Inquiry learning is an effective learning approach if learners are properly guided. Its effectiveness depends on learners' prior knowledge, the domain, and their relationship. In a previous study we developed an Experiment Design Tool (EDT) guiding learners in designing experiments. The EDT significantly benefited low prior knowledge learners. For…

Inquiry skills are universally recognised as being integral to a contemporary science education where students need to understand the nature of scientific practices as well as concepts. Although inquiry learning is a common practice among primary educators, the development and assessment of inquiry skills is far less practised. There is a need for…

Scientific literacy is decreasing in the Czech Republic and inquiry-based science education (IBSE), believed to enhance it, is used rarely. Meanwhile, outdoor teaching is on the rise, but it is unclear if it could help promote inquiry. This study examines the frequencies of outdoor teaching and IBSE and their relationship in self-reported practice…

This pilot study investigates the way that young students and teachers of a Dutch Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) secondary school subject Research and Design (R&D) reason about the concept of 'model'. The core of the Dutch Technasium secondary school course Research and Design curriculum (R&D is in Dutch called…

Previous research of inquiry-based learning in natural science education indicates that there are different methodological trends and paradigms in the study of these issues. The aim of this research has been to analyze the selected relevant studies on inquiry-based learning in natural science education in order to assess their scope and…

The article describes the inclusive perspective of instruction of multi-stage practical projects in undergraduate non-STEM statistics and data mining courses at an academic college in Israel. The student population is highly diverse, comprising individuals from various cultural and ethnic groups. The study examines the impact of diversity on…

This study examined the roles of gender and STEM major status as predictors of performance in formulating a research question and designing experiment among 70 undergraduate Taiwanese college students participating in inquiry-based learning (IBL). Student participants in this study were involved in discrepant demonstrations of scientific events…

This article argues for a citizen social science methodology in which residents from the sites of inquiry play a central role in key activities of the research process and beyond: research design and data collection, presentation and publication of findings, and design and implementation of urban interventions that address challenges to quality of…

This article presents an innovative technique for teaching the principles of experimental design in a way that is entertaining and engaging for students. Following a lecture on experimental design, students participate in an experiment in which the teacher uses a funny segment from a movie to test the influence of implicit social norms. Randomly…

This article describes experiences with a qualitative research project into teachers' learning from innovating their own educational practices. Decades of New Public Management (NPM) in the Netherlands, with its top-down and businesslike approach to areas of public interest, obscured the learning and innovating capacity of teachers, teams, and…

This paper concerns the identification of teaching strategies that enhance the development of 4th grade students' experimental design skills at a public primary school in Argentina. Students' performance in the design of relevant experiments was evaluated before and after an eight-week intervention compared to a control group, as well as the…

This study revisits case learning's effects on student engagement and assesses student learning as a result of the use of case studies and problem-based learning. The author replicates a previous study that used indirect assessment techniques to get at case learning's impact, and then extends the analysis using a pre- and post-test experimental…

This study aimed to evaluate the implementation of a same-year peer-assisted learning (PAL) scheme, introduced in the first year of an undergraduate degree. The students participated in voluntary timetabled PAL sessions which encouraged a cooperative approach through student-directed activities. An action research design was used, and evaluation…

The purpose of this research is to study the effects of drama and traditional methods on primary school students' use of reading strategies, on their attitudes toward reading, and on their perceptions of the drama method. A pre- and post-test experimental design with the control group was employed for this study. The drama technique was used in…

The use of fictional writing, and in particular fictional dialogue, has gained increasing credibility and popularity within the field of qualitative social science research (Clough, 2002; Denzin, 1997; Tierney, 1998) but research in early childhood education has yet to exploit such methodologies. This article asks: what is meant by the term…