Using a Guided Inquiry and Modeling Instructional Framework (EIMA) to Support Pre-Service K-8 Science Teaching

This paper presents results from a study investigating the effect of a guided inquiry and modeling instructional framework and accompanying science methods instruction on preservice elementary teacher’s science pedagogy skills and teaching orientations. Analysis of pre-service teacher’s pre-post tests, classroom artifacts, peer interviews, and lesson plans throughout the semester, indicates the framework successfully built on student teachers’ prior instructional ideas, and that the majority of students learned and used the framework in their lesson plans and teaching. Most importantly, the framework and accompanying instruction enabled two thirds of the class to move their teaching orientations away from discovery or didactic approaches towards conceptual change, inquiry, and guided inquiry approaches. Additionally, analysis of pre-post test differences indicates a significant increase in post-test lesson plans that focused on engaging students in scientific inquiry and modeling.