Elevers refleksjoner over naturvitenskapens egenart

This paper reports from a study where a teacher and researchers collaborated on designing science teaching promoting scientific inquiry for a group of students (age 11 – 13). Guided by the Norwegian science curriculum, students were during a two year intervention period regularly engaged in inquiry-based science learning. The students formed and tested hypotheses, were to various degrees engaged in developing research design and took extensively part in evaluation of evidence. In connection with each inquiry task, students were encouraged to express their ideas about professional or formal science emphasized in the Norwegian science curriculum (Why do scientists form and test hypothesis? What characterize scientific inquiry? Why do scientists compare results?). Data (video recordings of classroom instructions and interviews in addition to written tests) from four students were collected during a two year period. Results indicate that the students’ epistemological beliefs remained fairly naïve through the intervention period, in spite of intensive participation in inquiry learning. The students’ lack of epistemological development may be understood in terms of the instructional emphasis on formal epistemology, in favor of practical epistemology.