Abstracts - Earli

the students in order to let them discover physics principles on their own, instead of seeing themsimply as receptive learners.The role of content in inquiry-based science lessons: An analysis of beliefs and enactment amongtwo samples of US teachersErin Furtak, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin, GermanyAlicia Alonzo, University of Iowa, USAThe TIMSS Video Study found that 8th grade science lessons in the US typically involve "avariety of activities that may engage students in doing science work, with less focus on connectingthese activities to the development of science content ideas" (Roth et al., 2006, p. 21). Our priorwork (Alonzo, 2002; Furtak, 2006) indicates that teachers’ views of inquiry are often inconsistentwith accepted definitions and that these views may interfere with students’ acquisition of sciencecontent knowledge. We hypothesize that a possible explanation for the TIMSS Video Study resultsmay be interpretations of inquiry-based teaching by US teachers that exclude responsibility forhelping students to develop conceptual understanding from their role. This paper presents theresults of an analysis of two small datasets, in which we explored science teachers’ beliefs aboutthe role of content in inquiry-based teaching, and looked at evidence for how these beliefs werecarried out in their classroom instruction. Our findings indicate that teachers who interpretscientific inquiry teaching as ‘withholding answers’ are more likely to de-emphasize content ininquiry-based lessons. This result seems supported by the often accompanying view that what isimportant for inquiry is the use of hands-on materials because students will learn from thematerials, rather than any active involvement on the part of the teacher.Opportunities for scientific inquiry in German Physics Classrooms – A case-based analysisMareike Kobarg, IPN - Leibniz-Institute for Science Education, GermanyTina Seidel, IPN - Leibniz-Institute for Science Education, GermanyManfred Prenzel, IPN - Leibniz-Institute for Science Education, GermanyStudents all over the world are required to gain a basic level of scientific literacy to participate inthe fast changing societies they live in. International science educators emphasize the role ofopportunities for scientific inquiry in the classroom with regard to its possible benefits forstudents’ development of scientific literacy. Results from the TIMS 1999 Science Video Studyindicate that scientific inquiry only plays a minor role in international science classrooms. In theIPN Video Study in physics instruction the approach of the TIMS Video Studies was enriched byfurther in depth analysis of teacher-student-interactions. Challenging teacher questions andexperimental seatwork phases that provide students with choices are considered opportunities forscientific inquiry in this study. Since aggregated data from the IPN Video Study indicate a lack ofopportunities for scientific inquiry, case-based analyses are used to supplement these findings.Even though challenging questions are seldom in German physics classrooms, the case analysesgive insights into the different use of those questions by different teachers. Choices for studentswork in experimental seatwork phases are scarce in the investigated classes. If the teachers providechoices for students the case analysis display different strategies of scaffolding the scientificinquiry initiated through those choices. To summarize the in depth analyses show that the sheerappearance of certain aspects that could provide opportunities for scientific inquiry does notguarantee the students engagement in scientific inquiry, but the role of those opportunities in thecourse of a lesson has to be taken into consideration.– 148 –