Implementing inquiry-based instruction in the science classroom: A new model for solving the improvement-of-practice problem

One of the leading goals of the science education reform movement in the United States is getting teachers to effectively and regularly employ inquiry-oriented pedagogical practices in science instruction (AAAS, 1990; NRC, 1996, 2000a; NSTA, 2003). Unfortunately, even after years of reform efforts, widespread progress has not been made in this area. If the science education reform movement is to make significant improvements in the way science is taught in schools, a better understanding of the relationship between the way teachers are educated and how they perform in the classroom must be had. How American school students learn science will depend strongly upon adequate teacher preparation and professional development that is based on a knowledge of the relationship between teacher understanding of scientific inquiry and the social context of teaching. Teacher candidate preparation and professional development for traditional in-service teachers must provide instructors with the ability and disposition to teach science via inquiry, as well as a means for dealing effectively with confounding factors such as personal teaching concerns, concerns about students, instructional and curricular concerns, and strongly-held didactic teaching philosophies. Such factors can at times be more influential than any intrinsic beliefs developed from a formal education (Young, 1991). It is the author’s contention that failure of teacher preparation models to take into account the social context of teaching has, to date, left the science education reform movement languishing. A new model is desperately needed to help solve the long-standing improvement-of-practice problem.