PRIMARY SCIENCE STUDENTS’ APPROACHES TO INQUIRY-BASED LEARNING

Abstract

Pri-Sci-Net,an EU funded FP7, is a project that promotes inquiry-based learning in science at the primary education level through developing activities for teachers to use as well as setting up a Europe-wide network for professionals and academics in the area of Primary Science Education. In this context, two science activities, ‘The secret of the human body’ and ‘Pigment research’, were developed for the 9-11 age group and were applied to the students in this study.An observation protocol and semi-structured interviews with students were used for collecting data. The results of the study showed that students were convinced about, and realized the importance of, doing inquiry-based activities in learning science. Activities were mediated to create an inquiry-based social science environment. Even poor academic performance students were very active during the activities since all thoughts were considered valuable. 

Keywords: Inquiry-based learning, primary level students, inquiry-based science activities.

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