This report examines the importance and efficacy of oral language, literacy, mathematics, and science preschool curricula and how these curricula can be improved through alignment with research on early childhood development and learning. Detailed, research-driven recommendations are presented for what preschool-aged children should be learning in…

Suggests using games to teach students how to ask effective questions. Games include "I've Got a Secret,""What's My Career,""To Tell the Truth,""Jeopardy,""Stump the Teacher,""Ten Q," and "Question Circle." (KC)

Inquiry is defined here as the scientist's method of problem solving. Presents a bent wire phenomenon activity designed to engage students in the active process of solving a problem in science. A model is proposed to explain the phenomenon. (MA)

Gives illustrations for experiences designed to help intermediate (grade 6) children learn to follow directions. Activities, in the form of five stations contained in one classroom, were developed with each activity focused on a different approach to problem solving and observation. (PEB)

NASA CONNECT is an annual series of free integrated mathematics, science, and technology instructional distance learning programs for students in grades 5-8. This video presents the World Space Congress 2002, the meeting of the decade for space professionals. Topics discussed range from the discovery of distant planets to medical advancements,…

Inquiry and lecture/lab methods of instruction yield different results in conceptual and problem-solving tests, while no difference exists in factual tests. The author recommends that the inquiry method of teaching be refined so that it can become a practical classroom instructional strategy. (CT)

Discussed are two contrasting views about the nature of scientific thinking including Pearson's and Collingwood's. The contexts of questions, methods, problems, experiments, and history are described as contexts of inquiry. The physical thoughts of scientists from pre-Aristotelian times to the present are outlined in relation to contexts of…

The Information Age has been shaping the conception of thinking in education through the capability of computerized problem solving, through the resulting application of the information processing model to human thinking, and through the theories emerging from other cognitive science research in metacognition, construction of knowledge, and…

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has produced a distance learning series of four 60-minute video programs with an accompanying Web site and companion teacher guides designed for students in grades 3-5. The story lines of each program or episode involve six inquisitive school children who meet in a treehouse. They seek the…

This resource book contains 18 magic number tricks that spark the interest and imagination of students as they are led through a variety of mathematical computations and discoveries. Following each activity, students are asked to write about their discoveries and create their own magic tricks. A matrix of skills for all the activities and lists of…

Describes various elementary school activities using a loaf of raisin bread to promote inquiry skills. Activities include estimating the number of raisins in the loaf by constructing histograms of the number of raisins in a slice. (MLH)

Discusses the fact that when the materials or interactions used as a basis for a science activity posses a high degree of familiarity, the student may rely on past experience rather than on gathering data to use in making judgments. In such cases, a simple request for observed evidence should be made. (MLH)

Inquiry learning is superior to traditional learning methods in that it requires students to actively participate in their courses by solving meaningful problems. Included here is a description of the six steps of the inquiry learning process and a complete lesson plan on mobility in nineteenth century American cities. (DC)

Discusses the development of inquiry skills as a legitimate goal for education and possible ways of using technology to support the inquiry process in classrooms. Three elements of inquiry are examined--how inquiry can be motivated, the centrality of questioning, and metacognitive aspects--and examples of classroom projects are given. (EM)