qualitative research.doc

?? 201439055 How to Help Teachers Develop Inquiry Teaching:Perspectives from Experienced Science Teachers Source: Research Science Education(2013)43:809-825 The research purposes: Explore experienced science teachers’perspectives on inquiry teaching. Categorize these perspectives into patterns. Participants: fifteen junior high school science teachers experienced at inquiry teaching. All of them possessed masters degrees in science or science education, and two of them were Ph.D. Students. These teachers had taught science(physics and chemistry, biology, or earth science) for approximately 5-22years in junior high school. Researchers: Chung-Hsien Tseng·Hsiao-Lin Tuan·Chi-Chin Chin The research questions: What are experienced science teachers’ perspectives on inquiry teaching? What are the patterns of their inquiry teaching perspectives? The research background: After the National Science Education Standards was published, it had a huge impact on science curriculum reform, science teacher education and science education research. The definition of scientific inquiry was described by National Research Council in 1996. Genally, inquiry-based curricula create opportunities for students to explore authentic scientific phenomena, participate in generating research questions, conduct investigations, generate their own conclusions and communicate their finds with peers. However, many research (Crawford2000, Keys and Bryan2001, Wallace and Kang2004) have found that the teacher plays a crucial role in implementing inquiry-based instruction. Science teachers must possess abilities that include a deep understanding of scientific inquiry, strong inquiry-based instructional practice, the ability to guide and organize students to conduct inquiry activities, the ability to meet the goals advocated by the NRC. Therefore, helping science teachers develop their understanding of inquiry and inquiry-based teaching practices has become an important goal of science teac