Prospective elementary teachers' abilities in tackling a contextualized physics problem as guided inquiry

Abstract This article presents a qualitative study, with a descriptive and interpretative nature, of the abilities of prospective elementary teachers (PETs) to solve a contextualized problem of physics through a process of guided inquiry. Specifically, an analysis was made of the PETs' abilities to (a) formulate hypotheses; (b) plan inquiry procedures aimed at testing hypotheses; and (c) draw conclusions from the inquiry (i.e., interpret experimental data to accept or reject their hypotheses, and recognize the limitations of the inquiry that they had conducted). The study participants were 17 PETs who were receiving training in science teaching. They were organized into small groups to solve the physics problem proposed to them. The study's data were extracted from the inquiry reports that the groups prepared by following a script with open-ended questions. The results revealed the PETs' strengths and weaknesses in addressing the different scientific practices that had been required in the process, as well as showing that they all had achieved some improvement in their inquiry abilities after completing the activity. A discussion of the results is given with a view to improving the training of PETs in inquiry-based science learning.

摘要 本文开展一项兼具描述性与解释性特征的质性研究，探究准小学教师（Prospective Elementary Teachers，PETs）通过引导式探究（guided inquiry）过程解决物理情境化问题（contextualized problem）的能力。具体而言，本研究分析了准小学教师在三方面的能力：(a) 提出假说（hypotheses）；(b) 设计用于检验假说的探究流程；(c) 从探究过程中推导结论（即解读实验数据以支持或推翻自身假说，并识别所开展探究的局限性）。本研究的参与者为17名正在接受科学教学培训的准小学教师，他们被划分为若干小组以协作解决给定的物理问题。本研究的数据来源于各小组依据包含开放式问题的探究脚本撰写的探究报告。研究结果揭示了准小学教师在完成本次探究所需的各类科学实践过程中展现出的优势与不足，同时表明所有参与者在完成本次活动后，其探究能力均获得了一定提升。文末针对研究结果展开讨论，旨在优化准小学教师的探究式科学学习（inquiry-based science learning）培训方案。