Advanced Research On The "Views About Scientific Inquiry" Of Primary School Students In Grades 3-6

Scientific inquiry has become the core issue of science curriculum research.One of the educational concepts of the "National Science Education Standards" published by the United States is "Science education focuses on cultivating students' scientific literacy and scientific inquiry spirit".In our country,"Curriculum standard of Science in Primary School of compulsory education" mentioned that scientific inquiry should be the teaching goal and teaching content,and it is believed that scientific inquiry activities are an important way to cultivate students' scientific literacy.But from the relevant research results,there is still a lot of room to improve the level of views about scientific inquiry of Chinese students,and elementary school is the basic stage of forming the views about scientific inquiry,so it is very important to investigate and research the views about scientific inquiry of elementary school students.Based on this,the main questions of this research are established:(1)What is the level of development of the views about scientific inquiry of the students in the third to sixth grade of elementary school?(2)What is the progress of the advanced development of the views about scientific inquiry of the students in grades three to six in elementary school?This research is based on the views about scientific inquiry framework summarized by the senior American science educators Norman G.Lederman and Judith S.Lederman.Using the Views About Scientific Inquiry-Elementary(VASI-E)questionnaire developed by Norman G.Lederman,381 primary school students(93 in third grade,94 in fourth grade,97 in fifth Grade and 97 in sixth Grade)were measured.Through the sorting and analysis of the questionnaire data and interview results,the author obtains the current level of views about scientific inquiry and advanced development of students in grades three to six in elementary school,and finally put forward relevant suggestions to develop the views about scientific inquiry of elementary school students.The results show that:(1)The development level of the views about scientific inquiry the third to sixth grade primary school students is as follows:The overall views about scientific inquiry of the students in grades three to six is at a "Naive" level,and there are differences in their understanding of the dimensions of views about scientific inquiry.The views about scientific inquiry of the third and fourth grade students presents a "Naive" level;the views about scientific inquiry of the fifth grade student is between the "Naive" and the "Mixed" level;the views about scientific inquiry of the sixth grade student is at the "Mixed" level.Specifically:students in the four grades of grades three to six have a "Informed" level of understanding of the A6(Research conclusions must be consistent with the data collected);The understanding of the dimensions A8(Explanations are developed from a combination of collected data and what is already known)is "Mixed" level;The understanding of the dimensions A1(Scientific investigations all begin with a question and do not necessarily test a hypothesis),A2(There is no single set and sequence of steps followed in all scientific investigations),A3(Inquiry procedures are guided by the question asked)is at the "Naive" level.(2)The advanced development of scientific inquiry concept of students in grade 3 to 6 of primary school:From grades three to six,the overall level of views about scientific inquiry of the students has been improved to a certain extent,and the degree of advancement of different dimensions has certain differences.The two dimensions of A6 and A8 have the largest advancement amplitude;followed by the two dimensions of A1 and A3;and the A2 dimension has the smallest advancement amplitude.Specifically:The level of understanding of the two dimensions of A1 and A3 has been significantly improved for the fourth-grade students compared with the third-grade students.Compared with fourth-grade students,fifth-grade students have significantly improved their understanding of the four dimensions of A2,A3,A6,and A8,especially the three dimensions of A2,A6,and A8;compared with the fifth grade students,the level of understanding of the two dimensions of A1 and A8 has been significantly improved for the sixth-grade students.It can be seen that in the process of transition from middle school to high school(grade 4-5),the level of views about scientific inquiry will be greatly improved;(3)Combined with the interviews,it is found that the main reason for the low level of views about scientific inquiry of the students in grade 3 to grade 6 of primary school is that students rarely have the opportunity to participate in the inquiry activities,and teachers rarely transmit the relevant contents of views about scientific inquiry to students with explicit words in class and guide students to reflect on their own and others' inquiry process.Based on the above research results,combined with influencing factors such as teachers,students,curriculum standards,textbooks and other influencing factors,this paper puts forward improvement suggestions from the three aspects of "clarifying the content of scientific inquiry,increasing opportunities for participating in scientific inquiry activities,and reflecting on the process of scientific inquiry",Hoping to promote the development of elementary school students' views about scientific inquiry.