Aps-ajp-11-1001-Book indb

Summary of “Inquiry experiences as a lecture supplement for preservice 
elementary teachers and general education students,” Jill A. Marshall and 
James T. Dorward, pp. 152–161.
This article describes an investigation to test the usefulness 
of including inquiry-based laboratory activities as a supple-
ment to traditional lecture and demonstration curriculum, in 
an introductory physics course for pre-service elementary 
teachers and general education students. The research com-
prised two studies: a preliminary study for two consecutive 
academic terms, and a comparison study during one subse-
quent term.
In the fi rst term of the preliminary study, six lecture periods 
were replaced with sessions in which small groups of gen-
eral education students engaged in inquiry-based activities. In 
some cases, these were shortened versions of the Physics by 
Inquiry activities developed for elementary education majors 
by McDermott et al.
1
Pre-service teachers did not attend on 
these days, but were still required to complete traditional pre-
scriptive activities during lab sessions. (The lecture portion of 
this course was the same for all students, taught by the same 
instructor. Pre-service teachers had an additional requirement 
of completing six two-hour labs.) In the following term of the 
preliminary study, the prescriptive labs for the pre-service 
teachers were replaced with inquiry-based activities and the 
general education students engaged in no inquiry activities, 
but instead completed extra homework problems. 
An analysis was performed on outcome measures for all 
students from both terms (N = 171) to determine whether 
three outcomes (course grade, fi nal exam grade, and total 
score on exam problems covering the topics of the inquiry 
activities) had any dependence on major (pre-service teachers 
vs. general education), on whether the students experienced 
inquiry activities or not, or on a combination of major and 
inquiry activities. The analysis controlled for both gender and 
grade point average. Results showed that there was a signifi -
cant difference between students who experienced inquiry and 
those who did not, on exam problems covering topics from the 
inquiry activities. 
Additional statistical tests indicated that pre-service teach-
ers who experienced the inquiry activities had signifi cantly 
higher exam scores than those who did not experience those 
activities (p < 0.001). In contrast, there was no statistically 
signifi cant difference between general education students who 
experienced inquiry exercises and those who did not. This 
outcome led us to suspect that gender was contributing to the 
difference between inquiry and non-inquiry experiences, as 
more than 90% of the future elementary teachers were female. 
A second statistical analysis examined exam scores of 
female students broken down by major, inquiry or non-inquiry 
instruction, and a combination of the two. The results sup-
ported the conjecture that women had higher achievement 
on some measures when they experienced inquiry activities. 
Statistical tests confi rmed that women experiencing inquiry 
activities outperformed those who did not on exam questions 
dealing with topics covered by the inquiries. A similar test for 
the corresponding groups of male students showed no sig-
nifi cant difference. Likewise, female students showed no sig-
nifi cant difference between elementary education majors and 
others who experienced inquiry exercises.
In the second (comparison) study, all students in the tar-
get course were engaged in the inquiry activities, the pre-
service teachers during the six two-hour lab periods and the 
general education students during six lecture periods (which 
the elementary education majors did not attend). Their scores 
on a fi nal exam problem, taken from Reference 2(a),
2
were 
compared with scores on the same problem given on a fi nal 
exam in a calculus-based physics course and on an ungraded 
quiz in an algebra-based course, both at the same institution. 
Students in the combined inquiry course signifi cantly out-
performed those in the algebra- and calculus-based courses. 
Their scores, however, did not reach the level that has been 
seen as a result of instruction that is completely inquiry-based 
(Reference 2[b]).
Pre- and post-instruction focus group interviews were 
conducted with a volunteer sample of students who experi-
enced the inquiry-based activities. Coding of responses con-
fi rmed that students found the inquiry exercises valuable in 
solidifying their understanding of concepts, and indicated that 
engaging in the activities appeared to change some students’ 
perceptions of science and science teaching.
Strengths of the studies lay in the quasi-experimental design 
and use of statistical techniques that allowed comparisons of 
small subgroups within the population and disaggregation by 
gender and major. Limitations included the sample size (N = 
171 in the preliminary study and 325 in the comparison study) 
and the fact that implementation was in only three sections 
of the same course at the same institution and covered only a 
limited number of topics.
In summary, engaging in limited inquiry activities as a sup-
plement to lecture improved learning outcomes and percep-
tions, for female students and pre-service elementary teachers 
in particular. The effect was not as large as for students who 
experienced completely inquiry-based instruction at other 
institutions, leading us to posit a continuum of increasing 
effectiveness for increasing amounts of inquiry engagement. 
1
Lillian C. McDermott, Physics by Inquiry (Wiley, New York, 1996), Vol.1, 
pp. 3–42; Vol. 2, pp. 383–418 and 639–669.
2
(a) Lillian C. McDermott and Peter S. Shaffer, ‘‘Research as a guide for 
curriculum development: An example from introductory electricity. Part I: 
Investigation of student understanding,’’ Am. J. Phys. 60 (11), 1003–1013 
(1992); (b) ibid., “Part II: Design of instructional strategies,’’ 1003–1013.
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Summary: Wells, et al.
28 
Teacher Education in Physics