Effect of Inquiry-based Biology Program on Pre-service Science Teachers' Perceptions on the Nature of Science and Affective Domain of Science

Abstract

This study aims to investigate the effect of inquiry-based biology program of pre-service science teachers' perceptions on the nature of science and their affective domain of science. For the study, sixty-seven preservice science teachers were sampled from students who enrolled in the 'Biology Laboratory', Spring semester, 2011. The experimental group taught by inquiry-based experiment and control group by observation-based experiment were composed. At the beginning and end of semester, pre-and post-tests on the nature of science and affective domain of science were administered. The average scores of experimental group were higher than those of control group in the post-test of the nature of science, but there were no significant differences between both groups (p>.05). For the post-test results of both groups' affective domain of science, the experimental group showed significantly higher scores than the control group in self-efficacy in science, importance of science, and importance of science for careers (p<.01). The inquiry-based biology program did not influence pre-service science teachers' perception on the nature of science, while it was effective for positive changes on pre-service science teachers' affective domain of science.: affective domain of science, the nature of science, inquiry-based biology program

Exploring Korean Middle School Students’ View about Scientific Inquiry

“…There is little opportunity for students to control or test variables themselves. Furthermore, the ratio of experiment-centered classes has been reported to be less than 10% in Korean secondary schools (Choi & Seo, 2012). As a result of these factors, students are often unable to adequately understand the meaning of the word experiment and thus regard experiments as the only method for conducting scientific inquiry.…”