| Instructional designers continue to seek inquiry models that address the needs of secondary learners transitioning to higher education. This mixed method study investigated the effect of learner reflections generated by instruction designed by the Stripling Inquiry Model (Stripling, 2003) on metacognitive awareness and inquiry task outcomes. A concurrent embedded strategy allowed for simultaneous collection of participant quantitative metacognitive awareness levels, inquiry outcomes and qualitative data regarding participant experiences during the inquiry process. The sample was comprised of 138 participants ages 16-18 from two Mid-Atlantic public high schools. Treatment groups at each site received instruction designed according to the Stripling Inquiry model; control groups received their teachers' regular instruction. Inquiry instruction for the treatment group was delivered via seven videos and was scaffolded with the Stripling reflection prompts. Participants in both groups kept reflection journals. Control participants reflected as they wished; treatment participants reflected via the Stripling prompts. The self-report Metacognitive Awareness Inventory (Schraw & Dennison, 1994) was used to measure metacognitive awareness with a pre- and post-test. Participant inquiry outcomes were assessed with a field-tested inquiry outcomes rubric. While no statistically significant differences were found between treatment and control group results for either metacognitive awareness or inquiry outcomes, qualitative findings from reflection journals were markedly different between the groups. Participants reflecting via the Stripling prompts demonstrated deeper levels of reflection, engaged iteratively with the inquiry process, and used a wider variety of tools to achieve their goals. |
