LAUSR

In the US National Science Education Standards (NSES) document (National Research Council 1996), scientific inquiry activities describe the processes or methods used by researchers. In other words, understanding how science works and how new information is generated through research process. The idea of inquiry has a long history in the teaching of science. Attempts to engage students in inquiry-based teaching can be traced back to Dewey (Demir & Abell-2010). Dewey (1910) pointed out that the development of thinking and reasoning, the formation of thinking habits, the study of scientific subjects, and the understanding of the process of science research were the goals of inquiry-based science instruction. His ideas on teaching by large themes is mainly about problem solving. Dewey believed that the process of solving problems by scientists is essentially a process of trying to reach a rational decision and propose the problem-based teaching method in order to cultivate students’ thinking ability. Inquiry is divided into teaching by inquiry, learning by inquiry, and science research by inquiry (NRC, 1996). DeBoer (2004) explained that there are many purposes for students to participate in scientific inquiry, including: (a) students’ motivation, (b) preparation of future scientists, and (c) training citizens to become independent thinkers. Inquiry learning was described as generally related to increased involvement of the students (Welch, Klopfer, Aikenhead, & Robinson, 1981). For instance, students studying through inquiry activities are responsible for formulating their own answers to questions, rather than relying solely on teachers and textbooks. Inquiry is not only a learning goal, but also a teaching method. The goal of inquiry learning includes inquiry ability and understanding of inquiry. The view of classroom inquiry is based on the understanding of scientific practice (Anderson, 2002). A large number of educational researchers have investigated the role of laboratories in physics education. This is because having students participate in science lab activities brings many benefits (Tores, Milicic, Soto, & Sanjosé, 2013). However, science researchers have realized the limitations of traditional Wei-Zhao Shi Peking University, China University of Science and Technology Liaoning, China Liping Ma Peking University, China Jingying Wang Beijing Normal University, China Abstract. Students’ epistemologies of experimental physics refer to how they understand the role of experimentation as well as the experimental operation and design and communication of results in physics. This research aimed to find whether students in inquiry-based physics laboratory activities show more expert-like epistemologies of experimental physics and better course performance relative to courses using cookbook guided laboratory activities. The participants consisted of two classes of students in a Chinese university. They were divided into control group and experimental group. The experimental group was taught with inquiry-based teaching, while the control group was using cookbook teaching. Each group was taught by the same lecturer. Colorado Learning Attitudes about Science Survey for Experimental Physics were used to investigate students’ epistemologies about the nature of experimental physics. It was found that students in a traditional cookbook guided laboratory showed significant negative shifts on personal epistemologies, and in contrast, students’ epistemologies of experimental physics in inquiry-based laboratory had been significantly improved. The increase of scores in the control group was higher than the experiment group on experimental physics learning performance. The results were slightly different from other studies, some possible explanations were given.