Third and fourth grade students’ conceptions of the nature of scientific inquiry

Understanding the nature of scientific inquiry is considered a critical component of scientific literacy [Michaels, S., Shouse, A. W., & Schweingruber, H. A. (2008). Ready, set, science!: Putting research to work in K-8 classrooms. National Academies Press]. What do elementary students already know about scientific inquiry? Using the VASI-E (Lederman, Lederman, Bartos, Bartels, Antink Meyer, and Schwartz) we surveyed 135 third and fourth grade students for their conceptions of scientific inquiry, also interviewing 33% of these students to ensure valid and reliable interpretation of the data. Questions focused on students’ conceptions of inquiry in terms of recognising that investigations begin with a question, whether scientists use multiple methods to answer their questions, whether scientists’ procedures are guided by the questions they ask, whether conclusions should be consistent with data, and whether explanations come from data as well as prior knowledge. Overall findings indicate that the third and fourth grade students had generally good ideas of aspects of scientific inquiry as measured by the VASI-E. In essence, third and fourth grade students not only can use scientific inquiry to explore scientific ideas, but also conceptualise the kind of knowledge that is developed through scientific inquiry and comprises scientific inquiry.