Investigating the trends of developing students’ experimental competency through inquiry-based laboratory approach: A systematic literature review

This systematic literature review aims to analyze research trends in inquiry-based laboratory on the development of students’ experimental competency. The review followed a PRISMA approach. This study applied PRISMA by conducting a comprehensive literature search across two prominent online databases SCOPUS and ERIC. As a result, we identified 48 studies published between 2011 and 2021, which are categorized into eight distinct themes: (1) the traditional laboratory and inquiry-based laboratory (IBL), (2) IBL implementation and curriculum, (3) types of IBL, (4) students’ perceptions of teaching assistants and benefits of IBL, (5) IBL to enhance skills and knowledge, (6) students’ attitude towards IBL, (7) the factors support student learning in IBL, (8) IBL to improve students’ autonomy and self-efficacy. Hence, it is suggested that future research focus more on applying IBL for General Physics Laboratory courses to improve physics teacher education students’ experimental competency.


Introduction
In order to meet the rapid development of the Industrial Revolution 4.0, it is inevitable that the educational goals of countries around the world must also change.Education has transformed from a content approach to a competency approach.Education focuses on developing students' competency and is student-centered, and teachers only play a supporting and guiding role for students.Experimental competency is one of the important and necessary competencies for students.Experimental competency means to describe some of the most important procedures, processes, and methods that scientists use when constructing knowledge and solving experimental problems (Etkina et al., 2006).According to Theyßen H et al. (2014), modeling experimental competencies in Physics consists of three main phases of the experimental process: "preparation", "performance" and "data analysis".Each phase has some components.This model focuses on the middle phase, such as assembling the experimental setup, performing measurements, and analyzing measurements.To facilitate effective teaching and assessment, it is essential to comprehensively model the performance of experiments.At the same time, the authors also developed a rubric that is both viable and reliable for assessing experimental competencies (Theyßen H et al., 2014).Moreover, the development of students' experimental competency requires teachers to create open inquiry learning tasks to help the students explore knowledge and skills on their own.Inquiry-based laboratory is more students, evokes inductive reasoning, and develops scientific process skills, such as hypothesis formation, identification and manipulation of experimental variables, discussion, and conclusions from data (Kolkhorst et al., 2001).IBL fosters enthusiastic engagement from students in experimental modules.Students favor studying IBL over traditional laboratory (Parappilly et al., 2013).The study by Nivalainen et al. shows that an IBL course enables students to explore the limits of their expertise, allows them to create new knowledge in an environment, which is a way they have never experienced before, and helps them organize practical activities in schools.This paper examines the use of an IBL course, in which students plan and conduct hands-on activities for use in high schools.Emphasizing inquiry-based teaching is particularly crucial in laboratory courses, where students actively apply scientific methods.The efficacy of IBL learning almost always shows some positive outcomes (Beck et al., 2014).At the university level, inquiry-based learning approaches have gained extensive popularity in biology laboratory courses.(Gormally, & Cara, 2016).Therefore, there have been a few studies re-designing traditional lab activities into IBL in order to develop chemistry students' experimental competency (Imaduddin et al., 2019); and develop biochemistry students' experimental competency (Johnson et al., 2014).The IBL helps students to adapt to the lab environment quickly and easily by familiarizing them with the lab equipment, staff, and safety rules in a fun and interactive manner.The IBL is more interesting than a traditional laboratory (Nadeem et al., 2020).Based on the above studies, IBL plays a vital role in developing students' experimental competency.Within the scope of this article, we aimed to review related studies IBL on the development of students' experimental competency.
Research question: What are the IBL trends in the development of students' experimental competency?

Methods
In this study, we utilized a methodology that involved searching, reviewing, and analyzing the existing literature in a systematic manner.To carry out the systematic literature review, we applied four complementary methods: (1) search, (2) selection, (3) coding, and (4) synthesis (Borrego, Foster, & Froyd, 2014).

Search method
We first searched for empirical studies following research on two online databases: SCOPUS and ERIC with the keywords "inquiry-oriented science labs" OR "Open guided inquiry laboratory " OR "inquiry-based laboratory " and limited to journal articles in August 2021.The selected articles were published between 2011 and 2021.

