Elementary Students’ Scientific Reasoning and Discourse During Cooperative Inquiry Science

• In Event: New Developments in Cooperative Learning Theory and Research

Abstract

Teaching children to ask and answer questions is critically important if they are to learn to talk and reason effectively together, particularly during inquiry-based science where they are required to investigate topics, consider alternative propositions and hypotheses, and problem-solve. This study involved 108 students (53 boys and 55 girls) from seven, Year 7 teachers’ classrooms in five elementary schools in Brisbane, Australia. Data on students’ discourse and reasoning and problem-solving (RP-S) were collected across Times 1 and 2. The results showed that the students in the trained condition continued to ask more questions than their untrained peers at Time 2 and they obtained higher reasoning and problem-solving scores than their untrained peers.

Author

• Robyn Margaret Gillies, The University of Queensland