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FAMILY SCIENCE EDUCATION AND INQUIRY-BASED SCIENCE EDUCATION

Conference Paper · September 2013

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 FAMILY SCIENCE EDUCATION AND INQUIRY-BASED
SCIENCE EDUCATION
Eva Trnova and Josef Trna
Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic

Abstract: Science education is a very important part of culture as a knowledge background

of society. However, student interest in science education is decreasing. This negative
situation has many causes and factors, but according to researches, a very important factor
is the way of teaching in schools, which is for students uninteresting and unrelated with the
problems of everyday life. Hence it is necessary to look for innovative educational
methods to increase interest and motivation of students. The paper presents new
motivational strategy - the combination of family science education and inquiry-based
science education. Family science education is an innovative educational method in
science suitable for gifted and ungifted children and adults. Family science education is
defined as expanding science knowledge and skills from the school setting to home.
According to our findings, family science education has got a strong motivational effect.
Inquiry-based science education is an approach to teaching/learning which helps students
put materials into a meaningful context, develops critical thinking and supports positive
attitudes toward science. Inquiry-based science education has a strong motivational effect
which comes from intrinsic motivation. The combination of family science education and
inquiry-based science education has got a very strong motivational effect. We are
presenting findings of our research which confirm this statement.

Keywords: family science education, inquiry-based science education, motivation, simple

experiments

INTRODUCTION
Science education is a very important part of culture as a knowledge background of society
(European Commission, 2004; OECD, 2006). However, there has been a decrease in the
interest of students in science education in the past decades, (Sjøberg & Schreiner, 2005).
This negative situation has many causes and factors, but according to researches, a very
important factor is the way of teaching in schools, which is for students uninteresting and
unrelated with the problems of everyday life. Hence it is necessary to look for innovative
educational methods to increase interest and motivation of students (Rocard et al, 2007).
Science education goes through changes in the Czech Republic similarly to the Europe and
the USA (Osborne & Dillon, 2008). The reason of these changes is the fact that education
is even more crucial today, in the face of economic, environmental, and social challenges.
It is necessary to prepare today's children for their adult roles as citizens, employees,
managers, parents, and entrepreneurs. Therefore educators transform their opinions of the
importance of acquired skills and knowledge. This new approach includes not only
expertise and specific skills, but also knowledge and skills essential for successful
everyday and professional life and it is sometimes referred to as "learning for life and
work." Classic skills acquired in instruction are enhanced by new ones, called "twenty-first
century skills". These skills include mainly critical thinking, problem solving, cooperation,
effective communication and self-education (Pellegrino & Hilton, 2012).
An important factor of science education is student´s family. It is widely recognised and
presented in literature that if students are to maximise their potential from schooling they
will need the full support of their parents (Desforges & Abouchaar, 2003; Harris &
Goodall, 2008). Attempts to enhance parental involvement in education occupy
governments, administrators, educators and parents’ organisations in many countries
especially across North America, Australia, Asia, and Europe.
Parental involvement in education can take many forms including good parenting in the
home, including the provision of a secure and stable environment, intellectual stimulation,
parent-child discussion, good models of constructive social and educational values and
high aspirations relating to personal fulfilment and good citizenship; contact with schools
to share information; participation in school events and work of the school; and
participation in school governance (Harris & Goodall, 2008). The European Commission
(2004), for example, holds that the degree of parental participation is a significant indicator
of the quality of schooling. The research also found that while parents, teachers and
students tend to agree that parental engagement is a ‘good thing’, they also hold very
different views about the purpose of engaging parents. It is also clear that there is a major
difference between involving parents in schooling and engaging parents in learning. While
involving parents in school activities has an important social and community function, it is
only the engagement of parents in learning in the home that is most likely to result in a
positive difference to learning outcomes (Harris & Goodall, 2008).
We aim especially at the engagement of parents in learning in the home but we add a new
dimension, parents can educate themselves through their child’s education. This parental
engagement in children's learning enables the transfer of new knowledge and skills from
schools to families. This informal adult education can contribute to their lifelong learning
and also affect their relationship to science. People often refuse things they do not
understand. (Duschl et al, 2007; Osborne & Dillon, 2008; Rocard et al, 2007).

