The Efficacy of Inquiry-Based Instruction in Science: a Comparative Analysis of Six Countries Using PISA 2015

Abstract

This study is a comparative analysis of 15-year-old students' scientific literacy, and its association with the instructional strategies that students experience, across six OECD countries that participated in PISA 2015. Across the six countries, the study investigates the efficacy of inquiry-based instruction in science in contrast with two other instructional approaches to teaching secondary science: adaptive and teacher-directed teaching. The analysis shows that students who reported experiencing high frequencies of inquiry strategies in their classrooms consistently evidenced lower levels of scientific literacy across the six countries. Benchmark analysis also showed, common to all six countries, a strongly positive association between the frequency of teacher-directed and adaptive teaching strategies and students' scientific literacy. Additionally, the study disaggregates PISA's composite variable representing inquiry-based instruction and shows that different components of inquiry are differentially associated with students' scientific literacy. We discuss the implications of these analyses for science teacher educators, science teachers, and educational policy makers. In doing so, we add nuance to our understanding of the efficacy of inquiry-based instruction in science, suggesting that some components, as conceptualised and assessed in PISA, seem to suggest greater attention and use, and others more moderated use.

Examination of Turkey’s PISA 2018 reading literacy scores within student-level and school-level variables

“…In the study by Hwang, Choi, Bae, and Shin (2018) PISA scores of 10 countries were analysed and the research results showed that there was a link between equity and teacher instructional practices and that frequency of student-centred method was positively related to closing the gap in science and math literacy between low and high socio economic status. Oliver, McConney, and Woods-McConney (2019) examined the efficacy of inquiry-based instruction on science by using PISA 2015 scores of six countries and they concluded that inquiry-based instruction associated with science literacy significantly. Considering reading literacy in PISA 2009, Lee and Wu (2012) found out that Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) availability at home improved reading literacy with the mediating effect of engagement in online reading activities whilst solitary ICT availability had a negative impact on reading literacy.…”

Determination of the Factors Affecting Students’ Science Achievement Level in Turkey and Singapore: An Application of Quantile Regression Mixture Model

“…The economic, social and cultural status of a student was another important effect on students' achievement, which has been frequently emphasized in the literature (Marks, Cresswell, & Ainley, 2006;Turmo, 2004;Zwick, Ye, & Isham, 2019;). In the study of Oliver, McConney, and Woods-McConney, it was revealed that student ESCS and science achievement score were highly correlated in a positive way (Oliver, McConney, & Woods-McConney, 2019). To be increased students' science achievement, it had a significant factor, especially for students of Cluster 7 in Turkey.…”

Inquiry in science education

“…Second, even when the studies used identical items to measure inquiry, there were vast differences in the ways these activities were represented in the analyses. While the majority of the studies utilized a single scale of inquiry that combined student and teacher led-activities (e.g., Cairns & Areepattamannil, 2017;Kaya & Rice, 2010;Tang, Tsai, Barrow, & Romine, 2018), others took into account these differences, either by analyzing them as individual inquiry items (e.g., Cairns, 2019;Oliver, McConney, & Woods-McConney, 2019) or combining similar items into the same groups, such as by referring them as guided and independent inquiry (Aditomo & Klieme, 2020;Jiang & Mccomas, 2015). The different ways to measure and analyze inquiry as an instructional approach found across these studies also reflects the state of science education research in general, which has long debated how to conceptualize inquiry and what it means to teach science as inquiry (Crawford, 2014;Furtak & Penuel, 2019).…”