Using Project-based Learning To Develop Junior School Students’ Literacy In Scientific Inquiry In Physics

Since the 21 st century,the development of core literacy has become an important topic of research in the field of education worldwide.As a core educational goal of basic education,the development of literacy is related to students’ lifelong learning and all-round development.With the advancement of the physics curriculum and teaching reform,the development of scientific inquiry literacy,as a bridging agent for the other three dimensions of core literacy in physics,is receiving increasing attention.Project-based learning emphasises the ability of students to work in groups to solve a series of challenging problems in real-life situations,and to enhance their independent inquiry and integrated practical skills.This paper aims to investigate the use of project-based learning to develop students’ scientific inquiry literacy in junior high school and to test the results of the educational experiment and draw conclusions.The study starts from a survey of the current situation of the level of physical science inquiry literacy among students in a junior high school in Shanxi Province,and uses a questionnaire to investigate the developmental characteristics of the students.Based on the findings,an attempt is made to apply project-based learning to junior high school physics teaching practice in order to verify its effect on scientific inquiry literacy.The thesis consists of seven chapters,going through five stages: literature study,status survey,framework construction,experimental study and data analysis.The first and second chapters review a large amount of literature,sort out the connotations of the two core concepts of project-based learning and scientific inquiry literacy,analyse the current status of research on project-based learning and scientific inquiry at home and abroad,and clarify that the research and practice of project-based learning responds to the new needs of curriculum reform,suggesting that educational and teaching researchers and front-line teachers should carefully study the theory,clarify the characteristics of project-based learning,and apply project-based learning It is recommended that educational researchers and frontline teachers should study the theory carefully,clarify the characteristics of project-based learning,and apply it to practical classroom teaching with high quality.Chapter 3 used a questionnaire to investigate the level of scientific inquiry literacy among junior high school students in the internship school.After SPSS 27.0 statistical analysis,it was found that the students’ level of scientific inquiry literacy was low in the elements of explanation and evidence.When comparing the basic information surveyed,it was found that students’ interest in learning,self-efficacy and frequency of hands-on experiments were positively correlated with their level of scientific enquiry literacy.In Chapter 4,a project-based learning design framework is developed to facilitate the development of scientific inquiry literacy based on the integration of existing project-based learning design frameworks and implementation processes.Using the content of Chapter 5 of the Physics textbook in the first volume of Grade 8 of the Humanity edition as a benchmark,the project "The Changing Convex Lens" is designed in three stages: preparation,implementation and teaching evaluation,and the teaching and learning process of the project is clarified.Homogeneous second year(I)and(II)classes were selected as the experimental and control classes to carry out experimental studies on teaching and learning in Chapters 5 and 6.Upon completion of the project,statistical analyses were conducted on the results of the post-test of the Student Scientific Inquiry Literacy Questionnaire,the results of the Teacher Classroom Observation Scale and the scores of the students on the questions related to scientific inquiry in the final test.The aim was to evaluate students’ scientific inquiry literacy from both summative and process perspectives in a holistic manner and to test the differences in the effectiveness of the two different teaching modes in enhancing scientific inquiry literacy in physics.Through the experiment,the study has come to the following conclusions: firstly,project-based learning in junior secondary physics classrooms requires a high level of overall teacher competence;secondly,project-based learning is effective in improving junior secondary students’ scientific inquiry literacy;thirdly,project-based learning can effectively increase students’ interest in learning physics subjects.