The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of inquiry-based instruction on 8(superscript th) graders' perceptions of their teachers' communication behavior in the physical science classes. A total of 295 8th graders participated in the study. The experimental group included five classes (n=155) who were taught with three units of nested-based inquiry instruction for three months. In the control group, teachers used the textbook to teach five classes of students (n=140). The ”Teacher Communication Behavior Questionnaire” was implemented in both groups before the study and again three months later to collect students' perceptions about the climate of classroom environments. Results showed, the nested-based inquiry instruction could significantly increase students' perceptions of teachers' communication behaviors (p<.001). However, the nested-based inquiry instruction showed significantly higher gain scores (p<.001) than textbook-based instruction, especially in the scales of ”Challenging Questioning (CQ),”, ”Encouragement and Praise (EP), ”Non-verbal Supportive (NVS),” and ”Controlling and Management (CM).” However, the scales of ”Understanding and Friendly (UF)” showed no difference. Four scales dominated students' perceptions of the classroom climate about inquiry-based instruction; these were EP, CM, HQ, and NVS (explained the variances over 5%). Among four scales, the HQ scale related to the Personal Development Dimension; EP and NVS scales related the Relationship Dimension and CM scale related the System Management and Change Dimension. Finally, it was found that personal development, relationships, and system management and change of the psychosocial factors have been improved by nested inquiry-based instruction.
The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of inquiry-based instruction on 8(superscript th) graders' perceptions of their teachers' communication behavior in the physical science classes. A total of 295 8th graders participated in the study. The experimental group included five classes (n=155) who were taught with three units of nested-based inquiry instruction for three months. In the control group, teachers used the textbook to teach five classes of students (n=140). The ”Teacher Communication Behavior Questionnaire” was implemented in both groups before the study and again three months later to collect students' perceptions about the climate of classroom environments. Results showed, the nested-based inquiry instruction could significantly increase students' perceptions of teachers' communication behaviors (p<.001). However, the nested-based inquiry instruction showed significantly higher gain scores (p<.001) than textbook-based instruction, especially in the scales of ”Challenging Questioning (CQ),”, ”Encouragement and Praise (EP), ”Non-verbal Supportive (NVS),” and ”Controlling and Management (CM).” However, the scales of ”Understanding and Friendly (UF)” showed no difference. Four scales dominated students' perceptions of the classroom climate about inquiry-based instruction; these were EP, CM, HQ, and NVS (explained the variances over 5%). Among four scales, the HQ scale related to the Personal Development Dimension; EP and NVS scales related the Relationship Dimension and CM scale related the System Management and Change Dimension. Finally, it was found that personal development, relationships, and system management and change of the psychosocial factors have been improved by nested inquiry-based instruction.