Creating a community of inquiry in the science classroom: an effective pedagogy for teaching diverse students?

ABSTRACT

Prior knowledge of and interest in subject matter are recognised as important factors influencing students’ academic achievement and the quality of their learning experience. Teaching students who are diverse in terms of their prior knowledge of and interest in the subject matter is an oft-cited challenge in science general education courses. The present study examined the effectiveness of creating an interactive and collaborative learning community in a science course composed of such students. The lessons design of the course was based on the community of inquiry framework. Survey data from 769 students suggested that students from all faculties made significant, self-perceived, gains in generic skills, the affective domain and the cognitive domain. Also, a similar number of students showed perceived improvement on the outcomes among different faculties. On the other hand, the course grade point analysis showed that there is no significant difference among students from different faculties, which indicated that they have comparable attainment in terms of intended learning outcomes (ILOs) from the teachers’ perspective. The research findings revealed that the suggested pedagogy could be an effective option for science general education courses that enrol students with diverse levels of prior knowledge and interest.

KEYWORDS:

• general education
• community of inquiry
• science education
• assessments
• learning outcomes

Acknowledgements

For conducting the entry and exit surveys and data analysis, we are indebted to our colleagues in the Office of University General Education in the Chinese University of Hong Kong, including Professor LEUNG Mei-Yee, Dr WONG Wing-Hung, Ms WONG Carina and Miss LAI Ann.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Derek Hang-Cheong Cheung

Dr. Derek Hang-Cheong Cheung received the PhD degree from The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) in Biochemistry in 2012. He was then appointed as the Lecturer in the Office of University General Education in CUHK. He is responsible to teach a compulsory science general education course – In Dialogue with Nature.

Andy Ka-Leung Ng

Dr. Andy Ka-Leung Ng teaches a compulsory general education foundation course “In Dialogue with Nature” in The Chinese University of Hong Kong. The course uses science core texts to engage students to reflect on perennial issues of human. Before entering the field of general education, Andy was a protein scientist, researching on the structure-function relationship of influenza virus proteins.

Kai-Ming Kiang

Dr. Kai-Ming Kiang received his PhD degree on Mechatronics Engineering from the University of New South Wales, Australia in 2007. He is currently a lecturer of the Chinese University of Hong Kong and his research interest includes science education and machine learning. He also worked as an engineer before his academic career.

Henry Hin-Yan Chan

Mr. Henry Hin-Yan Chan was appointed as Research Assistant in the Office of University General Education of The Chinese University of Hong Kong in 2015. He is responsible for data input and involved in data analysis process.