The influence of the explicit nature of science instruction embedded in the Argument-Driven Inquiry method in chemistry laboratories on high school students’ conceptions about the nature of science

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to investigate the influence of the explicit nature of science instruction embedded in the Argument-Driven Inquiry method compared with an implicit inquiry method on eleventh-grade students’ conceptions of NOS. The study used a pre-/post-test control group design to investigate the influence of the explicit nature of science instruction embedded in the Argument-Driven Inquiry method on eleventh grade students’ understanding of NOS. The qualitative method was used to identify the students’ views of NOS. The study involved 45 students (grade 11) enrolled in a chemistry course at a public Anatolian high school in the northeast of Turkey. The explicit group included 24 students (10 girls and 14 boys) and the implicit group included 21 students (12 girls and 9 boys) with their ages ranging from 17 to 18 years. Both groups were instructed for two 45 minute sessions per week over the course of 9 weeks. However, the explicit group participated in laboratory activities designed by the ADI method with explicit NOS instruction, whereas the implicit group was taught by a structured inquiry (SI) instructional model. Students were interviewed using the VNOS-B interview schedule to evaluate the students’ understanding of NOS. In data analysis, we coded views as an informed view that had the accepted views, a transitional view that had partially accepted views or a naïve view that had unaccepted views of the seven characteristics of NOS based on the literature. The results of the study showed significant differences between the pre- to post-test scores for the explicit group in terms of NOS views. However, the post-instruction views of the implicit group were not different from their previous NOS views. We believe that the explicit nature of science instruction embedded in the ADI method has a noticeable potential in order to improve high school students’ views about NOS.