Exploring Korean Middle School Students’ View about Scientific Inquiry

Abstract

Background:The aim of this study is to examine Korean middle school students’ view about scientific inquiry with the Views About Scientific Inquiry (VASI) Questionnaire.Material and methods:This instrument deals with 8 aspects of scientific inquiry. 282 Korean middle school students participated in this study, and their responses were classified as informed, mixed, and naïve.Results:The results revealed that Korean middle school students primarily held mixed or naïve views about scientific inquiry. To discover why students held these views, their responses were analyzed in detail. For instance, they did not understand the meaning of ‘experiment’, ‘scientific’, ‘data’, and ‘evidence’ well. They understood scientific terminology and scientific inquiry in everyday contexts. Students also tended to regard science process skill as scientific method.Conclusions:In general, Korean middle school students held mixed or naïve views about scientific inquiry. According to the results mentioned above, explicit and reflective instruction is necessary to develop students’ views about scientific inquiry.