RATIONALE
Family science education (hereinafter FSE) in the above mentioned concept is an
innovative educational method in science suitable for gifted and ungifted children and
adults. FSE is defined as expanding science knowledge and skills from the school setting
to home. We found two very important roles of family education: lifelong education and
motivation for science. At the present time, science education is becoming lifelong
education. The reason is a rapidly growing number of new applications and expanding
knowledge in science. Science knowledge gained in schools does not satisfy the necessities
of a human lifetime anymore. It could be solved by the transfer of knowledge and skills
from the school setting to families. FSE could become a significant and effective part of
parents’ and grandparents’ lifelong education.
A crucial problem of contemporary science education is how to motivate students. Hence it
is not possible to omit social and achievement motivation that are formed in the social and
family environment (Bransford, 2000). Lack of student interest in science may be caused
by negative family attitudes to science. FSE could change this attitude of family and
consequently students. Students who do FSE at home have the potential to inspire their
siblings, parents and grandparents.
Inquiry based science education (hereinafter IBSE) is an approach to teaching/learning
which engages students in the investigative nature of science, helps students put materials
into a meaningful context, develops critical thinking and supports positive attitudes toward
science (Kyle, 1985; Rakow, 1986). IBSE has a strong motivational effect which comes
from intrinsic motivation. Traditional instruction is usually based on the satisfaction of
being rewarded - extrinsic motivation (Duschl et al, 2007; Osborne & Dillon, 2008; Rocard
et al, 2007).
IBSE can help to create a stimulating environment for students with different scholastic
aptitudes and reduce ability grouping at schools. Ability grouping is a very common
education policy, used in most countries at some stage of the educational process. While
the concentration of students with similar socio-demographic background is widely
considered undesirable, many systems deliberately favour the concentration of students
with similar levels of ability in schools and classrooms. These arguments have a common
goal of creating some degree of academic homogeneity within classrooms or schools.
Some researchers argue that such grouping practices are necessary to adapt curricula and
teaching practices to the specific needs of students with different levels of ability,
providing instruction at the optimal level and pace of each achievement group (Slavin,
1987; Lou et al., 1996). This education policy is used for segregation of gifted students for
example. But findings of studying the structure of peer effects (Hoxby & Weingarth, 2005)
support integration of students with different levels of ability. They have found that a
higher achieving peer is better for a student's own achievement all else being equal, but
that high achievers do appear to benefit from interacting with peers a bit below them. So
all students can develop and benefit from group cooperation during IBSE.
Both educational methods FSE and IBSE have got motivational effects. According to
motivational theories the combination of motivational methods during teaching/learning
processes leads to increasing motivation. We implemented research of these motivational
effects and we defined features of SFE and IBSE which lead to successful implementation
into education.

METHODS
The combination of FSE and IBSE initiated our research objectives: science motivation of
students and their family, lifelong education and common elements of FSE and IBSE.
Our research questions/problems are:
(1) What opinions do students have about motivational effects of FSE and IBSE?
(2) Do FSE and IBSE have effectiveness for lifelong education of parents?
(3) Is it possible to combine IBSE and FSE to upgrade the motivational effect?

Sufficient methods/tools for our three research objectives were:

(1) Questionnaire
(2) Questionnaires, observations, interviews
(3) Comparison, design-based research, action research
The above research methods were used to answer our research questions. Design-based
research (Reeves, 2006) was applied as a basic research method.

