Effectiveness of Guided Inquiry Based Laboratory Instruction on Prospective Science Teachers’ Procedural and Conceptual Understandings

The purpose of this study was to interrogate the effectiveness of open guided inquiry laboratory approach on prospective science teachers’ procedural and conceptual understanding of direct current circuits. The study was realized during the first year of teacher training program with participation of eight prospective science teachers (PST). Laboratory reports and observations notes were used as data collection instruments. The analysis, based on two fold effectiveness model considers what students do and achieve compared to what their teacher intended them to do and achieve. Inquiry based lab instruction was seen to be effective for nearly all PSTs in contributing to procedural understanding and conceptual understanding of a single loop circuit but not especially of a two-loop circuit containing resistors in parallel. It seems that activities in the domains of procedural and conceptual were improved depending on each other. Unavoidable scaffolding such as supplying experimental hardware and giving some hints by the lecturer during lab work contributed with varying amounts to the flow of activities and to learning outcomes from PSTs.