Abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of small group inquiry activities using IIM on the science process skills and scientific attitudes of students in higher elementary grades. To verify research problems, the subjects of this study were fifth-grade students selected from two classes of an elementary school located in Busan : the research group was composed of thirty students who participated in small group inquiry activities using IIM teaching model situation, and the other was composed of thirty students(comparative group) who participated in a teacher map- based learning situation. For six weeks, the small group inquiry activities using IIM were executed in the research group, while the teacher-map based instruction was conducted in the comparative group Test showed the following results: First, the research group showed a significant improvement in their science process skills compared to the comparative group. Second, the research group did not show a significant improvement in their scientific attitudes compared to the comparative group. In conclusion, small group inquiry activities using the IIM teaching model was more effective than the teacher map-based teaching model on science process skills. However, since the study has a limit on the object of the study and the applied curriculum, the additional studies need to be conducted with an extended comparative group and curriculum.

Keywords

• IIM;
• small group inquiry;
• science process skill;
• scientific attitudes