Inquiry-based instruction and its influence on perceived authenticity and maintained situational interest—a cluster-randomised field experiment in a chemistry learning setting

Learners’ perceived authenticity is related to the design of a learning setting and learning outcomes such as maintained situational interest (MSI). Further, perceived authenticity can be conceptually linked to inquiry-based instruction (IBI) as a design element of learning settings. This study investigates students’ perceived authenticity and MSI under two conditions: high and low IBI. Under low IBI, learners were asked to reproduce a standard operation procedure, while high IBI included a research question and an investigation with reaction temperature as the independent variable. The sample comprised n = 263 high school students (age M = 16.48 years) for the two conditions: n(high) = 157 and n(low) = 106. Data were collected via a questionnaire with multidimensional perceived authenticity (location, instructors, methods, and innovation) and MSI (emotional, value-related, and epistemic) scales. The results revealed a higher perceived innovation and an unexpectedly lower MSI for learners under the high IBI condition. Still, a higher perceived innovation led to a positive indirect effect on MSI. This complex relationship between IBI, perceived innovation, and MSI can inform the design of science education practices and leads to questions about further mediating factors between IBI design and learners’ MSI.