. 2011 Mar 1;10(1):64–73. doi: 10.1187/cbe.10-07-0089

Table 3:

Mean scores for each condition on achievement and reasoning transfer

		Inquiry		Didactic
		Homogeneous	Heterogeneous	Homogeneous	Heterogeneous
High-level achievement
Instructional method		68.9 ± 0.13^a		64.9 ± 0.12
Group composition		69.4 ± 0.12	68.6 ± 0.14	62.1 ± 0.12^b	67.3 ± 0.13
Initial reasoning abilities
	High	72.5 ± 0.11	78.0 ± 0.11	70.1 ± 0.09	73.5 ± 0.10
	Medium	67.1 ± 0.13	64.7 ± 0.08	60.0 ± 0.09	67.4 ± 0.12
	Low	64.2 ± 0.08	56.3 ± 0.14	47.4 ± 0.09	59.0 ± 0.13^c
Low-level achievement
Instructional method		61.6 ± 0.13		65.6 ± 0.16
Group composition		62.4 ± 0.11	61.0 ± 0.14	58.5 ± 0.14	71.8 ± 0.14^d
Initial reasoning abilities
	High	65.0 ± 0.10	68.4 ± 0.13	65.9 ± 0.11	78.8 ± 0.10
	Medium	58.9 ± 0.10	54.9 ± 0.13	56.9 ± 0.14	69.0 ± 0.16
	Low	65.6 ± 0.17	55.9 ± 0.13	44.4 ± 0.08	64.7 ± 0.15
Reasoning transfer
Instructional method		2.89 ± 1.39^e		2.52 ± 1.32
Group composition		3.00 ± 1.41	2.79 ± 1.38	2.18 ± 1.19	2.82 ± 1.37^f
Initial reasoning abilities
	High	3.44 ± 1.26	3.65 ± 1.12	3.08 ± 0.86	3.38 ± 1.41
	Medium	2.33 ± 1.23	2.31 ± 1.38	1.67 ± 0.98	2.80 ± 1.14
	Low	4.00 ± 2.00^g	1.89 ± 0.93	1.40 ± 1.14	2.08 ± 1.24

Values are percentages (mean ± SD) for high-level Bloom's items and low-level Bloom's items. Reasoning transfer items are reported as total points (mean ± SD) out of a possible six items.

^aInquiry sections outperformed didactic sections (p = 0.04).

^bHomogeneous groups within didactic instruction performed lower that homogeneous groups within inquiry instruction (p = 0.02).

^cLow-reasoning students had higher scores in heterogeneous groups than homogeneous groups within didactic instruction (p = 0.04).

^dHeterogeneous groups outperformed homogeneous groups within didactic instruction (p < 0.01).

^eInquiry sections significantly outperformed didactic sections (p = 0.01).

^fHeterogeneous groups outperformed homogeneous groups in didactic sections (p = 0.02).

^gLow reasoners in homogeneous inquiry groups outperformed low reasoners in heterogeneous inquiry groups (p = 0.02) and low reasoners in homogeneous didactic groups (p < 0.01).