Assessing inquiry skill as a component of scientific literacy Author: Carl J.Wenning Summarized and presented by: Hagos Aregay Date 18/01/2011

Purpose of the author The purpose of the author is to develop operationally defined standards that can be used to assess students knowledge and skill associated with scientific inquiry

An overview The terms of scientific literacy and inquiry According to the national education standard (NRC, 1996) Scientifically literate person possess: science as an inquiry Science content Science and technology Social science in personal and social practice History and nature of science Unifying concepts and process

Definition of scientific inquiry Based on the natural science education standard, “Scientific inquiry refers the diverse way in which scientist study the natural world and proposed explanation based on the evidence derived from their work. Inquiry also refers to the activity of students in which they develop knowledge and understanding of scientific idea, as well as an understanding of how scientist study the natural world” (NRC,1996, p.23)

Operational definition and a frame work for teaching Scientific Inquiry Skill Inquiry- base learning is a dynamic process: formulation, testing, reinforcement, revision or rejection of metal model takes place. Thus, the Author provides a list of operationally defined standard that suit for inquiry learning ( design for high school) Reference 1.doc

Cont. More over, the author specify the levels of inquiry spectrum as: The inquiry level differ one from another: locus of control of teacher decreases from right to left Intellectual sophistication increases from right to left Discovery learning Interactive demonstration Inquiry lesson Guided inquiry labs Bounded inquiry labs Free inquiry labs Pure/applied hypothetical inquiry Low Intellectual sophistication High Teacher Locus of control student

Question/problem source procedure Discovery Teacher identifies problem to be researched guided by teacher to reach a certain conclusion Interactive demonstration Teacher control the instrument, but with elegant probe of students’ prior knowledge Inquiry lesson Guided inquiry Guided by multiple teacher-identified question extensive pre-lab orientation Bounded inquiry Guided by single teacher-identified question partial pre-lab orientation Free inquiry students identify problem to be researched Guided by single student-identified question no pre-lab orientation Reference: http://www.dlsu.edu.ph, Author is same: Carl J. Wenning, (2004)

Scientific Inquiry literacy test (ScInqLiT) The proposed frame work is reviewed by several physics teacher, scientist, educators and provided reasonable assurance of content validity. pilot test was administered. Based on the result obtained adjustment was made. Then, it was expected the finalized version has increased validity & reliability

Limitation: The scientific inquiry literacy test is a paper and pencil test. As such, it is limited to authentically assess student ability. Actually , it can be considered as an indicator The author call for further research to accommodate students’ actual performance

Importance If the goal of scientific education is to attain scientific literacy, some mechanism is important to deal with i.e ( ScInqLiT). Thus, the a scientific literacy assessment instrument has a great impact in curriculum design, development and instructional practice, informed decision making and program evaluation

Conclusion The whole purpose of the article is that: Identifying weakness in students understanding Improving instructional practice Determining program effectiveness in relation to teaching scientific inquiry skill.

Cont. Thank you