Macro- and Micro-Level Behavioral Patterns in Simulation-Based Scientific Inquiry: Linking Processes to Performance...

Area of Science:

• Scientific inquiry in elementary science education.
• Developing scientific thinking skills.

Background:

• Scientific inquiry is crucial for science education but its processes and link to performance are underexplored.
• Understanding how students engage in inquiry is key to improving science learning.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the scientific inquiry processes of fourth-grade students using simulation-based assessment.
• To analyze macro- and micro-level behavioral patterns in scientific inquiry.
• To examine the association between inquiry patterns and task performance (effectiveness and efficiency).

Main Methods:

• Utilized process data from a structured simulation-based assessment task involving 259 fourth-grade students.
• Applied a multi-analytic approach: sequential pattern mining, entropy analysis, and process mining.
• Analyzed both macro-level (overall process structure) and micro-level (experimental coordination) inquiry behaviors.

Main Results:

• Effective students exhibited more iterative evidence collection cycles before responding.
• Effective and efficient students demonstrated superior strategic coordination during experimentation.
• Distinct inquiry patterns were identified at both macro- and micro-levels.

Conclusions:

• Student scientific inquiry processes can be characterized at multiple levels, linking patterns to effectiveness and efficiency.
• Process data from simulation-based assessments can diagnose inquiry skills.
• Findings can inform personalized scaffolding in elementary science education.