Controlled studies comparing exploration-based investigation with explicit instruction overwhelmingly favor explicit instruction for science content learning¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · review r1 · q2
Currency · newest study 2022 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q2 i? Controlled studies comparing inquiry- or exploration-based investigation with various forms of direct explicit instruction found students demonstrated greater learning of content and skills from explicit instruction. → Lin Zhang 2022

Evidence¶

Lin Zhang 2022¶

Lin Zhang, Paul A. Kirschner, William W. Cobern, John Sweller. (2022). There is an Evidence Crisis in Science Educational Policy. Educational Psychology Review. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-021-09646-1

q2 · i? · review · r1

The commentary's synthesis of controlled studies (Hsu et al., Klahr & Nigam, Matlen & Klahr, Zhang, among others) comparing investigation-based teaching with explicit instruction, reporting that "learners receiving these forms of direct, explicit instruction demonstrated greater learning". No effect sizes are printed.

"These studies found that learners receiving these forms of direct, explicit instruction demonstrated greater learning of content and skills than those who learned through practicing investigations"

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• Well-controlled comparison studies show clear advantages of inquiry-based instruction over direct instruction for science conceptual learning — reports the opposite
• Studies comparing pure simulation-based discovery learning with expository teaching show no clear and univocal outcome in favor of simulations — related
• Enhanced discovery learning produces greater learning than other forms of instruction — reports the opposite
• Teacher Guided Inquiry Outperforms Student Led — related
• Minimal guidance is less effective for novices than explicit instruction — related
• Inquiry Based Teaching Improves Science Achievement — related
• Sequencing of exploration and explicit instruction shows inconsistent results, moderated by task complexity per the expertise reversal account — related
• Minimally guided or unguided inquiry is less effective than explicit instruction, while adequately guided inquiry outperforms expository instruction (review attribution to Alfieri et al., 2011) — related
• The thesis reports, citing Klahr and Nigam (2004), that discovered and explicitly taught science knowledge did not differ in quality — reports the opposite