Inquiry-based learning as an approach to realize inclusive science education

Research output: Contributions to collected editions/worksChapterpeer-review

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Meeting the requirements of an increasingly scientific and technological world, science education needs to promote scientific literacy for all learners. To achieve this goal, science teachers are asked to acknowledge their students’ diversity and respond to their individual resources to subsequently enable them to participate in science-specific teaching-learning processes. Thus, contemporary teaching is not about adapting students to academic requirements but about implementing flexible instructional approaches that allow for participation in science learning. This means analysing barriers to the learning object and creating accessible and adaptive learning environments in the sense of inclusive science education. Inquiry-based learning (IBL) is a multifaceted instructional approach that is considered appropriate for meeting these demands. In this chapter, we explore how IBL as an adaptive teaching approach can help make science education more inclusive and thereby foster scientific literacy for all learners. Referring to research projects from both schools and universities in Germany, we briefly present selected studies and summarize their main findings and implications. Finally, we formulate some desiderata for future projects.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationInnovative Teaching and Classroom Processes : Research Perspectives from Germany and China
EditorsTimo Ehmke, John Chi-Kin Lee
Number of pages14
PublisherTaylor and Francis Inc.
Publication date29.05.2025
Pages74-87
ISBN (print)9781032565521
ISBN (electronic)9781040345597, 9781003436065
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 29.05.2025

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2025 selection and editorial matter, Timo Ehmke and John Chi-Kin Lee; individual chapters, the contributors.

DOI