Selection strategy: PRISMA adapt (Anwar et al., 2019)
The 199 articles were analyzed based on our selection criteria (Table 1).We included 48 articles based on four selection principles and excluded 151 articles.These articles were excluded: noncompliant sample properties (60), irrelevant nature of articles (78), non-relevance to the current study (9), and incomplete or duplicates (4).
Table 1.Criteria for the selection of studies Selection principle Description Nature of article (Anwar et al., 2019) Articles in this category did not adhere to the intended article format.Those excluded encompassed expert interviews, editor's notes, or summaries of an individual's work or theory.

Content foci
Titles and abstracts related directly to IBL are mentioned as the main content in articles.For example, articles directly related to the keywords "inquiry-oriented science labs", "Open guided inquiry laboratory ", OR "inquiry-based laboratory ".Sample properties Articles in this category mainly focused on science teacher education students or pre-service science teachers (physics, chemistry, biology).Therefore, articles that only concentrate on in-service teachers, pupils, secondary students, and high school students are excluded.

Relevance
Articles showed direct connections or alignments to the current study's focus, research questions, and the following questions.Finally, based on the selection principles in Table 1, 48 studies were included in this literature review.Please see Appendix A and B for the complete list of reviewed studies (http://bit.ly/43xbL60).

Coding
Open coding was utilized to describe and categorize a piece of text (Cohen et al., 2011;Strauss & Corbin, 2015).The codes were grouped into categories, "with the categories given the title or name by researchers, based on criteria that researcher decides".
Initially, we documented and categorized all studies based on two main types: intervention and nonintervention.Intervention means the studies related to IBL must have workshops, programs, projects, and courses organized.In contrast, non-invention means the studies related to IBL only have surveys and questionnaires.Please see Appendix C for the coding of reviewed studies (http://bit.ly/3MKrfxA).

Synthesis
Articles reviewed for this synthesis ranged in publication dates from 2011 to 2021, with the majority of studies in 2020 (18.75%).The research was conducted globally in Australia, Brazil, China, Czech Republic, Japan, New Zealand, Netherlands, Spain, Turkey, and the United States (US).Most of the studies related to IBL were conducted in the US (62.50%).
Non-intervention: only 7 US.All the studies are from the US (14.58%).

