the timing, duration, and contextual factors that shape instructional decisions in authentic classroom settings. Systematic and structured observations and interviews were conducted with 8 upper primary teachers and 11 lower secondary teachers. Results showed primary teachers implemented more inquiry-based instruction (48%) than secondary teachers (18%) who relied predominantly on direct instruction. Both groups combined approaches within individual lessons, though primary teachers alternated between inquiry and direct instruction episodes more frequently than secondary teachers. Secondary teachers typically began lessons with direct instruction before transitioning to practical activities, a pattern driven by institutional requirements that overrode teachers’ pedagogical beliefs. The marked reduction in inquiry instruction at the secondary level creates a pedagogical disconnect that contradicts research-based expectations for increased inquiry as students develop scientific capabilities. This study establishes that contemporary science teaching pragmatically integrates both inquiry and direct instruction, though implementation differs considerably between primary and secondary settings.

This study provides a contemporary perspective on how teachers implement inquiry-based instruction and direct instruction in everyday science lessons. While science education researchers have historically positioned these instructional approaches as flowing from epistemological opposites, this research examines how teachers pragmatically combine inquiry-based and direct instruction by investigating how teachers integrate these instructional approaches, including the timing, duration, and contextual factors that shape instructional decisions in authentic classroom settings. Systematic and structured observations and interviews were conducted with 8 upper primary teachers and 11 lower secondary teachers. Results showed primary teachers implemented more inquiry-based instruction (48%) than secondary teachers (18%) who relied predominantly on direct instruction. Both groups combined approaches within individual lessons, though primary teachers alternated between inquiry and direct instruction episodes more frequently than secondary teachers. Secondary teachers typically began lessons with direct instruction before transitioning to practical activities, a pattern driven by institutional requirements that overrode teachers’ pedagogical beliefs. The marked reduction in inquiry instruction at the secondary level creates a pedagogical disconnect that contradicts research-based expectations for increased inquiry as students develop scientific capabilities. This study establishes that contemporary science teaching pragmatically integrates both inquiry and direct instruction, though implementation differs considerably between primary and secondary settings.

Science inquiry has been at the forefront of science learning and teaching theory for over half a century and is considered fundamental to the science curriculum in many countries, including Australia. Despite government strategies to improve student attainment and engagement, and support for teachers in facilitating effective inquiry-based pedagogy, there is still much to learn about how inquiry is enacted in science classrooms. This qualitative study combined teacher surveys, observations, and interviews to investigate how primary and secondary teachers enacted science inquiry in 56 observed lessons, and the reasons behind their chosen inquiry pedagogies. Classroom observations revealed that primary teachers predominantly used guided inquiry, while secondary teachers mainly used structured inquiry. Although teachers implemented all essential features of science inquiry, these features were spread across multiple lessons, limiting students' exposure to the complete inquiry process and the opportunity to understand how the features work together during an investigation. Interviews with teachers provided insights into their reasoning for their practice. These findings contribute to a better understanding of current science inquiry implementation in classrooms and have implications for informing teachers' pedagogy and sharing best practices.

For over 50 years science inquiry has been positively associated with student achievement. Recently, the role of science inquiry as a means of effective science teaching has come under increased scrutiny after analyses of international large scale assessments found an overall negative association between science inquiry and student achievement. Unclear in the research is how teachers are enacting science inquiry in the standard classroom, as previous research was based on classroom interventions and student reports. This mixed methods research describes upper primary and lower secondary teachers' science inquiry enactment in 56 science lessons using a two-dimensional model of science inquiry. The findings show primary teachers enacted more inquiry than secondary teachers, and used predominantly guided inquiry, while secondary teachers used mainly closed inquiry. Although primary and secondary teachers enacted all the essential features of science inquiry, students did not experience science inquiry in its entirety. Further, students' exposure to the nature of scientific knowledge was limited. This research provides a contemporary and multifaceted account of how teachers enacted science inquiry in their science lessons. The findings can be used by educational researchers and policy-makers to make informed decisions when seeking to improve science education.

