Summary: Marshall and DorwardSummary of “Inquiry experiences as a lecture supplement for preservice
elementary teachers and general education students,” Jill A. Marshall and
James T. Dorward, pp. 152–161.This article describes an investigation to test the usefulness
of including inquiry-based laboratory activities as a supple-
ment to traditional lecture and demonstration curriculum, in
an introductory physics course for pre-service elementary
teachers and general education students. The research com-
prised two studies: a preliminary study for two consecutive
academic terms, and a comparison study during one subse-
quent term.
In the fi rst term of the preliminary study, six lecture periods
were replaced with sessions in which small groups of gen-
eral education students engaged in inquiry-based activities. In
some cases, these were shortened versions of the Physics by
Inquiry activities developed for elementary education majors
by McDermott et al.^1 Pre-service teachers did not attend on
these days, but were still required to complete traditional pre-
scriptive activities during lab sessions. (The lecture portion of
this course was the same for all students, taught by the same
instructor. Pre-service teachers had an additional requirement
of completing six two-hour labs.) In the following term of the
preliminary study, the prescriptive labs for the pre-service
teachers were replaced with inquiry-based activities and the
general education students engaged in no inquiry activities,
but instead completed extra homework problems.
An analysis was performed on outcome measures for all
students from both terms (N = 171) to determine whether
three outcomes (course grade, fi nal exam grade, and total
score on exam problems covering the topics of the inquiry
activities) had any dependence on major (pre-service teachers
vs. general education), on whether the students experienced
inquiry activities or not, or on a combination of major and
inquiry activities. The analysis controlled for both gender and
grade point average. Results showed that there was a signifi -
cant difference between students who experienced inquiry and
those who did not, on exam problems covering topics from the
inquiry activities.
Additional statistical tests indicated that pre-service teach-
ers who experienced the inquiry activities had signifi cantly
higher exam scores than those who did not experience those
activities (p < 0.001). In contrast, there was no statistically
signifi cant difference between general education students who
experienced inquiry exercises and those who did not. This
outcome led us to suspect that gender was contributing to the
difference between inquiry and non-inquiry experiences, as
more than 90% of the future elementary teachers were female.
A second statistical analysis examined exam scores of
female students broken down by major, inquiry or non-inquiry
instruction, and a combination of the two. The results sup-
ported the conjecture that women had higher achievement
on some measures when they experienced inquiry activities.Statistical tests confi rmed that women experiencing inquiry
activities outperformed those who did not on exam questions
dealing with topics covered by the inquiries. A similar test for
the corresponding groups of male students showed no sig-
nifi cant difference. Likewise, female students showed no sig-
nifi cant difference between elementary education majors and
others who experienced inquiry exercises.
In the second (comparison) study, all students in the tar-
get course were engaged in the inquiry activities, the pre-
service teachers during the six two-hour lab periods and the
general education students during six lecture periods (which
the elementary education majors did not attend). Their scores
on a fi nal exam problem, taken from Reference 2(a),^2 were
compared with scores on the same problem given on a fi nal
exam in a calculus-based physics course and on an ungraded
quiz in an algebra-based course, both at the same institution.
Students in the combined inquiry course signifi cantly out-
performed those in the algebra- and calculus-based courses.
Their scores, however, did not reach the level that has been
seen as a result of instruction that is completely inquiry-based
(Reference 2[b]).
Pre- and post-instruction focus group interviews were
conducted with a volunteer sample of students who experi-
enced the inquiry-based activities. Coding of responses con-
fi rmed that students found the inquiry exercises valuable in
solidifying their understanding of concepts, and indicated that
engaging in the activities appeared to change some students’
perceptions of science and science teaching.
Strengths of the studies lay in the quasi-experimental design
and use of statistical techniques that allowed comparisons of
small subgroups within the population and disaggregation by
gender and major. Limitations included the sample size (N =
171 in the preliminary study and 325 in the comparison study)
and the fact that implementation was in only three sections
of the same course at the same institution and covered only a
limited number of topics.
In summary, engaging in limited inquiry activities as a sup-
plement to lecture improved learning outcomes and percep-
tions, for female students and pre-service elementary teachers
in particular. The effect was not as large as for students who
experienced completely inquiry-based instruction at other
institutions, leading us to posit a continuum of increasing
effectiveness for increasing amounts of inquiry engagement.(^1) Lillian C. McDermott, Physics by Inquiry (Wiley, New York, 1996), Vol.1,
pp. 3–42; Vol. 2, pp. 383–418 and 639–669.
(^2) (a) Lillian C. McDermott and Peter S. Shaffer, ‘‘Research as a guide for
curriculum development: An example from introductory electricity. Part I:
Investigation of student understanding,’’ Am. J. Phys. 60 (11), 1003–1013
(1992); (b) ibid., “Part II: Design of instructional strategies,’’ 1003–1013.
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