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Article History

Received: 18 February 2024

Accepted: 15 January 2025

First Online: 22 February 2025

Competing interests

: The authors declare no competing interests.

: This study meets the Charles University guidelines for research on humans, which are in agreement with the ethical standards of the Czech Republic and the European Union. The pedagogical research was conducted during regular school lessons, incorporating new teaching methods, in full compliance with Czech educational laws, and the quality of the teaching process was not disrupted. The Institutional Review Board (IRB) of Charles University, Faculty of Science, approved the study “The impact of long-term inquiry-based science education on the students’ motivation and knowledge acquisition in Biology and Chemistry” on 25 June 2019 under approval number 2019/31. The approval specifically covers pedagogical research involving human participants in regular educational settings, ensuring compliance with all relevant ethical standards and guidelines, including the Declaration of Helsinki. The research commenced in September 2019, and at that time, no additional ethical requirements or approvals were mandated by Czech legislation or institutional policies. The scope of the approval thus includes the implementation of innovative teaching methods and their assessment in regular classroom conditions.

: At the beginning of this research, oral informed consent was obtained from the headmaster of the school on 6 September 2019. Subsequently, written informed consent was obtained from the legal representatives of all participating students during the month of September 2019 via the school’s online platform. The consent was collected by the lead researcher in cooperation with classroom teachers and the headmaster. Legal representatives were provided with clear and detailed information, including (1) the purpose and objectives of the pedagogical research, (2) the procedures involved and the methods being introduced in the classroom, (3) how the anonymity of their children would be ensured through the use of unique, anonymized codes, (4) how the collected data would be securely stored and processed, and (5) that participation in the study carried no associated risks for the students. The consent specifically covered participation in the study, collection of anonymized data, and consent to publish the results in an aggregated and anonymized form. No incentives or payments were provided for participation in this study. Additionally, to maintain confidentiality, the name of the school is not mentioned in the paper.