This study is a comparative analysis of 15-year-old students’ scientific literacy, and its association with the instructional strategies that students experience, across six OECD countries that participated in PISA 2015. Across the six countries, the study investigates the efficacy of inquiry-based instruction in science in contrast with two other instructional approaches to teaching secondary science: adaptive and teacher-directed teaching. The analysis shows that students who reported experiencing high frequencies of inquiry strategies in their classrooms consistently evidenced lower levels of scientific literacy across the six countries. Benchmark analysis also showed, common to all six countries, a strongly positive association between the frequency of teacher-directed and adaptive teaching strategies and students’ scientific literacy. Additionally, the study disaggregates PISA’s composite variable representing inquiry-based instruction and shows that different components of inquiry are differentially associated with students’ scientific literacy. We discuss the implications of these analyses for science teacher educators, science teachers, and educational policy makers. In doing so, we add nuance to our understanding of the efficacy of inquiry-based instruction in science, suggesting that some components, as conceptualised and assessed in PISA, seem to suggest greater attention and use, and others more moderated use.

The research examines Indonesian vocational high school teachers’ perceptions of continuing professional development (CPD) in the context of changing policies regarding teacher CPD. Bronfenbrenner’s bioecological model is used as the conceptual framework. Six accounting teachers interviewed understood CPD as an activity for teachers’ improvement, but in different ways. They perceived CPD as teacher performance assessment and government regulation (exosystem), personal development activities (individual), and some considered religious values when they described CPD. These teachers regarded their profession as a devotion to God and CPD as part of their duty and responsibility as obedient persons (interactional factors between individual and macrosystem). Civil servant teachers participated in more structured CPD compared with their non-civil servant peers as CPD activities are more closely related to promotion. Teachers showed they have interest and capacity to further develop their CPD but need support to develop their professionalism through microsystem and exosystem factors.

Education for sustainability - understood as efforts to equip people with the knowledge and skills necessary to make environmental, social and economic decisions that consider the needs of present and future generations - has been incorporated in the official curriculum of Australia as a 'cross-curriculum priority'. This research sought to understand practising primary school teachers' integration of the sustainability cross-curriculum priority into the curriculum. In this study, nine primary school teachers in the Perth metropolitan region (five generalist; four specialists - including two science specialists) were interviewed about the extent to which the Western Australian Curriculum has guided and supported their teaching practices in relation to sustainability and the sustainability cross-curriculum priority. Through detailed and rich examples of classroom practice, the participants illustrated the web of interrelated factors that characterise the implementation of the sustainability cross-curriculum priority across various learning areas, including science. Participant experiences also alluded to the idea that the sustainability cross-curriculum priority is a valuable avenue for re-emphasising science concepts across learning areas. Overall, the most salient take-home message of this work is that, in addition to the various influences contributing to the implementation of the sustainability cross-curriculum priority (such as whether a school is considered sustainably built), teachers are the main actors in the implementation of sustainability and making informed decisions about how sustainability is to be incorporated in their teaching. However, in order for teachers to drive this implementation, their required level of support goes beyond the curriculum and includes active engagement from their school leadership teams.

This chapter describes the evolution of an inquiry-based activity in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), Ball of Fear, that was developed and used in a primary classroom setting and then further developed as an inquiry-based activity in a first-year university context with pre-service teachers enrolled in a science content unit. Inquiry-based teaching and learning in primary STEM is well aligned with modern learning theory, allowing an in-depth exploration of the nature, principles and concepts of STEM disciplines. Because cooperative groups ranging from two to five members are prevalent in primary STEM and ‘almost all inquiry-learning approaches make use of group work’, the chapter highlights cooperative inquiry-based teaching and learning in primary STEM. High-level interactions among the students in the cooperative groups occurred without explicitly teaching inquiry or cooperative skills, which supports the rationale for including inquiry-based activities in primary STEM.

