dc.description.abstract |
The purpose of this study was to evaluate the role Inquiry-Based Learning (IBL) sequence delivered
as Guided –Inquiry (GI) pedagogy for conceptual understanding of eighth-grade students in the
concept of heat, in comparison with the Conventional Instruction (CI). A quasi-experimental pre/post-test
design involves two groups, experimental and control groups were employed in this study.
The sample students in the experimental and control groups were from the New Testament Christian
Primary School (NTCPS) in Juba City, Central Equatorial State (CES)-South Sudan. These classes
were taught by researcher at different time interval during the intervention period. There were 20 and
15 students in experimental and control group respectively. Guided inquiry pedagogical strategy
which was designed with 5E instructional model employed for the experimental group students.
Conventional instruction which was accompanied by more of traditional lecturing, except seldom
question and answer, was applied for control group students. The two types of instructions run for
almost two weeks, including the tutorial time. Open-ended conceptual test questions on the
elementary heat concepts were applied to collect data before and after instructions. Furthermore
interviews were conducted to selected students to obtain an in-depth understanding of the elementary
heat conceptions held by the elementary eight grade students.
The conceptual test scores were analyzed quantitatively using SPSS version 24 in order to calculate
some relevance parameters of the data such as mean, standard deviation and variance.The findings of
the study indicated that students were having little conceptions of heat concepts before instructions
and have their conceptual knowledge improve after instructions in both experimental and control
group as per the results of the analysis. The eighth grade pupils’ have much conception held by them
after learning using conventional instruction on the concepts of elementary heat. The results also
shows that the students who were taught using guided –inquiry have little conceptions of elementary
heat and better in terms of their conceptual knowledge and misconceptions change in heat as better
than before instruction. The results of the analysis indicated that guided-inquiry strategy was better
than the conventional instruction and this is reflected in the computation of means using independent
t-test in SSPS software.
The interview data was analyses qualitatively as supplement to find out their feedback from both
groups and it was incorporated in the general analysis of the data of post-test in both groups.
The finding documented in this study provides evidence to generalize the effectiveness of guided
inquiry pedagogical strategy for conceptual understanding of heat in elementary school contexts.
It also recommended to teachers to apply guided inquiry pedagogical strategy in teaching the concept
of heat for eighth grade students. Nevertheless, more studies in different countries, schools, school
locations, and on various types of students should be investigated to further generalize the study. |
en_US |