Results
As a result of the classification made in order to examine the general trends in research of IBL in developing students' experimental competency, the following tables have been created and the following findings have been reached.4, most of the studies related to intervention utilized quantitative analysis (58.54%).In contrast, qualitative analysis was roughly equal to quantitative analysis in studies related to non-intervention.
Table 5.According to Etkina, experimental competency is scientific abilities.There are 7 indicators in the structure of experimental competencies: use different methods to represent physical processes; propose and verify a qualitative explanation or quantitative relationship; adjust a qualitative explanation or quantitative relationship; plan an experimental investigation; collect and analyze data; assess experimental predictions and outcomes, and communicate (Etkina et al., 2006).In this study, experimental competency is the ability to mobilize a combination of knowledge, and skills with psychological attributes such as interest, belief, and willpower to perform experimental tasks successfully.Nevertheless, most of the studies in the eight themes (presented in Table 5) concentrate on comparing traditional laboratory and inquiry-based laboratory; introducing types of inquiry-based labs and demonstrating the effectiveness and feasibility of inquiry-based laboratory in experimental modules.In addition, these themes also focus on developing learners' knowledge, skills, and attitudes.Therefore, these themes have not yet addressed the enhancement of learners' experimental competency.Here are a few specific examples to illustrate this.
Of the eight themes divided in Table 5, the most popular theme was the traditional laboratory and inquiry-based laboratory (25%).For example, some of the reviewed papers (12.50%) related to the The IBL is more effective than the traditional laboratory.According to Parappilly et al., IBL attracts students, and they have more fun doing the laboratories.Moreover, students can participate in the design of the experiment, thereby giving them a profound comprehension of the theory because students need to justify their methods and write comments about the results.In contrast, the recipe-based laboratory is boring and is not attractive to students because they are not allowed to participate in the experimental design.Parappilly's research concluded that the worst IBL did not negatively affect students' learning outcomes and could benefit students' learning.In particular, the IBL stands out as one of the most effective methods to encourage students to cultivate the mindset of a physicist or engineer and contribute to the development of practical skills.At the same time, inquiry-based experiments empower students to generate their own questions, resolve unexpected outcomes, and foster a positive learning experience (Parappilly et al., 2013).This approach piques students' interest and captivates their engagement with physics content (Parappilly et al., 2013).In comparison to traditional laboratory courses, IBL courses are discovered to enhance student outcomes (Beck et al., 2014).Next, the study by Rokos et al. found that inquiry-based science education (IBSE) resulted in comparable or slightly higher knowledge acquisition compared to traditional labs.Notably, students in the experimental group using IBSE demonstrated significantly superior new skill acquisition (Rokos et al., 2020).Moreover, Longo (2011) compared traditional and inquiry lab reports checklists.The report structure for these two types of labs is the same, but the procedure is different.The procedure of a traditional lab has steps available, while an IBL allows students to design experiments by listing step-by-step instructions.Interestingly, in the traditional cookbook-guided laboratory, students experienced notable declines in personal epistemologies.Conversely, IBL significantly improved students' epistemologies of experimental physics.However, the control group exhibited a higher increase in experimental physics learning performance than the experimental group, a departure from similar studies, with potential explanations provided by Shi et al. (2020).
Redesigning laboratories for pre-service teachers from traditional cookbooks to IBL.Jeremy Johnson et al. ( 2014) redesigned an inquiry-based biochemistry laboratory.The swift setup and analysis of experiments offer advanced undergraduates essential experience in a fundamental biochemical technique.Furthermore, this approach provides adaptability for integration into IBL and independent research projects.In addition, Jeremy Johnson et al. (2015) found that the major advantage of this redesigned kinetic laboratory is adaptability and sensitivity for use in an inquiry-based laboratory.Next, results from Sibbernsen and Kendra's (2014) study indicated that using specially designed course materials enhanced students' understanding of scientific inquiry and astronomy, irrespective of whether they worked in groups or individually in the learning laboratories.Interestingly, these findings indicate that three components in the design of the laboratory course were vital to the resilience of the course: the choice for fully open-inquiry projects and the flipped aspect of the instruction