The Rio Tinto Earth Assist Program (RTEA) is an innovative approach to linking schools with conservation and land management throughout Western Australia. Since its inception in 2009, Conservation Volunteers Australia has run the Rio Tinto funded program which has grown and evolved to deliver tailored programs to primary and secondary schools across the metropolitan region and throughout the state. The Living Classroom program has evolved from being designed for primary schools to becoming a program run in primary and secondary schools and involves activities such as creating a vegetable garden, building native bee boxes or constructing a frog pond on school grounds. The Community Service Program is an excursion designed for secondary students to actively participate in conservation projects such as weed abatement, rubbish collection and native vegetation surveys. In 2015, to meet part of the funding agreement, Conservation Volunteers Australia engaged Murdoch University (MU) to conduct a longitudinal study from 2015 to 2018 to measure the direct and indirect impacts and effectiveness of RTEA on participating schools and students. The evaluation was designed to offer formative feedback throughout the research period to enable RTEA to adapt and modify processes and programs for improved delivery and to better align with deliverables and key performance indicators. During the four years, data was collected through teacher surveys, student pre and post surveys and student focus group sessions. Additional information was also gained though administrative data and regular collaboration with the CVA and RTEA staff. Throughout the research period, MU provided regular feedback to RTEA and CVA in the form of recommendations, based on early data analysis. Many recommendations were implemented and program improvements were observed, and some key recommendations were not implemented. This report presents a comprehensive view of RTEA activities from 2015 to 2018 against the deliverables and key performance indicators provided to CVA by Rio Tinto.

In science education, and STEM more generally, inquiry based teaching and learning has been a dominant pedagogical approach, particularly in Western countries, for at least half a century (e.g., Furtak, Seidel, Iverson, & Briggs, 2012; Minner, Levy, & Century, 2010). In Europe, inquiry-based teaching has become part of science education orthodoxy, receiving policy support and funding from the EU following the Rocard report (2007) recommendation that “the introduction of inquiry-based approaches in schools ... should be actively promoted” (p. 17). Recently, however, the availability of large-scale, high-quality international assessment data in science and mathematics—like Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) and Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA)—has allowed scaled-up analysis of associations between various pedagogical approaches, and students’ achievement and engagement in science (e.g., Areepattamannil, 2012; Kang & Keinonen, 2017; McConney, Oliver, Woods-McConney, Schibeci, & Maor, 2014). In this study, we report research that builds on previous investigations of inquiry-based teaching in science that used PISA 2006 (McConney, et al., 2014). Our previous study found that in Australia, Canada and New Zealand, students who reported high levels of inquiry also showed above-average levels of interest in science, but below-average levels of science literacy. We also found the corollary to be true. These findings ran counter to orthodox views about the efficacy of inquiry-based teaching in science. In the current study, using PISA 2015, we extend our analysis of teaching and learning in science to six countries, and ask two research questions: RQ1: To what extent is the variability observed in science literacy (as measured in PISA 2015) associated with the frequencies of three distinct approaches to teaching science, reported by students from their science classrooms? To what extent does this vary by country and/or gender? RQ2: To what extent is the variability in students’ interest in science associated with the frequencies of three distinct approaches to teaching science, as reported by students? To what extent does this vary by country and/or gender? Consistent with the primary analysis of PISA 2015 as well as our previous analysis of PISA 2006, this study shows that the frequency of inquiry-based teaching is negatively associated with students’ science literacy. For students in six countries (Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, the UK and the USA), the more frequently students experienced inquiry-based activities, the weaker their literacy in science, on average. This negative relationship between science literacy and inquiry-based activities was strongest for students in the USA and Canada, but was also evident to varying degrees in all six countries. In contrast, our analysis also revealed a moderately strong positive association between inquiry and students’ interest in science. This was consistent for all six countries. With increasing focus on effective, evidence-informed practice in teacher education, our obligation is to prepare teachers based on the strongest research available regarding the efficacy of various pedagogical approaches in science. At a minimum, the findings reported in this analysis demand examination and discussion of how “inquiry” might be best conceived and applied in helping students to learn and like science.