APPLICATION OF INQUIRY-BASED INSTRUCTION IN THE INITIAL SCIENCE TEACHING

Inquiry-based instruction is very important for the development of the pupils’ research skills and for easier acquiring of scientific contents. This type of teaching allows the gradual inclusion of pupils in an active learning process that leads to the development and understanding of scientific contents by asking questions and through data analysis and critical thinking. This paper presents the results of the tests of the efficacy of the model of inquiry teaching in the realization of physics contents in the initial teaching of natural sciences. The sample consisted of 112 fourth grade pupils (56 pupils in the experimental group and 56 pupils in the control group) from two elementary schools in Sombor (Serbia). The initial, the final and the repeated knowledge tests are used to measure the quality of knowledge of physics contents. Descriptive, causal and comparative methods were used for results processing. Research results analysis showed that by the use of the model of inquiry teaching higher quality of knowledge was achieved compared to the traditional approaches in the initial teaching of natural sciences.