Research on and Development of Inquiry‐Type Chemistry Laboratories in Israel

Abstract

Over a period of more than 60 years, the chemistry laboratory has been extensively and comprehensively researched and hundreds of research papers, reviews, and doctoral dissertations have been published, investigating the laboratory as a unique learning environment. However, there were challenges and pedagogical questions regarding its educational effectiveness and benefits for teaching and learning chemistry. At the beginning of the 21 st century there was a call to rethink (and research) the goals for learning chemistry in the laboratory. This is especially applicable in an era in which we are trying to enhance the goal of teaching "chemistry for all students" and/or for the benefit of what is fondly called "future citizens". Working for more than 15 years with colleagues and students, we researched the potential of establishing an inquiry-type chemistry laboratory for developing high-order learning skills, namely, skills for the future or skills for life, including metacognitive and argumentative skills, and the ability of students to ask relevant questions resulting from an inquiry-type chemistry laboratory.

Advancing students’ scientific inquiry performance in chemistry through reading and evaluative reflection

“…The characteristics of a quality research question are: (a) testable (Chang et al, 2011;Ebenezer et al, 2011), (b) having potential to increase understanding (Cavagnetto et al, 2010), and (c) using scientific evidence to generate new knowledge (Samarapungavan et al, 2011). Hofstein et al (2019) pointed out that students who engaged in scientific inquiry can provide more and higher quality questions.…”

Laboratory activities to support online chemistry courses: a literature review

“…21 Hofstein et al provide a useful review of the chemistry teaching laboratory arguing effectively for the inquiry-based experience that is not just hands-on, but "minds-on". 23…”

Entwicklung und Evaluation einer Lehrkräftefortbildung zur Planung von selbstgesteuerten Experimenten

“…B. "open inquiry" (R. L. Bell et al, 2005), "authentic inquiry" (Chinn & Malhotra, 2002), "discovery-based instruction" (Alfieri et al, 2011), "inquiry-based learning" (Hofer et al), "collaborative inquiry learning" (T. Bell et al, 2010), "open-ended inquiry" (Hofstein et al, 2019) Jedoch lässt sich eine Tendenz bei der Beschreibung offener Experimentierformen ableiten, bei der einerseits über die Aktivitäten der Schülerinnen und Schüler und andererseits über den Grad der Lehrkräftezentrierung definiert wird (Rönnebeck et al, 2016). Die Ausrichtung bezüglich des Grads der Lehrkräftezentrierung wird im Folgekapitel (2.4.4.2) beschrieben, da diese zumeist mit einigen Darstellungen der Öffnungsgrade von Experimenten (vgl.…”