This study investigated what constitutes exploratory learning and what effects instructional support measures have on it. Among the conclusions were that students were reluctant to apply learning processes that are considered characteristic for exploratory learning. Students had problems with the process, especially with the process of generating…

Describes a course specifically designed to allay the fear of science in elementary teachers by teaching them science in a laboratory-activity setting. Provides valuable laboratory experience often lacking in general education science courses. Lists topics covered in guided discovery exercises. Contains 12 references. (JRH)

Outlines a long-term, interdisciplinary, inquiry-based project for elementary education preservice teachers. Focuses on the ecosystems of a farm before its impending development. (Contains 17 references.) (DDR)

Suggests structured investigations as a method of teaching mathematics to preservice elementary school teacher. Presents an example problem that asks students to determine the maximum number of regions that can be created by connecting any two points around the circumference of a circle. (MDH)

Summarizes experiments indicating that a basic key to learning is the development of concepts of pattern recognition and the appropriateness of using a particular theorem. (Author/SK)

Examines changes in elementary science teachers' education, noting the fragmented status of school science. Few elementary teachers have strong academic backgrounds in science or fundamental knowledge of elementary science program content. Understanding preservice teachers' alternative conceptions and misconceptions about the nature of science is…

In the Discover Lab, a science education center at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, students learn to investigate, critique, and test big scientific questions and devise their own answers. Students are guided through cyclical processes of inquiry, logic and reasoning, testing and experimentation, and communication. (MLH)

This conference paper reports on research related to inquiry and how to infuse this approach into teacher training for pre-service elementary teachers. By using personal experiences of a three month visit to California elementary schools and a driving tour of England, these experiences are correlated to inquiry training with a model adapted from…

While many parents are familiar with Montessori schooling at the preschool level, Montessori elementary and middle schools have also proliferated in the past decade. This book provides an overview of Montessori theory and practice, with special emphasis on the child's elementary school years. Chapter 1 presents an introduction to the origin and…

Discusses Vee mapping, a technique to assist students in categorizing the relationship between the conceptual and procedural aspects of science. Presents a study to investigate elementary education majors' (n=27) use of the Vee heuristic and concept mapping for the construction of knowledge; attitudes toward learning science in collaborative…

Projects are in-depth studies of a topic undertaken by a class, a group, or an individual child. Projects are intended to strengthen children's dispositions to be interested, absorbed, and involved in in-depth observation, investigation, and representation of worthwhile phenomena in their own environments. This Catalog on the Project Approach, the…

Teaching cases have been utilized in professional training and can offer dramatic accounts of problems teachers may confront in the classroom. This case study examines a fact-based story of a third-grade teacher's confrontation with the mother of an African-American child who disagrees with the innovative approach utilized in her child's…

Projects are in-depth studies of a topic undertaken by a class, a group, or an individual child. Projects are intended to strengthen children's dispositions to be interested, absorbed, and involved in in-depth observation, investigation, and representation of worthwhile phenomena in their own environments. This Catalog on the Project Approach, the…

The IADIS CELDA 2012 Conference intention was to address the main issues concerned with evolving learning processes and supporting pedagogies and applications in the digital age. There had been advances in both cognitive psychology and computing that have affected the educational arena. The convergence of these two disciplines is increasing at a…