Analysis of Inquiry-based Activities in the Various Forces Unit of Middle School Science Textbooks

중학교 과학교과서 여러 가지 힘 단원의 탐구 활동 분석

The 2015 revised national curriculum aims to promote students’ inquiry capability through school education. An integrated understanding of the inquiry-based activities is necessary to strengthen science process skills and practices. The main purpose of this study was to analyze the inquiry-based activities used in the Various Forces Unit of five 1st grade middle school science textbooks in terms of science process skills and science practices. For this purpose, an analytical framework was developed by identifying sub-elements of science process skills and science practices. Based on the analysis framework, we analyzed goals, processes of finding the answer to the question, experimental steps and predicate in questions of the inquiry activity. The results are as follows: 1) Various science process skills and science practices were used in one inquiry activity. 2) Science process skills and science practices used even in the same textbook were different depending on the inquiry-based activities. 3) There was a difference in the ratio of science process skills and science practices for each textbook. In addition, it was found that different science process skills and science practices were used in each textbook, even if the subject of the inquiry activity was the same. Therefore, the results of this study could contribute to provide information on the learning opportunities presented to the students and to anticipate whether they can develop the expected science inquiry abilities.