Does scaffolding help to improve the open inquiry experience for chemistry students?

Abstract

New curricula seem to be placing a greater emphasis on inquiry laboratory work in the high school sciences. This study looked at how scaffolding guided inquiry chemistry experiments affected the students' ability to conduct an open inquiry experiment. The two guided inquiry labs used for the scaffolding focused on developing different design and analysis skills. Analysis of laboratory reports, observations, surveys and interviews were performed. The results showed a general improvement in terms of confidence, analysis ability, and ability to design an inquiry lab.