Effects of explicit instruction on the acquisition of students’ science inquiry skills in grades 5 and 6 of primary education

In most primary science classes, students are taught science inquiry skills by way of learning by doing. Research shows that explicit instruction may be more effective. The aim of this study is to investigate the effects of explicit instruction in an inquiry-based learning setting on the acquisition of inquiry skills for students in primary education. Participants included 705 Dutch 5th and 6th graders (aged 10-13 years). Students in an explicit instruction condition received an 8-week intervention of explicit instruction on inquiry skills. In the lessons of the implicit condition, all aspects of explicit instruction were absent. Students in the baseline condition followed their regular science curriculum. In a quasi-experimental pretest-posttest design, two paper-and-pencil tests and three performance assessments were used to examine the acquisition and transfer of inquiry skills. Additionally, questionnaires were used to measure metacognitive skills. Results of a multi-level analysis controlling for pre-tests, general cognitive ability, age, gender and grade-level indicated that explicit instruction facilitates the acquisition of science skills. Even though the paper-and-pencil test shows no effect, the scores on the performance assessment with a topic familiar to students show that students in both intervention conditions have significantly higher scores than students in the baseline condition. When skills are measured by means of a performance assessment with an unfamiliar topic, only students in the explicit condition outperform students of both the implicit and baseline condition. Therefore, this study provides a strong argument for including an explicit teaching method for developing inquiry skills in primary science education.