Fostering Intellectual Humility through a Teaching Method Based on the Building Process of “Laws” in Elementary School Science

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to clarify whether a teaching method based on the building process of “laws” is effective in developing intellectual humility. For this purpose, we conducted a class practice lesson in the sixth grade of elementary school, on the topic of “regularity of leverage”. Results from the quantitative analysis of the questionnaire survey revealed that the mean score of the factor “prudence to generalization” was increased among the factors in intellectual humility in science. The qualitative analysis of the children’s post-practice impressions showed that the results of the quantitative analysis were supportive. Based on the above, it was judged that utilizing a teaching method based on the building process of “laws” is indeed effective in fostering intellectual humility related to “prudence to generalization.”