The Level of the Ability of Designing Inquiry Experiments by Science Student Teachers at Sultan Qaboos University: Some Variables

The study aimed at exploring science student teachers' skills
in designing inquiry experiments. The subjects of the study were 82
student teachers joining the B.Sc. and Teacher Qualification Diploma
(TQD) programs at Sultan Qaboos University. They were asked to
deign six inquiry activities using a designing form, including 14 items
each of which dealt with a different inquiry skill: questioning,
determining and controlling variables, predicting, planning for
materials, observations, measuring, procedures, trials, safety
precautions, collecting and representing data, reasoning, and
explanations. The findings showed that the student teachers'
designing level was weak, especially in controlling variables, trials,
explanations, and safety precautions. In addition, the B.Sc. students
outperformed TQD students, and biology majors outperformed
chemistry and physics majors. (