New Perspectives in Science Education

The study developed and determined the effects of the inquiry-based laboratory activities on the inquiry skills, conceptual understanding and attitude toward Genetics of undergraduate Biology and Biology major Education students in a state university in the Visayas for the 2nd Semester Academic Year 2014-2015.  The students were randomly assigned to control and the experimental groups. Qualitative analysis was done using focus group interview and implementation of inquiry-based laboratory activities. The quantitative data on conceptual understanding, inquiry skills and attitude toward Genetics were assessed in a pretest-posttest implementation of the strategy used. In the laboratory period, the control group used the conventional laboratory method while the inquiry-based laboratory method was employed in the experimental group.  Results showed that the pretest mean scores of the control (Inquiry Skills, M=12.20; Conceptual Understanding, M= 11.58; Genetics Attitude, M=2.39) group and experimental group (Inquiry Skills, M=12.42; Conceptual Understanding, M=10.78, Genetics Attitude, M=2.39) were comparable and showed no significant difference (Inquiry Skills, p=0.807; Conceptual Understanding, p=0.231; Genetics Attitude, p= 0.921) prior to the intervention. Independent samples t-test on inquiry skills and conceptual understanding showed that the experimental group had a significantly higher (inquiry skills, p = 0.043 and conceptual understanding, p = 0.002) posttest mean scores than the control group after using the inquiry-based laboratory activities in Genetics, respectively.  The experimental group inquiry skills (M=24.67) is higher than the control group (M=22.76) suggesting that the inquiry learning strategy helped students to construct and conceptualize the knowledge on Genetics laboratory. Furthermore, the experimental group conceptual understanding (M=22.73) improved the conceptual understanding of the students than the control group (M=18.80). The posttest mean scores in the attitude toward Genetics of the experimental group (M=2.430) and the control group (M=2.433) were almost equal after the intervention. However, the independent samples t-test result showed no significant change on the attitude mean scores toward Genetics of the control (p=0.278) and experimental (p=0.104) groups exposed to inquiry-based laboratory activities and those who are not, respectively  probably because they were all science majors.  The correlation tests indicate that there is a significant relationship between students’ conceptual understanding and inquiry skills in the control (r=0.451, p=0.002) and experimental (r=0.492, p=0.001) groups while attitude did not show any significant relationship after the intervention.  

References:
[1]  Anderson, R. (2002). Reforming science teaching: What research says about  inquiry?.Journal of Science Teacher Education, 13, 1–2.
[2]  Buck, L. B., Bretz, S.L. &Towns, M. H. (2008). Characterizing the level of inquiry in the undergraduate laboratory. Journal of College of Science Teaching, 38: 52-58.
[3]  Gibson, H. L. & Chase, C. (2002).Longitudinal impact of an inquiry-based science program on middle school students' attitudes toward science.Sci. Ed., 86: 693–705. doi: 10.1002/sce.10039.