RESULTS
We looked for the answer to our first research question “What opinions do students have
about motivational effect of FSE and IBSE?” in students´ questionnaires. We applied FSE
and IBSE in their science instruction. Subsequently, we presented our questionnaires to
them and now we are introducing the partial results.
Our questionnaire (2006/2008/2009) was distributed to 100 students (aged 11 and 14) in
the Czech Republic (Trnova & Trna, 2009). We are presenting an example of the most
significant items in our questionnaire:
Question No. 1: Was it motivating for you to realize school activities with your family?
We are presenting a part of the questionnaire results (Table 1):

Table 1. Student motivation in implementing FSE and IBSE

Question No. 1 Very Motivating Fairly Somewhat Very
motivating Motivating Demotivating Demotivating
% % % % %
Students Aged
17 63 16 4 0
11 (2006)
Students Aged
15 64 18 3 0
11 (2009)
Students Aged
13 65 17 5 0
14 (2008)
Our research has shown that implementing FSE and IBSE was motivating to some extent
for almost all students and hence it can increase student motivation. We verified this
motivational effect on students of different ages using various topics.
The second research question “Do FSE and IBSE have effectiveness for lifelong education
of parents?” made us research the opinions of parents, who answered the questionnaire.
First we used FSE and IBSE in instruction. We used the measurement of flat feet as the
educational content of FSE and IBSE. The researches were carried out twice (in 2006 and
2009). One hundred students in the fourth grade in primary science lessons were taught
how to measure flat feet. Students had no homework to measure flat feet. Nevertheless,
many students spontaneously applied the measurement of flat feet to their parents and
siblings. A questionnaire was distributed to the parents of the students two weeks later.
The parents were asked to answer questions concerning the measurement of flat feet (Trna
& Trnova, 2010). The findings are presented in Table 2.

Table 2. The effectiveness of FSE and IBSE for lifelong education

Percentage of Percentage of Number of received
answers: YES answers: YES questionnaires
(2006) (2009) (2006/2009)
Do you know a simple method of
measuring flat feet?
1 68 65 75/80
Did you receive this method from
your children?
2 60 62 75/80

Have you measured your foot

using this method?
3 24 30 75/80

Have you found latent flat feet in

your family?
4 4 5 75/80

The results surprised us a lot. The research has shown that FSE and IBSE are a very
effective means for lifelong education of parents.
According to experts, the combination of motivational methods leads to increasing
motivation. But it is not possible to combine any motivational methods with this effect. We
are trying to answer our third research question “Is it possible to combine IBSE and FSE to
upgrade motivational effects?”
Using design based research, action research and comparing FSE and IBSE we have come
to features that have an amplified motivational effect. We discovered examples of these
features:
Implementation of experiments
Everyday life and safe living as an appropriate content
Emphasis on learners´ activity
 Scenario
Inquiry
Support of family
We have developed and verified specific examples of motivational combination of FSE
and IBSE. On the basis of design-based research and action research we have also
determined appropriate topics. According to our findings they are:
Health and healthcare
The environment and its protection
Safety
Energy and energy saving
Nutrition and food composition
Household care (detergents, etc.)
Transportation
The research results verify the effectiveness of FSE and IBSE for lifelong education. We
carried out next research with different students (aged 14 years) and different educational
content (tooth care etc). The results again confirmed our findings about educational and
motivational effectiveness of FSE and IBSE. According to our researches, observations
and interviews the combination of FSE and IBSE is the effective strategy for lifelong
education.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION

According to findings of our research the combination FSE and IBSE has a potential to
become a strong educational and motivational teaching/learning strategy for all students
and their families. It could be a significant and effective part of parents’ and grandparents’
lifelong education as a by-product of formal school science education. Parental
involvement in science education can interact to increase the motivation of students to
study science because the negative impact of the family on the selection of their children´s
science studies is eliminated or at least reduced. What is also important is the possibility of
individual development of students with different abilities, especially gifted students.
However, it requires additional research and especially implementation of our results into
pre-service and notably in-service science teacher training.

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