Impacts of an Inquiry Teaching Method on Earth Science Students’ Learning Outcomes and Attitudes at the Secondary School Level

This paper summarizes two companion studies that were designed to investigate the impacts of an inquiry teaching method on Earth science students’ achievement and attitudes toward Earth science in secondary schools. Subjects were 557 Earth science students (9th grade) enrolled in 14 Earth science classes. Two Earth science units including topics of astronomy and meteorology were developed and taught using the inquiry-oriented instructional model. The experimental group (n=284) received inquiryoriented instruction while the control group (n=273) received a more traditional approach over an eightweek period. The dependent variables were measured through the use of (1) the Earth Science Achievement Test to assess Earth science students’ achievement and (2) the Attitudes toward Earth Science Inventory to measure students’ attitudes toward Earth science. Quantitative data were collected on students’ preand post-treatment achievement and attitudes toward Earth science measures. Analysis of covariance revealed that (a) the inquiry-oriented instructional method produced significantly greater achievement among ninth grade Earth science students than the conventional teaching approach on both astronomy content (F=9.45, p<0.01) and meteorology content (F=8.41, p<0.01), and that (b) students in the experimental group developed significantly more positive attitudes toward Earth science than did those in the control group (F=9.07, p<0.01). In light of these two studies, it is therefore suggested that students can learn Earth science through the inquiry approach. In addition, these findings support the notion that effective instruction of Earth science, such as using inquiry-oriented instruction, should be proposed and implemented in secondary schools.