Open Inquiry based learning experiences to understand the Nature of Science

In this paper we address the question of the efficacy of an inquiry-based learning approach, with different levels of teacher’s guidance, to introduce the students to fundamental aspects of the Nature of Science (NoS). Explicit pedagogical approaches, in which specific instruction on the topic of NoS is provided in addition to the engagement in scientific inquiry, are generally considered more effective with respect to implicit methods, where NoS conceptions are expected to develop as a natural consequence of inquiry-based learning experiences alone. In our study, we further explore the connections between scientific inquiry and implicit development of NoS conceptions, by investigating the efficacy of different kinds of inquiry approaches. Our findings confirm limited gains in developing NoS views by following a guided inquiry approach and suggest a more efficient NoS instruction by applying integrated open-inquiry-based teaching strategies