methods (Bradbury et al., 2020).Mirich and his colleagues proposed a total of seven inquiry-based questions and described how the activities of the experimental session were organized.These activities, ideal for science majors, IBL implementation creates active learning motivation for students.Longo delves into Ms.D'Amico's detailed implementation of inquiry-oriented labs, following a six-step process in science education.This inquiry approach not only ignites curiosity but also boosts motivation, fosters creativity, and enhances authenticity in learning through real-world lessons (Longo, 2011).However, the steps in the inquiry process had only taken place within Ms. D'Amico's classroom and this process had not been applied to other cases.Results from Basey's study revealed that four motivation strategies, along with two additional ones, were prevalent among students.Class duration did not vary significantly across categories, but students who stayed longer had notably higher grades.These findings endorse the concept of teacher-regulated exit time in inquiry-oriented labs, especially when grades are a priority.Basey (2020) delves into the implications.Arnold et al. found that the IBL project was an engaging and thought-provoking means of exposing their biology students.The project was very flexible and allowed the instructors the opportunity to add additional material as they saw fit.This project was suitable for undergraduate students (Arnold et al., 2017).In addition, in another study (Thiet, 2014) it was found that the inquiry-based soil laboratory project not only enhanced students' competency to engage in iterative scientific processes through the scientific method but also deepened their understanding of fundamental soil properties and processes.Additionally, it honed their skills and boosted their confidence levels.An IBL was seen as an exercise in a Genomics Course at the Rochester Institute of Technology in Wong (2020).Interestingly, Siritunga et al. built a module of IBL for students in Spain.The module not only honed students' research skills but also bolstered their confidence, a crucial factor in retaining students in science disciplines.Likewise, about 85% of the students reported enhanced selfconfidence in various aspects (Siritunga et al., 2012).the pedagogical approach of guided-inquiry in laboratory courses.Moreover, Gliddon & Rosengren described a guided inquiry laboratory where the experimental question was set, but students had input into experimental design, data collection, and analysis.This course employed a guided inquiry-based laboratory, complemented by formative assessment and collaborative learning techniques, to cultivate essential skills in undergraduate students.These skills include problem-solving, critical thinking, data interpretation, and articulating results in written form.The results were based on the Likert scale data indicating that the students felt that the IBL used was beneficial.(Gliddon & Rosengren, 2012).In an IBL experiment outlined by Prilliman, students observe experimental errors and analyze them using guided-inquiry questions.These results highlight the effectiveness of a basic inquiry-based density activity in familiarizing students with experimental errors.This laboratory experience offers students a tangible foundation for comprehending and learning about the nuances of experimental errors in a laboratory setting.(Prilliman, 2012).Theme 4: Students' perceptions of teaching assistants and benefits in teaching IBL Teaching assistants play an important role in teaching IBL.In their study on teaching assistants (TAs) and student outcomes in undergraduate science labs, Wheeler and colleagues found that TAs' content knowledge increased after professional development and teaching.Additionally, students' understanding also significantly improved throughout the semester.Students who felt their TAs were supportive believed they learned more (Wheeler & Maeng et al., 2017).In addition, the next results from Wheeler et al.'s study showed that teaching assistants (TAs) had diverse opinions about their ability and the importance of teaching in an IBL setting.These views were shaped by their past encounters with inquiry and student interactions.The findings offer valuable insights into what motivates TAs to teach in inquiry-based science settings, emphasizing the significance of reform-based instruction at the undergraduate level.(Wheeler et al., 2019).Many TAs made significant strides in cultivating an inquiry-oriented teaching identity by redirecting their attention towards student learning.The research findings also underscored certain beliefs held by TAs that contradicted inquiry practices, providing valuable insights to inform strategies aimed at supporting TAs in reshaping their perceptions of science teaching and developing inquiry-based teaching identities (Gormally, & Cara,2016).
IBL may benefit student learning.Parappilly et al.'s study arouses students by involving them in engaging physics experiments, allowing them to explore hands-on activities and design their own experiments.IBL empowers students to take charge as "drivers" and designers of their experimental activities (Parappilly et al., 2013).Moreover, the usefulness of the present inquiry-based activity in a general chemistry course at the university was discussed by reviewing the results of the practical applications to students' laboratory (Koga et al., 2011).Numerous studies highlight the effectiveness of these design experiments in captivating students and enhancing their learning experiences (Bell & Linn, 2000;Gallagher et al., 1995;Kolodner, 2002).Theme 5: The inquiry-based laboratory to enhance skills and knowledge.
