Creating a community of inquiry in the science classroom: an effective pedagogy for teaching diverse students?

Prior knowledge of and interest in subject matter are recognised as important factors influencing students' academic achievement and the quality of their learning experience. Teaching students who are diverse in terms of their prior knowledge of and interest in the subject matter is an oft-cited challenge in science general education courses. The present study examined the effectiveness of creating an interactive and collaborative learning community in a science course composed of such students. The lessons design of the course was based on the community of inquiry framework. Survey data from 769 students suggested that students from all faculties made significant, self-perceived, gains in generic skills, the affective domain and the cognitive domain. Also, a similar number of students showed perceived improvement on the outcomes among different faculties. On the other hand, the course grade point analysis showed that there is no significant difference among students from different faculties, which indicated that they have comparable attainment in terms of intended learning outcomes (ILOs) from the teachers' perspective. The research findings revealed that the suggested pedagogy could be an effective option for science general education courses that enrol students with diverse levels of prior knowledge and interest.