Uncovering the connection: how do preservice teachers’ inquiry skills relate to practices of judgment and feedback regarding lower secondary school students’ laboratory reports?

Recent studies have shown that preservice teachers often struggle to effectively implement formative assessment practices to support students' inquiry skills development. Therefore, it is crucial to investigate factors related to the successful implementation of these practices by preservice teachers. In this study, the relation between the inquiry skill levels of preservice science teachers and the accuracy of their judgments and the quality and quantity of feedback given on lower secondary school students' laboratory reports of different levels of achievement were examined. Therefore, 61 preservice science teachers evaluated laboratory reports and provided feedback using a rubric, after their inquiry skills were assessed with a paper-and-pencil test. The results show that preservice teachers' inquiry skills significantly explained the variance in judgment accuracy for all reports. Additionally, the inquiry skill levels of preservice teachers were positively related to the amount of correct feedback they gave in all reports and the amount of prescriptive feedback they gave in the low-achieving report. Finally, there was a negative correlation between the inquiry skill levels of the preservice teachers and the amount of false feedback they gave in high-achieving reports. The results are discussed in terms of effective formative assessment practices in the context of inquiry skill.