Teaching science: research as a pedagogical strategy

Abstract

This article is part of a group of recent studies on the use of Research as a Pedagogical Strategy (Investigación como Estrategia Pedagógica - IEP) for knowledge production and it is in line with skill-based education and constructivist learning theories. The goal is to establish if specific scientific skills of tenth-grade students of secondary education improve after applying IEP to the subject of chemistry. The participants were students from a public rural educational institution in Norte de Santander, Colombia. A quasi-experimental method enabled to measure the level of three scientific skills (understanding and using scientific knowledge, explaining phenomena, and inquiring) before and after the strategy was applied. Subsequently, statistically significant differences found in the comparison of measurements led to conclude that IEP develops said skills.

Keywords

• Science teaching
• teaching strategy
• explanation of phenomena
• inquiry
• understanding and using scientific knowledge