The effectiveness of using hands‑on and inquiry activities during science instruction has been an important focus of academic research as well as teacher‑best‑practice research for many years. An important aspect of learning science is to do science―students learn the processes and values of science while working like a scientist. Inquiry education in science has been shown to have a significant positive relationship with achievement when students receive sufficient scaffolding to support their learning of scientific processes.
Although student‑directed inquiry activities, in which students design experiments to answer their own questions, are highly motivating for students, a variety of instructional techniques is necessary to move students progressively toward stronger understanding and, ultimately, greater independence in their science learning (O’Grady & Houme 2015).
The TIMSS 2019 questionnaires included questions specific to science instruction and pedagogy, two of which will be explored in this section. A teacher emphasis on science investigation scale was created based on the frequency (every or almost every lesson, about half the lessons, some lessons, never) that science teachers reported that they asked students to do eight instructional activities as shown in Table 3.14. The teachers’
emphasis on science investigation scale was developed with two categories: about half the lessons or more, and less than half the lessons.
526 521 512
Average score in science
Science Percentage
Table 3.14 Questionnaire items for teacher emphasis on science investigation scale In teaching science to the students in this class, how often do you ask them to do the following?
Observe natural phenomena and describe what they see Watch me demonstrate an experiment of investigation Design or plan experiments of investigations
Conduct experiments or investigations
Interpret data from experiments or investigations
Use evidence from experiments or investigations to support conclusions Do field work outside the class
In Canada overall, 17 percent of students had teachers who self‑reported emphasizing scientific investigation in about half the lessons or more, which was much lower than the average reported across countries
(31 percent). Provincial numbers range from 15 percent in Quebec to 24 percent in Alberta for this category (Figure 3.22). Only in Alberta was there a statistically significant difference between the two groups, where students who had teachers who emphasized scientific investigation in more than half the lessons scored lower in science than students whose teachers emphasized scientific investigation in less than half the lessons (Figure 3.23; Appendix B.3.18).
Figure 3.22 Percentage of students by teachers’ emphasis on science investigation scale
31 17
24 16 16 15
16
69 83
76 84 84 85
84
0 20 40 60 80 100
INT CAN AB MB ON QC NL
Percentage
About half the lessons or more Less than half the lessons
Figure 3.23 Relationship between teachers’ emphasis on science investigation scale and student achievement
1
-1
10
-9
20
7
-1
-50 -40 -30 -20 -10 0 10 20 30 40 50
NL QC ON MB AB CAN INT
Achievement gap
Higher achievement when science inves�ga�on emphasized in half the lessons or more Higher achievement when science inves�ga�on
emphasized in less than half the lessons
Note: Darker shade denotes significant difference between the two categories (less than half the lessons and about half the lessons or more).
Schroeder and colleagues (2007) concluded that alternative teaching strategies have a more positive influence on student achievement compared with the traditional teaching methods. Hands‑on and collaborative strategies, or teacher‑supported inquiry activities, involve students being guided through hands‑on activities, typically in laboratory groupings in science class. Inquiry‑based teaching was associated with significantly higher student achievement at age 15 in PISA (Jiang & McComas, 2015) and at the Grade 8/Secondary II level in PCAP (O’Grady & Houme, 2015). However, the level of openness in inquiry‑based teaching was an important consideration, with higher achievement associated with teacher‑supported inquiry
instruction (e.g., conduct guided activities and draw conclusions from data), while student‑directed inquiry (e.g., designing experiments) was associated with lower achievement scores but more positive attitude scores.
Students were asked about how often they conducted science experiments during science lessons using a four‑point scale (at least once a week, once or twice a month, a few times a year, never). In Canada overall, 20 percent of students conducted an experiment in science class at least once a week, which is less than the international average of 31 percent. Nearly one‑third of students in Canada either conducted experiments once or twice a month or a few times a year. A lower proportion of students at the Canada and provincial levels report that they never do experiments compared to the international average (Figure 3.24;
Appendix B.3.19). Interestingly, students reporting that they do science experiments a few times a year tended to have higher achievement than each of the other three categories in Canada, across provinces, and at the international level (Figure 3.25).
Figure 3.24 Frequency students conduct experiments in science lessons
At least once a week Once or twice a month A few �mes a year Never Figure 3.25 Relationship between the frequency students do science experiments and achievement
495
a week Once or twice
a month A few �mes
a year Never
Percentage
Average scorei n science
Science Percentage
Note: Darker shade denotes significant difference compared to the once or twice a month category.
Homework
The evidence regarding the benefit to student achievement of time spent on homework and the amount of homework assigned suggests a complex relationship. Depending on the subject area and the grade level, research findings often appear to be contradictory (CMEC, 2014). Examining Grade 4 results from PIRLS and TIMSS, Jerrim, Lopez‑Agudo and Marcenaro‑Gutierrez (2019) found little evidence that the amount of time primary school children spend doing homework is related to their academic achievement. The results from TIMSS 2019 supports this finding—based on teachers’ reports, there was no significant relationship between homework assigned per week and achievement in mathematics or science. In Canada overall and across provinces, homework is assigned more frequently in mathematics than in science (Table 3.15, Figure 3.26; Appendix B.3.20).
Table 3.15 Frequency of homework assignments
Mathematics Science
homeworkNo Less than
once a week At least once
a week No
homework Less than
once a week At least once a week
Newfoundland and Labrador U 30 53 67 33 U
Quebec 35 17 48 88 11 U
Note: U – too unreliable to be published.
Figure 3.26 Relationship between homework assigned per week and student achievement
505 513 517
homeworkNo Less than once a week
At least a weekonce
Percentage
Average score in mathema�cs
Mathema�cs Percentage
Note: Darker shade denotes significant difference compared to the less than once a week category.
Teachers were asked about the homework time per assignment that was given in mathematics and science using four response categories: 15 minutes or less, 16‑30 minutes, more than 30 minutes, more than 60 minutes. There were too few responses at the Canada and provincial levels to report reliably for the more than 30 and more than 60 minute categories so these data were included in a category more than 15 minutes.
Teachers assigned a similar amount of homework time per assignment in mathematics and science lessons at the Canada level (Table 3.16). At the Canada level higher achievement scores were attained by students who were assigned longer times on mathematics assignments, although there was no significant difference found for science (Figure 3.27). No significant differences were found for homework time for either mathematics or science at the provincial level, with the exception of Ontario for homework time for mathematics (Appendix B.3.21).
homeworkNo Less than once a week
At least a weekonce
Percentage
Average scorei n science
Science Percentage
Table 3.16 Percentage of students by time spent on homework by assignment
Newfoundland and Labrador 71 29 61 U
Quebec 40 60 U 64
Ontario 40 60 39 61
Manitoba 68 32 68 32
Alberta 64 36 75 25
Canada 45 55 46 54
International 34 66 44 56
Note: U – too unreliable to be published.
Figure 3.27 Relationship between time assigned on homework per assignment and student achievement
507 523
or less More than 15 minutes
Percentage
Average score in mathema�cs
Mathema�cs Percentage
Note: Darker shade denotes significant difference between the two categories.