Developing scientific literacy through classroom instruction: Investigating learning opportunities across three modes of inquiry -based science instruction

Despite wide research-based support for the implementation of inquiry-based science instruction, very few studies have closely examined its enactment across varied modes of instruction. Such studies can contribute to a finer understanding of the knowledge teachers must have in order to implement high-quality inquiry-based science instruction. This dissertation study investigated the enactment of three modes of inquiry-based science instruction by three guest teachers who were university-based researchers. The 50 fourth grade student participants were matched on achievement and prior content knowledge and randomly assigned to one of six small groups across three conditions employing different modes of inquiry-based science instruction: first-hand investigation, second-hand investigation, and an interplay of first- and second-hand investigation (Palincsar and Magnusson, 2001). Children in the first-hand investigation condition directly manipulated scientific phenomena, collected and reported data, and used these data to make knowledge claims. Children in the second-hand investigation condition studied the phenomena by following the investigations of a fictitious scientist who documents her study in an innovative notebook text. Children in the interplay condition experienced an interplay of the first- and second-hand investigations.;Guided by sociocognitive theories of learning, the first phase of data analysis identified the differential opportunities for students to engage with scientific practices and conceptual claims across the modes of instruction. The findings from this analytical phase showed that in the context of this study, instruction featuring second-hand investigations provided students with richer opportunities for engaging with scientific practices and conceptual claims as compared to instruction featuring first-hand investigation. Following this, three sets of contrastive case studies were analyzed that demonstrated how opportunities for learning were differentially mediated across conditions. A cross-case analysis integrated a logic of inquiry focusing on the following issues: participant structures, children's connections to prior experiences, and argumentation. The findings from this analytical phase illuminated particular affordances of the second-hand investigation instructional mode and the way that these affordances were brought to life by specific teacher moves. Thus, the study shows how the interplay between curricular affordances and teacher moves can collectively lead to rich scientific literacy learning opportunities for upper elementary students.