The effective presentation of inquiry-based classroom experiments using teaching strategies that employ video and demonstration methods

Abstract

This study was conducted in the light of the philosophical framework of inquiry-based science education. The research involved the presentation of experiments on basic science concepts that have been tested for validity through inquiry-based processes. The experiments were formulated firstly todetermine what differences there would be in student academic achievement and in their attitudes toward the school subject of Science and Technology when the experiments were introduced by demonstration or in a video. Anotherpurpose of the study was to create technology-supported teaching materials to enrich the learning environment. The participants in the research were second-year preservice teachers (N=149) who were students in classroom teaching. The study was of a quasi-experimental design and made use of a pretest, post-test and permanency test with a control group. The results then being merged with the observation notes of the researchers. The study set forththe strong and weak aspects of both teaching strategies and concluded that using both methods to complement each other would be effective in teaching and would also constitute an alternative to the teaching materials and strategies used in schools with scarce resources. © 2013 Australasian Journal of Educational Technology.