• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.62 no.1
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• pp.52-63
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• 2018

The purpose of this study was to observe and analyze how pre-service secondary chemistry teachers conduct open-ended, free style, exploratory chemistry experiments. The study examined common difficulties and tendencies that teachers showed in the chemistry labs. The study also investigated how these teachers deal with their difficulties and obstacles, such as unexpected results and device errors. Next, the study explored how students' epistemic goals and considerations have been shaped and changed as they interacted with one another and participated in their experiments over time. The study suggests that it could be more effective to gradually decrease guided-features of the experiment by providing appropriate scaffolding, than to start with completely open-ended inquiry labs. The study also suggests that the establishment of epistemic agency among group members influences the way they conduct experiments. Consequently, it is necessary to consider how instructional design for open-ended inquiry labs may provide students with scaffolds to encourage their active participation and to build responsibility in group discussions.