Experimental competency refers to the ability to gather knowledge, skills, and attitudes to execute experiments successfully.However, the studies in theme 5 mainly deal with the development of skills or knowledge.There is still no research demonstrating the mobilization of knowledge and skills to solve experimental problems.
IBL has improved students' science process skills.Science process skills include observing, classifying, measuring, inferring, predicting, and communicating (Chabalengula et al., 2012).For example, these findings indicate that the course goals emphasize the development of the process of science skills, integrative learning, group-based learning, and scientific communication through a progression of multi-week inquiry-based units.While far from "plug and play," this conceptually rich, inquiry-based unit holds promise for the effective integration of quantitative and Mendelian genetics (Batzli et al., 2014).Results from Yakar and Baykara found that incorporating IBL practices enhanced the scientific process skills, creative thinking abilities, and attitudes toward science experiments among pre-service science teachers.(Yakar & Baykara, 2014).Demircioglu et al. conducted a study examining the impact of IBL instruction centered around arguments on academic performance, ability to construct arguments, science process skills, and levels of argumentation among pre-service science teachers enrolled in General Physics Laboratory III (majoring in optics).The results showed that argument-driven inquiry was more effective in improving the academic achievement and science process skills of students IBL not only helps students to improve their experimental skills but also their knowledge.Nivalainen et al. mentioned it, referring to IBL in physics pre-service teachers' training.The results of the article showed that employing an open-guided inquiry approach offered valuable support to pre-service teachers.This method enabled them to explore the boundaries of their subject knowledge, constructing a deeper understanding in an entirely new environment.Moreover, it equipped them with the skills to organize practical activities effectively within school settings.This paper examined the use of an IBL course, in which students planned, and conducted hands-on activities for use in high schools.While developing their competence in these aspects, pre-service teachers also gain an understanding of various aspects of teachers' knowledge (Nivalainen, A. Asikainen, & E. Hirvonen, 2013).In addition, Wheeler et al.'s findings showed that students made substantial advancements in their content knowledge throughout the semester in science IBL classes (Wheeler et al., 2017).Ozgelen's study investigated that 45 pre-service science teachers enrolled in two sections of the Laboratory Application in Science II course at a Turkish university, the interconnections between epistemological beliefs, metacognitive awareness, and the nature of science were explored.Ozgelen's research findings indicated that incorporating IBL instruction, guided by conceptual change theory, led to significant enhancements in the pre-service teachers' understanding of the nature of science (Ozgelen, 2012).Theme 6: Students' attitude towards the inquiry-based laboratory Students' attitude is more positive towards an IBL.Kuzmenko et al. indicated that IBL activities presents a fantastic chance to familiarize first-year undergraduate students with the laboratory setting and ignite their curiosity in subjects they might not have explored before or been enthusiastic about studying.These results are based on student feedback obtained from surveys conducted both before and after engaging in plant biology IBL activities, demonstrating shifts in their attitudes (Kuzmenko et al., 2021).Rybczynski et al. 's study assessed students' attitudes towards IBL to foster the nature of science understanding.Results from Rybczynski et al. found that student self-reports (n = 137) indicated that factors such as grades and TAs had a more significant impact on their attitudes than the specific laboratory treatments (Rybczynski et al., 2013).In addition, IBL increased students' interest in green nanochemistry, provided them with new laboratory skills, and stimulated their critical thinking (Paluri et al., 2015).Moreover, Baseya and Francis' study indicated that two inquiry-oriented lab styles are guided inquiry (GI) and problem-based (PB).Baseya and Francis utilized an end-of-semester survey to assess students' attitudes toward two lab styles.The assessment utilized a single question, rate the lab on a scale of 1-10.These findings showed that the perceived difficulty and time efficiency emerged as the key factors shaping attitudes toward both GI and PB labs, whereas assistance and enthusiasm had minimal impact on students' attitudes in these settings' difficulty and time efficiency (Baseya & Francis, 2011).

