Amanda Woods-McConney

Science inquiry has been at the forefront of science learning and teaching theory for over half a century and is considered fundamental to the science curriculum in many countries, including Australia. Despite government strategies to improve student attainment and engagement, and support for teachers in facilitating effective inquiry-based pedagogy, there is still much to learn about how inquiry is enacted in science classrooms. This qualitative study combined teacher surveys, observations, and interviews to investigate how primary and secondary teachers enacted science inquiry in 56 observed lessons, and the reasons behind their chosen inquiry pedagogies. Classroom observations revealed that primary teachers predominantly used guided inquiry, while secondary teachers mainly used structured inquiry. Although teachers implemented all essential features of science inquiry, these features were spread across multiple lessons, limiting students' exposure to the complete inquiry process and the opportunity to understand how the features work together during an investigation. Interviews with teachers provided insights into their reasoning for their practice. These findings contribute to a better understanding of current science inquiry implementation in classrooms and have implications for informing teachers' pedagogy and sharing best practices.

For over 50 years science inquiry has been positively associated with student achievement. Recently, the role of science inquiry as a means of effective science teaching has come under increased scrutiny after analyses of international large scale assessments found an overall negative association between science inquiry and student achievement. Unclear in the research is how teachers are enacting science inquiry in the standard classroom, as previous research was based on classroom interventions and student reports. This mixed methods research describes upper primary and lower secondary teachers' science inquiry enactment in 56 science lessons using a two-dimensional model of science inquiry. The findings show primary teachers enacted more inquiry than secondary teachers, and used predominantly guided inquiry, while secondary teachers used mainly closed inquiry. Although primary and secondary teachers enacted all the essential features of science inquiry, students did not experience science inquiry in its entirety. Further, students' exposure to the nature of scientific knowledge was limited. This research provides a contemporary and multifaceted account of how teachers enacted science inquiry in their science lessons. The findings can be used by educational researchers and policy-makers to make informed decisions when seeking to improve science education.