Movies in chemistry education

This study reports an action research conducted in a private school in Karachi. The purpose of the study was to understand the implementation of inquiry approach to teaching physics in a classroom at the secondary level. The research was guided by the main question ‘How can I implement inquiry teaching strategies in a physics classroom at secondary level in a private school in Karachi?’ For this purpose Wenning’s (2005) ‘hypothetical inquiry strategy’ was adapted. To understand the inquiry process, Kemmis and McTaggart’s spiral model of action research was employed. I used the qualitative approach to collect the data. The main tools for data collection included personal reflections, semi-structured interviews, observations and document analysis as well as informal talks with a critical friend.

In this study, I played a dual role; as a researcher as well as a classroom teacher. During the study the physics teacher in the classroom helped to observe my teaching and to monitor some of the groups at different stages during inquiry teaching. There were thirty students in grade IX who participated in the study. Their major role was to learn physics concepts through inquiry strategy, where they performed and observed hands-on activities, developed hypothesis, created and conducted experimented to give empirical evidence to their hypothesis and defended it by presenting their findings to the classmates.

The study was conducted by implementing three action cycles (a total of nine lessons) where each learning cycle consisted of three lessons. The main finding of the study reveals that teaching physics through inquiry strategy in a Pakistani secondary school context was challenging but possible. Besides some facilitating factors, there were challenges and constraints ranging from content specific issues such as teaching and learning abstract ideas in physics to problems and challenges of general classroom management and the motivation of students towards inquiry. Implications for different stakeholders are discussed followed by recommendations for further study.