Theme 7: The factors that support student learning in inquiry-based laboratory
There are some essential factors that support student learning in IBL.They are technology, learning environments, and fading scaffold.For example, IBL practices are supported by technology such as mobile, computer, Web quest, and multimedia information (sound, image, video, etc.).Firstly, the support of mobile learning in the IBL practices, Arabacioglu and Unver showed that mobile devices enhanced pre-service teachers' scientific process skills.The course integrated mobile devices and guided inquiry-based learning, enabling students to access diverse scientific data independently.Classroom camera recordings aided the research data collection.Mobile devices were supported for data analysis, mathematics, and computational skills.These results highlight the valuable contribution of mobile learning to laboratory practices (Arabacioglu & Unver, 2016).Secondly, incorporating computer programming into the IBL, Rahn et al. created interactive IBL exercises using the Jupyter Notebook platform, enabling real-time Python code execution.The notebook provided instructions and set up the environment, using libraries like pandas to import data from Excel.Students utilized this tool to analyze collected data, engaging in scientific research.These exercises not only produced relevant data but also showcased the practical integration of computer science into scientific processes (Rahn et al., 2019).Thirdly, in the support of Web Quest in the IBL, Hakverdi-Can et al. documented pre-service teachers' journey in learning to design technology-supported inquiry-based learning environments utilizing the Internet.Pre-service science teachers were asked to develop a Web Quest environment targeting middle school students.This study's results demonstrated the effectiveness of Web Quest as a powerful teaching tool.Pre-service teachers actively involved in developing it as part of their study reported a positive experience.This hands-on experience significantly enhanced their content knowledge and understanding of technology-supported inquiry learning environments, equipping them with the skills to create engaging, technology-enhanced, inquiry-based lessons (Hakverdi-Can et al., 2012).Finally, the support for a wide range of multimedia information in the IBL practices, incorporating IBL facilitates students' seamless transition into the lab environment by introducing them to lab equipment, staff, and safety protocols in an engaging and interactive way.Students not only perceived the approach as more supportive and motivating but also found it instrumental in enhancing their understanding of lab equipment (Nadeem et al., 2020).
The authentic IBL is the most effective learning environment for experimental courses.For instance, Mutlu & Acar-Şeşen conducted a study comparing the impact of instructional treatments (guided inquiry-based and traditional recipe-like approach) and learning environments on pre-service science teachers' understanding of chemistry concepts.They designed four distinct learning environments: Authentic IBL, Virtual IBL, Virtual Recipe-like Laboratory, and Authentic Recipe-like Laboratory.The study involved sixty-eight pre-service science teachers randomly stratified into these environment groups.The results revealed a significant difference in post-test scores, particularly between the Authentic IBL group and the Authentic Recipe-like Laboratory, Virtual IBL, and Authentic Recipe-like Laboratory groups (Mutlu & Acar-Şeşen, 2018).Moreover, Lawrie et al. utilized Wiki laboratory notebooks in order to support student learning in collaborative IBL experiments.This study delved into the effectiveness of utilizing wikis for laboratory learning and assessment by analyzing the content and interactions of three student groups who willingly participated.The findings revealed that the wiki environment significantly facilitated the collaborative construction of understanding related to experimental processes and the subsequent communication of outcomes and data.(Lawrie et al., 2016).
Moreover, the study explored the impact of fading scaffolds on mastering scientific abilities within the framework of IBL.The results indicated that students' successful application of scientific abilities varied based on complexity.Notably, more than 85% of students quickly mastered fundamental skills such as data representation, identification of uncertainty, and recognition of assumptions.(Mora, 2019).Theme 8: The inquiry-based laboratory to improve students' autonomy and self-efficacy We found 3 studies that were utilized by IBL to improve student self-efficacy.Beck and Blumer examined student self-efficacy based on standard pretest and posttest.The study revealed that IBL courses positively impacted undergraduate student self-efficacy.The authors examined the correlation between student and faculty perceptions of laboratory instructional practices (scientific synthesis, science process skills, and instructor-directed teaching) and post-semester self-efficacy in 19 guidedinquiry laboratory courses across 11 institutions.Throughout the semester, self-efficacy significantly increased from the start to the end of the courses (Beck & Blumer, 2021).Assessment of the module showed that students gained self-efficacy in executing experiments and interpreting data.(Chih-Yun Chiang et al., 2020).
Besides, an IBL helps students enhance their autonomy.Results from Silva and Galembeck designed inquiry-based activities to develop students' autonomy.Students planned and performed experiments, as well as communicated and discussed their results.The levels of autonomy required from students were increased sequentially.Most significantly, students exhibited enhanced ownership of the laboratory materials, reagents, and environment, with a particularly notable sense of active engagement in the learning process during experimental activities (Silva & Galembeck, 2017).
In summary, IBL plays an important role in developing students' experimental competency.IBL brings many benefits to student learning.IBL boosts students' confidence and interest.Especially, IBL significantly improves students' autonomy.The traditional laboratory is boring and uninteresting to students because students just follow the steps available in the laboratory manual.On the contrary, students can self-explore, inquiry, and design experimental plans, thereby fostering students' experimental competency.At present, there have been few studies using IBL to develop experimental competence for students of chemistry and biology.However, there is no research using IBL to develop physics students' experimental competency.This is a great gap for us to continue our research in the future.

