Implementation of Inquiry-Based Science in the Classroom and Its Repercussion on the Motivation to Learn Chemistry

The inquiry-based approach is a teaching strategy that facilitates students learning scientific concepts and about the nature of chemistry through experimental research, allowing them to participate in chemistry classes as researchers. The methodology employed in chemistry learning in Brazil is based on the traditional teaching approach, and little consideration is given to the way the inquiry-based approach can be used to meet students’ individual psychological needs. The aim of this study was to implement the inquiry approach in the reality of Brazilian schools and to investigate how these activities contribute to increasing the intrinsic motivation to learn chemistry. The methodology was based on the application of inquiry-based activities (using chemistry kits, experiments were conducted with high school students from public and private schools). In this work, the chemistry teacher in the class himself is the researcher and the person who applies the activities. Data were collected from an adapted version of the Intrinsic Motivation Inventory applied to 224 Brazilian students aged 15–18 and interviews with 25 students. The results were analyzed using descriptive statistics, inferential tests, and simple interview categorization, using the Self-Determination Theory as a theoretical framework. The results reveal that it is possible to implement inquiry activities in the reality of Brazilian public schools and that these activities increase the intrinsic motivation of students promoting interest, effort, recognition of the importance of the activity, and a low sense of pressure and tension. Several contributions in the area of chemistry teaching, in terms of methodological proposals, have been disseminated as alternatives to the traditional methods of teaching employed in schools. The implications of these findings for future research and practice in limited classroom environments are discussed.