An investigation of the development of inquiry skills in Biology students through collaborative work

Abstract

This qualitative case study, explored the development of inquiry skills in Biology students, the students’ ability to apply these skills was then observed whilst they were carrying out inquiry based laboratory investigations. These tasks were completed in collaborative groups. The aims of this research were: (i) to investigate whether fifteen year old Biology students would be able to apply learnt problem solving inquiry skills to a problem solving task whilst still learning topic content; and (ii) to explore to what extent fifteen year old Biology students work collaboratively when dealing with inquiry tasks. The participants of this study were a class of ten Form 5 male Biology students. The data were collected during the 2013-2014 scholastic year. The inquiry skills lessons took place over three weeks, and the actual implementation of the IBL lessons through the topic of ‘Soil and Agriculture’ took place over another three weeks. The main data sources included teacher observation (which included field notes taken on site and later elaborated into reflections), focus group sessions with the collaborative groups, individual interviews, students’ work written whilst working in groups and individually, an end of topic test and an inquiry task six months after the investigations. The research findings indicate that inquiry skills lessons benefitted most students as they could apply them to an inquiry task both within a collaborative group and individually. Six months later, most students remembered the inquiry skills and were able to apply them to the task given. Students of all abilities experienced success through an IBL pedagogy. Apart from gaining inquiry skills the students also succeeded in collaborating with their peers. From my observations I could conclude that collaboration was only achieved when each student contributed to the group and felt that they were respected and accepted within their group.