Using Technology-Rich Inquiry-Based Instruction to Foster the Development of Elementary Students' Views on the Nature of Science

• In Event: 73.061 - Roundtable Session 32
  In Roundtable Session: 73.061-3 - Science Education Pedagogies 2

Abstract

The Next Generation Science Standards support understanding of the nature of science as it is practiced and experienced in the real world through interconnected concepts to be imbedded within scientific practices and crosscutting concepts. This study explored how forth and fifth grade elementary students’ views of nature of science change when they engage in a technology rich, digitally supported scientific inquiry-oriented curriculum that takes place across formal and an informal settings. Results suggest that student engagement in technology-rich inquiry activities that occur in informal and formal settings when supported through explicit instruction focused on metacognitive and social knowledge construction can improve elementary students’ understanding of nature of science.

Authors

• Jennifer Schellinger, The Florida State University

• Anne Mendenhall, University of Nevada - Las Vegas

• Nicole D Alemanne

• Sherry A. Southerland, Florida State University

• Victor Dale Sampson, The University of Texas - Austin

• Paul Marty, Florida State University