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Preservice science teachers described several roadblocks in inquiry teaching during their student teaching interview. These themes emerged from questions regarding prospective teachers’ abilities to implement inquiry in their student teaching classrooms.
Themes of Perceived Roadblocks to Inquiry
1. Inquiry is difficult to understand and is still confusing.
2. Classroom management is difficult.
3. Inquiry uses a lot of time at the expense of not covering as many concepts.
4. Inquiry is mainly process and very little content so it's better for younger students.
5. Inquiry is not rigorous.
6. Materials can be expensive or difficult to find.
7. It takes more effort to create an inquiry lesson.
8. Assessment of inquiry learning is difficult.
9. Some concepts cannot be taught using an inquiry approach.
All 11 preservice teachers interviewed were able to explain that inquiry in the science classroom involved students asking questions and the creation of investigations to try to answer those questions. Therefore, they all had a general understanding of inquiry. Even though this was the case, some still felt unsure about their understandings.
Preservice teachers also felt it was more difficult to manage inquiry lessons than other types of lessons. One student said, “Trying to provide some structure yet still being able to call it inquiry is my difficulty.” Classroom management is almost always an issue for student teachers and therefore this was not an unexpected finding.
Preservice teachers reported that the mentor teacher influenced their ideas about the plausibility of teaching using inquiry