The Effect of Using Questioning Strategies in Scientific Inquiry Videos on Elementary Students

The study examines the effects of different questioning strategies on elementary school students regarding scientific knowledge, views of scientific inquiry, and scientific inquiry skills during scientific inquiry video learning. A quasi-experimental design was adopted involving 78 sixth-grade Taiwanese students from three classes. The three classes were randomly assigned into three groups: instructional video with embedded open-ended questions (G1), video with embedded closed-ended questions (G2), and video only (G3). All students were required to watch three scientific inquiry videos on different topics having already taken pretests and posttests on scientific knowledge, view of scientific inquiry, and scientific inquiry skills. The data suggested that G1 and G3 had significantly better performance regarding higher-level knowledge and views on scientific interpretation than did G2, with G1 displaying the best data interpretation skills. The study implies that open-ended questioning is better than the closed-ended approach, although neither is better or worse than having no questions at all in its videos. This study should, therefore, be of value to those interested in developing or implementing science videos for elementary students.