Paul J. Germann

Analysis of nine high school biology laboratory manuals: Promoting scientific inquiry

This was a descriptive study of nine high school biology laboratory manuals to determine how well they promote the basic and integrated science process skills that are involved in scientific inquiry. A total of 90 activities were selected from the reviewed manuals in 11 topic areas. These activities included two subsamples of 5 experimental and 5 descriptive exercises. The lab investigations were evaluated for science process skills using a modification of Tamir and Lunettas Laboratory Structure and Task Analysis Inventory. Results indicate that while some manuals have made efforts to include a few science process skills, they seldom call upon students to use their knowledge and experience to pose questions, solve problems, investigate natural phenomena, or construct answers or generalizations. These findings are discussed using a modification of Schwab and Herrons framework for inquiry. Suggestions are offered for modifying “cookbook” laboratories to promote student inquiry.

Identifying Patterns and Relationships among the Responses of Seventh-Grade Students to the Science Process Skill of Designing Experiments.

The development of reasoning skills, higher-level thinking skills, and science process skills are some of the benefits students can realize by participating in inquiry in the science laboratory. We used student responses to the Alternative Assessment of Science Process Skills (AASPS) developed by the Missouri Department of Education and the Department of Educational Assessment to develop the Science Process Skills Inventory (SPSI). The SPSI was then used to analyze student efforts at writing experimental designs. Our goal was to gain insight into factors that may be related to students successfully designing experiments. The instrument guides teachers and researchers in assessing seven main components of experimental designs. Each component consists of elements unique to the specific laboratory exercise. Subsequent to its development, the instrument was used to score 364 student responses to the “design an experiment” portion of an alternative assessment instrument for science process skills. Results indicate that explicit, incremental development of the science process skills of formulating hypotheses and identifying variables, together with model examples, may be a means to facilitate student success in designing science experiments. Implications for the classroom and for research are discussed.

Comparing Features of Seven High School Biology Laboratory Manuals

SCIENCE can be described as a way of knowing (Trowbridge & Bybee 1990). Science as inquiry refers to the activities that people engage in when they do science. If students are to appreciate science as a human activity and benefit from the cognitive skills that science has to offer them, they must be actively involved in doing science. The high school science laboratory should promote scientific thinking whereby a student can understand how a scientist works and thinks. Students engage in inquiry when they use their own knowledge and experience to pose questions, solve problems, investigate natural phenomena, and construct answers or generalizations. The prototype for the modes of inquiry for grades 9-12 of the national science education standards (National Committee on Science Education Standards and Assessment 1993) supports this view: