The Student's Cognitive and Emotional Engagement in Experiments as Predictors of Scientific Inquiry Competencies in TVET in Tanzania

Developing students’ scientific inquiry competencies (SICs) has become one of the primary learning outcomes in science learning around the world. Previous studies have demonstrated that students face challenges in developing these competencies. Limited studies exist that focus on investigating learning factors that promote students’ SICs. The purpose of this study was to find out whether students’ cognitive and emotional engagement in experiments can predict their SICs in technical education and training institutions in Tanzania while controlling for gender, age, grade level and institution nature as covariates. The study was guided by employee engagement theory. A positivist paradigm and a cross-sectional survey design were adopted. A proportionate sampling technique was used to draw 337 Laboratory Science and Technology program students from five technical education and training institutions in Tanzania. Data was collected using SICs tests and student cognitive and emotional engagement questionnaires and analysed by hierarchical multiple regression analysis. After controlling for the effects of the covariates, the results revealed that students’ cognitive (B = 1.692, t = 5.913, p =.000) and emotional (B = 1.287, t = 3.564, p =.000) engagement in experiments were significant predictors of their SICs. Furthermore, cognitive and emotional engagement during experiments independently explained about 11.9% of the variance in students’ SICs. Therefore, it is concluded that students’ cognitive and emotional engagement are essential learning factors for enhancing SICs. In order to improve students’ SICs, the study recommends that instructors create laboratory learning tasks that arouse students’ positive perceptions as well as that require students to utilize higher mental capabilities.