To monitor and evaluate program success and to provide teachers with a tool that could support their transformation in teaching practice, we needed an effective and valid protocol to measure the quantity and quality of inquiry-based instruction being led. Existing protocols, though helpful, were either too generic or too program specific. Consequently, we developed the Electronic Quality of Inquiry Protocol (EQUIP). This manuscript examines the 2-year development cycle for the creation and validation of EQUIP. The protocol evolved over several iterations and was supported by validity checks and confirmatory factor analysis. The protocol's strength is further supported by high internal consistency and solid interrater agreement. The resulting protocol assesses 19 indicators aligned with four constructs: instruction, curriculum, assessment, and discourse. For teachers, EQUIP provides a framework to make their instructional practice more intentional as they strive to increase the quantity and quality of inquiry instruction. For researchers, EQUIP provides an instrument to analyze the quantity and quality of inquiry being implemented, which can be beneficial in evaluating professional development projects.
Commissions, studies, and reports continue to call for inquiry‐based learning approaches in science and math that challenge students to think critically and deeply. While working with a group of middle school science and math teachers, we conducted more than 100 classroom observations, assessing several attributes of inquiry‐based instruction. We sorted the observations into two groups based on whether students both explored underlying concepts before receiving explanations and contributed to the explanations. We found that in both math and science classrooms, when teachers had students both explore concepts before explanations and contribute to the explanations, a higher percent of time was spent on exploration and students were more frequently involved at a higher cognitive level. Further, we found a high positive correlation between the percent of time spent exploring concepts and the cognitive level of the students, and a negative correlation between the percent of time spent explaining concepts and the cognitive level. When we better understand how teachers who are successful in challenging students in higher‐order thinking spend their time relative to various components of inquiry‐based instruction, then we are better able to develop professional development experiences that help teachers transition to more desired instructional patterns.
A survey instrument was developed and administered to 1,222 K-12 mathematics and science teachers to measure their beliefs about and use of inquiry in the classroom. Four variables (grade level taught, content area taught, level of support received, and self-efficacy for teaching inquiry) were significantly correlated to two dependent variables, percentage of time that students are engaged in inquiry during a typical lesson and the perceived ideal percentage of instructional time that should be devoted to inquiry. Specifically, elementary school teachers reported using inquiry-based practices more than either middle-school or high-school teachers; similarly, elementaryschool teachers believed such practices should be used more often. All groups, however, reported believing in an ideal percentage of time devoted to inquiry instruction that was significantly greater than their reported percentage of time actually spent on inquiry instruction. A disordinal effect was found between grade level taught and content area taught; at the elementary level, science teachers reported both an ideal and actual percentage of time on inquiry higher than those reported by the math teachers, while at the high school level math teachers reported both an ideal and actual percentage of time on inquiry higher than those reported by the science teachers. No correlations were found between typical and ideal percentage of time devoted to inquiry and subject matter content knowledge training, gender, years of teaching experience, or maximum degree earned.
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