Conclusion
Overall, the purpose of the current study is to summarize the results of recent empirical research on IBL in developing students' experimental competency.Based on our findings, we propose eight major themes.The most popular theme is the traditional laboratory and IBL (25%), which includes 12.50% of papers mentioned efficiency comparison between the two types of laboratories.The other 12.50% mention redesigning the laboratory from cookbook to IBL.The second most popular theme is concentrated on IBL implementation (18.75%).Research results have shown that IBL in physics is very important, and it has a significant effect on the development of students' experimental competence.In the future, we will apply IBL in the "General Physics Laboratory" module to foster students' experimental competency in Vietnam.

3 . 5 .
Distribution of 48 articles based on the thematic classification Themes Number of Articles a 1.The traditional laboratory and inquiry-based laboratory 12 2.The inquiry-based laboratory implementation and curriculum 9 Types of inquiry-based laboratories 5 4. Students' perceptions of teaching assistants and benefits in teaching IBL 5 The inquiry-based laboratory to enhance skills and knowledge 9 6.Student's attitude towards the inquiry-based laboratory 5 7.The factors that support student learning in inquiry-based laboratory 7 8.The inquiry-based laboratory to improve students' autonomy and self-efficacy 3 a A total of 8 articles were classified for two themes.

3rd
World Conference on Physics Education Journal of Physics: Conference Series 2727 (2024) 012022 IOP Publishing doi:10.1088/1742-6596/2727/1/0120226 involve group experiments lasting approximately one hour, followed by an additional hour for student analysis, discussion, and results.Results often lead to additional questions (Mirich et al., 2020).Theme 2: The inquiry-based laboratory implementation and curriculum The IBL model promotes active students' engagement.For example, Gardner et al. incorporated novel research questions into an IBL model early in the undergraduate course of study.An IBL instructional model increases students' interest, students' engagement with course material, and improves the effectiveness of the course.Gardner's findings showed that designing an introductory course based on novel research and scholarly assessments motivates students, instills scientific habits, and potentially enhances departmental research (Gardner et al., 2011).The IBL curriculum brings efficiency to students.Wheeler et al. outline their IBL curriculum and TA training, emphasizing the advantages of a week-long immersive training for both undergraduate TAs (UTAs) and graduate TAs (GTAs).Their approach includes teaching theory, pedagogy, and practical lab aspects, enabling students to grasp chemical concepts and develop a scientific mindset.They provide evidence of program efficacy and offer insights for implementing a similar model in other university contexts(Wheeler et al., 2017).Interestingly, Russell and Weaver explore the impact of laboratory curriculum on students' understanding of the nature of science at five US universities.The specific curricula studied are traditional, inquiry-based, and research-based.Their findings suggest that students in the research-based laboratory curriculum demonstrated the most gains because of their laboratory when compared to their counterparts in the traditional and inquiry-based laboratories (Russell & Weaver, 2011).

Theme 3 :
Types of inquiry-based laboratoriesThere are many types of inquiry-based labs such as confirmation, structured inquiry, guided-inquiry laboratory, and open-inquiry laboratory (Bradbury et al., 2020).However, guided-inquiry laboratory and open-inquiry laboratory engage students in active learning.Most of the students expressed a preference for guided-inquiry labs over open-inquiry labs, believing they gained a deeper understanding through guided-inquiry (Chatterjee et al., 2009).For instance, Beck et al. devised a pair of interconnected guided-inquiry experiments.In these experiments, students receive essential background information and a specific question to explore.Subsequently, they are tasked with crafting their own experiments and formulating predictions based on the hypotheses, all within the framework provided.The results of two guided-inquiry experiments were successful.Beck et al. (2013) eloquently elucidated 3rd World Conference on Physics Education Journal of Physics: Conference Series 2727 (2024) 012022 et al.'s research only focused on developing students' experimental design skills.Phillips et al. organized an IBL course consisting of 2 rounds.In round 1, students took a pre-test for 30 minutes to determine their general knowledge of the topic of interest.All students are exposed to the required chemical kinetic materials.In round 2 Phillips et.al added questions for students to design experiments.Results indicated improvement in concepts and experimental design skills (Phillips et.al, 2019).Besides, Colthorpe et al.'s study mentioned assessing 42 science students' critical evaluation skills based on laboratory reports in an IBL course.These results illustrated the feasibility of offering comprehensive undergraduate research experiences to entire student cohorts, allowing them to engage with research methods and communication processes while refining their critical evaluation skills (Colthorpe et al., 2017).

Table 2 .
Statistical table of IBL related articles for the period 2011-2021

Table 4 .
Primary differentiation of articles based on intervention and non-intervention