Abstract Despite the importance of scientific inquiry in science education, researchers and educators disagree considerably regarding what features define this instructional approach. While a large body of literature addresses theoretical considerations, numerous empirical studies investigate scientific inquiry on quite different levels of detail and also on different theoretical grounds. Here, only little systematic research has analysed the different conceptualisations and usages of the overarching construct of scientific inquiry in detail. To close this gap, a review of the research literature on scientific inquiry was conducted based on a widespread approach to defining scientific inquiry as activities that students engage in. The main goal is to provide a systematic overview about the range and spectrum of definitions and operationalisations used with regard to single activities of the inquiry process in empirical studies. The findings from the review first and foremost illustrate the variability in the ways these activities have been operationalised and implemented. For each activity, studies differ significantly not only with respect to the focus, explicitness and comprehensiveness of their operationalisations but also with regard to the consistency of their implementation in the form of instructional or interventional components in the study and/or in the focus of the assessment of student performance. This has significant implications regarding the validity and comparability of results obtained in different studies, e.g. in the context of discussions concerning the effectiveness of inquiry-based instruction. In addition, the interrelation between scientific inquiry, scientific knowledge and the nature of science seems to be underexplored. The conclusions make the case for further theoretical work as well as empirical research.

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寻找共同点——科学探究活动实证研究的文献综述

摘要 尽管科学探究在科学教育中很重要，但研究人员和教育工作者在定义这种教学方法的特征方面存在很大分歧。虽然大量文献涉及理论考虑，但许多实证研究在不同的细节水平和不同的理论基础上调查了科学探究。在这里，只有很少的系统研究详细分析了科学探究总体结构的不同概念和用法。为了弥补这一差距，基于将科学探究定义为学生参与的活动的广泛方法，对科学探究的研究文献进行了审查。主要目标是对实证研究中探究过程的单个活动所使用的定义和操作的范围和范围提供系统的概述。审查结果首先说明了这些活动的运作和实施方式的可变性。对于每项活动，研究不仅在其操作性的重点、明确性和全面性方面存在显着差异，而且在其实施的一致性方面也存在显着差异。对学生表现的评估。这对不同研究中获得的结果的有效性和可比性具有重要意义，例如 在关于探究式教学有效性的讨论中。此外，科学探究、科学知识和科学本质之间的相互关系似乎没有得到充分探索。这些结论为进一步的理论工作和实证研究奠定了基础。