Portraits of Scientific Inquiry and Scientific Literacy Skills Development in Students

Abstract

Parental involvement generally occurs in elementary school and begins to diminish in middle school. Enlisting parental involvement in high school science is particularly challenging given parents tend to lack their own competencies in terms of scientific knowledge while simultaneously beginning to afford students increased independence. Research was conducted for employing active, meaningful constructivist-grounded parental involvement in high school science. Students participated in constructivist science learning activities with parents that utilized a facet of involvement strategies and socially supportive practices. Parents actively participated and communicated with students during science investigations via collaborative inquiry-based activities, self-assessments, and dialogue journaling. Parents and students participated in interviews, surveys, and questionnaires, as well as maintained dialogue journals for identifying themes. Triangulation of data identified the most effective strategies for involving parents in science learning and the impact of involvement on the development of student scientific inquiry and scientific literacy skills. Data indicated an increase in the development of scientific inquiry and scientific literacy skills in both parents and students, as well as student social, emotional achievement.