Natural sciences teachers understand and practice inquiry-based science teaching in a primary school: a case study project

Abstract

Primary school natural sciences teachers are as per the curriculum policy documents required to possess the skills, knowledge, and attitudes to engage learners in the subject (Natural Sciences). The researcher used a case study strategy to investigate how grades 6 and 7 natural sciences teachers understood and practised inquiry-based science teaching (IBST), in the process of teaching the subject to their learners. The social constructivist theory of Vygotsky as a theoretical framework underpinned this research. Five grades 6 and 7 natural sciences teachers from a primary school located in the district of Pinetown Department of Basic Education, KwaZulu-Natal were purposefully selected and participated in the study. The research methods employed to generate data included the teachers’ biography and their responses to teaching scenario-based questions from questionnaires, individual semi-structured interviews, which was followed by focus grouping discussions. The five participants responded to the questions that explored their understandings and practices of IBST. The findings generated indicated that the natural sciences teachers had different understandings and perceptions of IBST. All participants confirmed attending IBST workshops and trainings. They either viewed IBST as involving learners in creating their understandings of phenomena based on evidence or connected the pedagogy to various types of learner participation in the learning process. They associated IBST with teacher-controlled activities such as experiments, demonstrations, and worksheets, but agreed that teaching natural sciences involved both practical and theoretical lessons. The participants' practice of IBST before the intervention laid more emphasis on the conceptual domain and less emphasis on the knowledgeable application domain. In terms of the IBST's guidance component, they mostly assisted learners in generating judgments that are evidence based. Their understanding regarding the cognitive aspect of inquiry and its methods of application for promoting learning through inquiry-based largely informed how they implemented IBST. After the focus group discussion aimed at providing the participants with interventions, the teachers identified several measures they thought would improve the effectiveness of implementing inquiry-based teaching. The most emphasised issues were the science resources for teaching offered to schools and the implementation of suitable professional programmes that would develop teachers considering the context of their teaching environments. These results are expected to benefit a broad range of audiences, including science teachers, curriculum planners, and science teacher educators, given the dispute involving various interpretations of IBST surrounding this topic in science education.