Inquiry-Based Learning and Conceptual Change in Balance Beam Understanding

Inquiry-based learning has the potential to foster conceptual change, but whether it can induce an advancement in strategy use is not yet known. Such an advancement seems plausible, because conceptual change can be reflected in the use of new strategies. Whether inquiry-based learning leads to advancement in strategy use can be tested with strategy-based tests, such as the balance beam test. Distinct strategies have been proposed and identified for this test. Therefore, the present study compared response patterns on the balance beam test before and after an inquiry-based lesson. The experimental condition completed a digital inquiry-based lesson about the balance beam (n = 113), and the control condition completed a similar inquiry-based lesson but investigated a different topic (n = 44). The participants were aged 8–13 years old and were unfamiliar with the law of moments. The balance beam test (pretest and posttest) consisted of 25 items. Overall accuracy in solving balance beam problems improved after the inquiry-based lesson in the balance beam (BB) condition but not in the control condition. Classes, identified with latent transition analysis (LTA), appeared to be globally in line with previously identified strategies in the balance beam test. Condition was entered as a covariate in the LTA to identify which changes in strategy use could be attributed to the experimental intervention. First, changes from pretest to posttest were found, which supported that a change in strategy use occurred in some children. Second, there were more improvements in the BB condition, and these improvements indicated larger gains compared to the control condition. This means that in science education, it is important to map out prior knowledge and its effect on learning paths. Overall, results suggested that conceptual change could be measured as a change in strategy use and modeled with LTA to reveal that 26% of the children showed conceptual change after a single inquiry-based lesson.