Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
Journal of Science Education and Technology, cilt.35, 2026 (SCI-Expanded, SSCI, Scopus)
There is an on-going hot debate between the supporters of inquiry learning and those advocating direct instruction in science. How to teach science better is not an easy question to answer. In the current quasi-experimental study, the effects of an inquiry-based computerized learning environment and regular classroom-based instruction on seventh-grade students’ conceptual knowledge of optics, motivation for learning science, and improving students’ inquiry skills, especially in the experimental group who participated in inquiry-based learning via virtual experiments, were compared. The participants were 156 seventh-grade students from five public schools, distributed across 10 different seventh-grade classes. In the experimental group, students engaged in an inquiry-based learning approach, with all objectives taught through inquiry and experimentation using simulations and online scaffolding tools in a technology-supported virtual learning environment. In contrast, the control group received more direct instruction, with limited experimentation incorporated into lessons. Technology use in the control group was limited to smartboards, while students in the experimental group utilized a computer-based learning environment with simulations and scaffolding tools for all lessons. Quantitative and qualitative data-gathering tools were used. The results indicated that the students in the computer-based learning environments showed significantly better outcomes than their counterparts in regular classroom environments in terms of conceptual understanding, motivation for learning science, and inquiry skills. Moreover, students who learned in computer-based learning environments still had misconceptions about optics at the end of the study. The findings offer substantial insights into how these instructional approaches influence different facets of students’ learning experiences.