An analysis of the actual processes of physicists' research and the implications for teaching scientific inquiry in school

• Published in: Research in science education (Australasian Science Education Research Association) Vol. 39; no. 1; pp. 111 - 129
• Main Authors: Park, Jongwon, Jang, Kyoung-Ae, Kim, Ikgyun
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 01-01-2009; Springer
• Subjects: Education; Experimenter characteristics; Inquiry; Interviews; Motivation; Physics; Research Methodology; Research Skills; Research Utilization; Researchers; Science Education; Science Instruction; Science teaching; Scientific attitudes; Scientific Research; Scientists; Teaching Methods; Scientific inquiry; Research results; Inquiry process skills; Physicists’ research; Research motivation
• ISSN: 0157-244X; 1573-1898
• DOI: 10.1007/s11165-008-9079-8

Investigation of scientists' actual processes of conducting research can provide more realistic aspects of scientific inquiry. This study was performed to identify three aspects of scientists' actual research: their motivations for scientific inquiry, the scientific inquiry skills they used, and the main types of results obtained from their research. To do this, the authors interviewed six prominent physicists about why and how they researched and what they obtained from their research results. They also analysed their published papers. In the previous part of this study, types and features of the physicists' research motivations were identified. In this article, as the second part of the study, it was found: (1) Various inquiry skills including theoretical as well as experimental research skills and the social skills of scientific inquiry were used in physicists' research. (2) New inventions, articulation of, and falsification of the previous findings were regarded as important research results. (3) Physicists' research processes were often non-linear and cyclical. For each of these findings, implications for teaching scientific inquiry in schools were developed. Finally, the authors propose a model of scientific inquiry process consisting of research motives, scientific inquiry skills, and results of inquiry. [Author abstract, ed]