The effectiveness of microteaching to enhance prospective teachers’ skills in guiding inquiry through student questioning

Abstract

This study aims to analyse the effectiveness of microteaching strategies in enhancing the ability of prospective biology teachers to handle student questions to promote inquiry-based learning. The research method used a one-group pretest-posttest design involving 21 students from the Biology Education Study Program. Data were collected through microteaching assessment instruments and statistically analysed using the Paired Samples T-Test. The research results show a significant improvement (p 0.05) in all aspects of question-handling skills, including the accuracy of responding to questions (pretest: 87.19; posttest: 90), guiding students to think inquiry (85.19 to 89.43), assisting in identifying variables (87.18 to 89.43), and formulating research questions (86.62 to 89.43). The average posttest score (89.66) was higher than the pretest (87.12) with a lower standard deviation (0.56 vs 2.16), indicating consistent achievement of competence. The main constraint lies in the tendency of prospective teachers to dominate the question-and-answer sessions and the difficulty in guiding the formulation of inquiry questions. This study recommends the integration of microteaching into the biology teacher education curriculum, with an emphasis on question scaffolding techniques and systematic feedback. The implications of this research support the development of pedagogical skills in prospective biology teachers in implementing inquiry-based learning.