Experimentation in Biology Lessons: Guided Discovery through Incremental Scaffolds

Autor/inn/en	Großmann, Nadine; Wilde, Matthias
Titel	Experimentation in Biology Lessons: Guided Discovery through Incremental Scaffolds
Quelle	In: International Journal of Science Education, 41 (2019) 6, S.759-781 (23 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0950-0693
DOI	10.1080/09500693.2019.1579392
Schlagwörter	Experiments; Biology; Scaffolding (Teaching Technique); Grade 7; Science Instruction; Secondary School Students; Secondary School Science; Foreign Countries; Discovery Learning; Science Teachers; Secondary School Teachers; Germany + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Erprobung; Biologie; School year 07; 7. Schuljahr; Schuljahr 07; Teaching of science; Science education; Natural sciences Lessons; Naturwissenschaftlicher Unterricht; Sekundarschüler; Ausland; Entdeckendes Lernen; Science; Teacher; Teachers; Science teacher; Wissenschaft; Lehrer; Lehrerin; Lehrende; Deutschland
Abstract	Experimentation is a complex problem-solving process. In biology lessons, experiments involve creative thinking and open discovery; however, they still require some degree of instructional guidance. The right balance between discovery learning and instructional guidance depends substantially on students' prior knowledge. Students with low prior knowledge in particular might have difficulties with conducting and understanding experiments. Incremental scaffolds might be a valuable tool to meditate between pure discovery and strong guidance while simultaneously taking learners' individual knowledge and skills into account. In the current study, we examined the effects of incremental scaffolds (IncSc), no scaffolds (NoSc), and worked-out examples (WoEx) on students' knowledge acquisition while doing inquiry-based experimentation with a special focus on students with low prior knowledge. In a pre-posttest design, 193 students (M[subscript age]= 13.02 ± 0.81 years) participated in a four-hour teaching unit on animals' overwintering strategies. In the pre- and posttest, we assessed the students' conceptual and procedural knowledge. Our results partially confirmed our hypotheses: Regarding the conceptual and procedural knowledge of all students, incremental scaffolds showed no additional benefit regarding students' knowledge in the posttest when compared to working with no scaffolds or worked out examples. For the students with low prior knowledge, working with incremental scaffolds led to higher conceptual and procedural knowledge after the teaching unit than working with worked-out examples. (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2020/1/01