Effects of model-based inquiry on preservice teachers' conceptual understanding of science and representational competence

This study investigated the effect of model-based inquiry education on pre-service teachers' understanding of matter and change, representation competencies, understanding of the nature of models and metacognitive awareness. In the study, "embedded mixed-methods design" one of the "mixed research method" designs in which qualitative and quantitative research methods are simultaneously used, was adopted. In the qualitative dimension of the study, how pre-service teachers explain matter and change in model-based inquiry-based education and how their transitions between representations are; in the quantitative dimension, the effect of model-based inquiry activities on pre-service teachers' conceptual understanding of matter and change, their understanding of the nature of models, their representation competencies, and their metacognitive awareness was studied. The participants of the study consisted of 63 pre-service primary school teachers studying at a state university in Istanbul in the 2022-2023 academic year. The pre-service teachers were randomly assigned to two groups; model-based inquiry activities were applied to one group and inquiry-based activities were applied to the other group. Model-based inquiry and inquiry-based activities on matter and change were applied to the participants for 10 weeks in the spring semester. In the study, the activities on the subject of matter and change were carried out under four different headings: "The Concept of Matter", "Change of State", "Solution and Dissolution", "Chemical and Physical Change". Quantitative data were collected using the Matter and Change Conceptual Understanding Test, Matter and Change Representational Competence Test, Nature of Models Questionnaire and Metacognitive Awareness Inventory, while qualitative data were collected using student worksheets and semi-structured interviews. Quantitative data tools were administered as pre-test before the implementation and post-test after the implementation. In the analysis of the quantitative data of the study, independent and independent groups t-test from parametric tests and Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test from non-parametric tests were used. Content analysis methods were used to analyze qualitative data. There were statistically significant differences on the post-tests of "Matter and Change Conceptual Understanding Test" in both MBI and IB groups. There were statistically significant differences between pre-test and post-test scores of Matter and Change Conceptual Understanding Test in both MBI and IB groups. There were statistically significant differences on the post-tests of "Matter and Change Representation Competence Test" in both MBI and IB groups. There were statistically significant differences between pre-test and post-test scores of Matter and Change Representation Competence Test in both MBI and IB groups. There were statistically significant differences on the post-tests of "Opinions about Models in Science Questionnaire" in both MBI and IB groups. There was no statistically significant difference between pre-test and post-test scores of Opinions about Models in Science Questionnaire in both MBI and IB groups. There were statistically significant differences on the post-tests of "Metacognitive Awareness Inventory" in both MBI and IB groups. There were no significant differences between pre-test and post-test scores of Metacognitive Awareness Inventory in both MBI and IB groups. As a result of the analysis of the qualitative data, the pre-service elementary teachers with 'high' MCCUT scores developed scientific explanations about matter and change during the model-based inquiry activities. The pre-service elementary teachers with 'moderate' and 'low' MCCUT scores could not fully develop scientific explanations about matter and change during model-based inquiry activities. In model-based inquiry, it was concluded that pre-service teachers made transitions from the representation given at the macroscopic level to the sub-microscopic level, from the representation given at the macroscopic level to the macroscopic level, from the representation given at the sub-microscopic level to the submicroscopic level and from the representation given at the sub-microscopic level to the macroscopic level. It was observed that pre-service teachers with "high" achievement in MCRCT made more transitions from macroscopic to sub-microscopic level of representation about matter and its change, while pre-service teachers with "medium" and "low" achievement in MCRCT made more transitions from macroscopic to submicroscopic level of representation about matter and change.