VASI Questionnaire in the context of Brazilian Secondary Education: an Analysis of the Students' Understanding of Scientific Inquiry

Abstract: Science education researchers agree that a better understanding of Scientific Inquiry (SI) is one of the main objectives of Scientific Literacy. Considering the Brazilian scenario in which SI is being implemented as a proposal for science education based on Base Nacional Comum Curricular (BNCC), the aim of this study was to assess the notions of 169 elementary school students regarding SI by administering the VASI questionnaire. This study had a qualitative approach, we categorized the answers in Naïve, Mixed and Informed according to the 8 aspects of SI proposed on the original questionnaire. A low percentage of answers were classified as Mixed or Informed. The results corroborate to the argument that activities that prioritize the doing inquiry do not necessarily lead the students knowing inquiry. We consider that the VASI questionnaire can be applied by teachers now that different curricula based on investigation are been adopted in Brazil.