A comparison of the effects of inquiry and expository teaching approaches on pupil understanding and attitude towards biology.

Abstract

This quantitative study examined the differential effectiveness of inquiry and expository methods of instruction in terms of pupils' understanding of 'the human circulatory system and pupils' attitudes towards biology as a subject at school. The sample used in the study consisted of 64 Standard Eight Biology pupils from a Pretoria high schooL The "inquiry group" comprised 35 pupils and the "expository group' 29 pupils. The research procedure included the development of an inquiry "teaching package" dealing with the human circulatory system, designing a Test of Understanding and selecting an appropriate Attitude Towards School Biology Test. The "package" and the testing instruments were pilot tested before being used in the main study. Two research designs were used in this study. To compare the levels of pupils' understanding of the inquiry and expository groups a Posttest-only with Nonequivalent groups was used, whilst an Untreated Control Group Design with Pretest and Posttest was used for the comparison of pupils' attitudes towards biology as a school subject. An Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) revealed no significant differences in pupils' understanding of the circulatory system between the inquiry and expository groups. There were also no significant differences between the two groups in terms of pupils' understanding when comparing Higher Grade and Standard Grade pupils separately. ANCOVA revealed no significant differences between the inquiry and expository groups in pupils' attitudes towards biology as a school subject. A Chi-square test revealed that a significantly larger number of pupils in the inquiry group responded favourably to the statement "Biology is fascinating and fun". A Chi-square test, however, revealed no significant differences between the two groups in terms of responses to the statements "During Biology class, I usually am interested", and "Biology is interesting to me and I enjoy it".