Do they have inquiry skill profiles? Exploring high school students' scientific inquiry in an animation-based activity

In this study, we aimed to characterize students' inquiry skill profiles and investigate whether students' gender, major, school location and type, and household registration are related to their inquiry skill profiles. By providing an animation-based activity, we engaged students in a scientific inquiry on the atmospheric chemistry of climate change. Students performed data analytics, control of variables, and scientific reasoning tasks, which represented essential skills in the inquiry process. After removing the invalid data and conducting the two-stage stratified sampling, we analyzed 724 11th-grade Chinese students' multiple-choice and open-ended responses. A latent profile analysis (LPA) was used to identify if there were subgroups of students' inquiry skills. χ² tests were conducted to examine whether the profiles' distribution differed in gender, major, school location, school type, and household registration. We identified four types of inquiry skill profiles among students: sophisticated, experimental, moderate, and basic, based on their skills in data analytics, scientific reasoning, and control of variables. The findings showed that school location significantly affected students' inquiry profiles, while school type, student major, and hukou had a mildly favorable impact. To sum up, the marriage of the LPA approach and the animation-based activity has illuminated not just students' different inquiry skill profiles but also the relationships these profiles have with certain demographic factors. We discussed that it is imperative to recognize these varied inquiry skill profiles and work to bridge the disparities stemming from demographic differences for a more equitable science education environment.