Relation between students' reflection levels and their inquiry learning outcomes

Abstract : In this study we aimed to identify the relation between students’ reflection levels and their inquiry learning outcomes (i.e. their formulated conclusions) after conducting a complete inquiry cycle in an online Go-Lab Inquiry Learning Space (ILS). We expected that students exhibiting a higher reflection level would be more experienced in formulating higher quality conclusions than students at a lower reflection level. Forty-three students from the 9th grade with an average age of 15 years from two Estonian public schools participated in this study. During the interventions students worked with a chemistry-based ILS called “What does pH measure?” Students were given a pre-defined problem to be solved by following an inquiry cycle. In each phase students had tasks to perform which led to concrete learning outcomes. The students used specific application called Conclusion Tool to state their conclusions and used Reflection Tool to answer two open-ended reflective questions to reflect on their study process. The results suggest that students who reflect at a higher reflection level are more successful in formulating higher quality inquiry outcomes such as hypotheses, observations and conclusions. Therefore it seems that reflection should be part of the learning process in order to support students to achieve higher quality inquiry learning outcomes.