Implementing e-network-supported inquiry learning in science

The successful implementation of electronically networked (e-networked) tools to support an inquiry-learning approach in secondary science classrooms is dependent on a range of factors spread between teachers, schools, and students. The teacher must have a clear understanding of the nature of inquiry, the school must provide effective technological infrastructure and sympathetic curriculum parameters, and the students need to be carefully scaffolded to the point of engaging with the inquiry process.

Within this study, e-networks supported students to exercise agency, collaborate, and co-construct knowledge using a wide range of resources for meaning making and expression of ideas. These outcomes were, however, contingent on the interplay of teacher understanding of the nature of science inquiry and school provision of an effective technological infrastructure and support for flexible curriculum design.