Improving Students’ Science Process Skills Using Argument-Driven-Inquiry (ADI) Laboratory Method

This study aimed to determine the effects of the Argument-Driven-Inquiry (ADI) laboratory method on high school students’ science process skills. The study further investigated the method’s effect on students with different reasoning ability levels, namely the hypothetico-deductive, transitional, and empirical-inductive. A mixed method employing both quantitative and qualitative procedures for gathering data was employed. A quasi-experimental study using a 2 x 3 factorial design was implemented where Reasoning Ability Level was the moderating variable. The study was conducted on two intact classes of fourth-year students at Iloilo National High School-Special Science Class enrolled in the subject “College Physics”. Lawson’s Classroom Test of Scientific Reasoning was utilized to categorize students according to their reasoning ability levels.  To measure students’ science process skills before and after the study, the Test for Integrated Process Skills II (TIPS II) was employed. Mean, standard deviations, t-test for independent samples, and one-way analysis of variance were determined as part of the statistical analyses. Results revealed that students in the two groups were comparable in terms of science process skills before the intervention was employed. However, exposure to the ADI laboratory method improved students’ science process skills better than exposure to the traditional laboratory method. Further, the improvement of students’ science process skills is deemed independent of the student’s reasoning ability level but relies mainly on the type of laboratory instruction.