Middle School Students' Science Interest and Epistemic Beliefs in a Technology-Enhanced Problem-Based Scientific Inquiry Unit

• In Event: 31.087 - Science Learning, Complexity, and Problem Solving in and With Technological Environments

Abstract

Encouraging students to address authentic, scientific problems is one way to foster authentic, scientific inquiry in science class. As engaging in scientific inquiry can be challenging for middle school students, in this study, we investigated three factors (students’ science interest, epistemic beliefs, and the usage of a computer-based scaffolds) that may influence students’ performance during a problem-based, scientific inquiry unit. Data sources include students’ epistemic beliefs pre and posttests, interest level survey, videotaped observations, and pre and post interviews, and students’ demographic data. The initial finding suggested that students’ interest varied over the course of the unit. Further findings are summarized and discussed.

Authors

• Jiangyue Gu, Utah State University

• Brian R. Belland, Utah State University

• D. Mark Weiss, Utah State University

• Nam Ju Kim, University of Miami