Relationship Between Students’ Perceived Science Teaching Approaches and Their Science Achievement of Process Knowledge: A Study of Two Racial Groups of Chinese Students at the Eighth-Grade Level

• In Event: Roundtable Session 23
  In Roundtable Session: Research on the Experiences of Chinese Students in U.S. School Contexts and Abroad

Abstract

The global economy demands a country’s workforce adequately educated in science. Inquiry-based teaching is assumed more effective than the popular didactic instruction in helping students learn science process knowledge effectively. China is determined to improve its students’ science learning and narrow the achievement gap between its mainstream and minority students by pushing teachers to use the inquiry-based instruction. Drawing on the survey and assessment data collected using TIMSS 2007 instruments, this study examines whether and to what extent the current teaching approaches influence differently the science process achievements of eighth grade Han and Mongolian Chinese students. It found that inquiry-based instruction has no significantly positive influences on two groups’ science process performance, which challenges the theoretical and policy assumption.

Authors

• Su Gao, University of Nevada - Las Vegas

• Jian Wang, Texas Tech University

• Zhiyong Zhong, Minzu University of China