Research activities sequenced by degree of autonomy for the development of scientific practices in 2nd and 3rd of ESO

Scientific training in Secondary Education must promote the resolution of problems that allow developing the ability to make reasoned decisions of active citizenship. The use of the skills involved in scientific practices, such as asking researchable questions, formulating testable hypotheses, developing experimental designs, thinking critically and logically to establish relationships between variables, and communicating an argument made using evidence, can present challenges for students. That is why the main purpose of this work is to evaluate the degree of acquisition of some of the scientific skills by students of 2nd and 3rd year of Compulsory Secondary Education through different sequenced activities progressively increasing the difficulty. An instrument has been used to analyze the proposal of activities based on the degree of autonomy required in each skill and a questionnaire to assess the effect of the teaching sequence on the learning of skills. The analysis of the activities reveals that different levels of inquiry are proposed in which the skills are gradually introduced. The results of the questionnaires show an increase in the ability of the students to use the skills addressed in the activities. Likewise, small differences in learning are observed between both groups of students that can be attributed to the different educational level of the students. Finally, it is concluded that school research must be appropriate to the acquired level of each of the cognitive skills so that they can promote their learning.