One of today's challenges in science education involves the development of appropriate conceptions of inquiry teaching and realizing how these experiences can support students' understanding of the nature of science and inquiry (NOS and NOSI). To meet this challenge, we developed a course for in-service science teachers, in which…

Educational policy bodies worldwide have argued that practicing inquiry as a part of the K-12 curriculum would help prepare students for their lives as adults in today's world. This study investigated adults who graduated high school 9 years earlier with a major in biology, to determine how they perceive the inquiry project they experienced and…

Inquiry provides opportunities to engage students in authentic science. Although inquiry's underlying principles can motivate students to learn, the challenges that students encounter may hamper their motivation. Thus, the teacher's role in providing motivational support is crucial. This research examines how the interplay among the inquiry's…

Engaging students in inquiry is a key component in order to fulfill essential goals in science education. To achieve successful engagement in inquiry process, students need to feel competent and autonomous in spite of the cognitive and mental challenges the process entails. The study focuses on the "problematizing" mechanisms of…

This study examined teachers' expressions of the dynamic characteristics of open inquiry, which emphasize the scientific, continuous, and flexible thinking and affective aspects associated with the inquiry process. Metacognitive prompts supported teachers' reflections as they engaged in an open inquiry process. Using both qualitative and…

The prevalence of habitat and life-threatening environmental problems has motivated environmental researchers to develop education programs to strengthen students' environmental literacy. We argue that the connection between environmental literacy and metacognition is theoretically promising. Therefore, we developed the "Meta-CIC" model,…

The research goal of this study was to determine whether teachers who participated in an inquiry-based course were able to internalize a dynamic open inquiry process. This study focused on 25 science teachers who participated in an annual inquiry-based academic course. Several teaching tools helped teachers employ an open inquiry process. We…

In teaching inquiry to high school students, educators differ on which method of teaching inquiry is more effective: Guided or open inquiry? This paper examines the influence of these two different inquiry learning approaches on the attitudes of Israeli high school biology students toward their inquiry project. The results showed significant…

In examining open inquiry projects among high-school biology students, we found dynamic inquiry performances expressed in two criteria: "changes occurring during inquiry" and "procedural understanding". Characterizing performances in a dynamic open inquiry project can shed light on both the procedural and epistemological…

The article provides science educators with definitions of inquiry and its levels, relating them to real-world scientific processes. Such an educational shift entails a fundamental cultural change in the epistemology of science learning in schools, shifting it from "instructionism" to social constructivist learning. The highest level of…

Among potential topics in the new science of biodiversity, understanding the characteristics and impact of invasive birds is an attractive subject to include as part of junior high school biology studies. Birds are aesthetic and raise curiosity. Curiosity about birds, combined with field observations, can stimulate students to ask authentic…

Set against the background of the call for sustainable development, a fostering of sense of place emerged as one of education for sustainability's chief goals. Heidegger's concept of "dwelling thinking" guided us, in this research, to look beyond the emotional and cognitive attachment to a place toward a state of mind which is not…

The main goal of the present study is to investigate empirically the effects of Asynchronic Learning Network (ALN) embedded within metacognitive instruction (META) on two components of metacognitive awareness: Knowledge about Cognition (KC) and Regulation of Cognition (RC). Participants were 202 tenth grade students: 102 students who studied under…

Dynamic inquiry learning emphasizes aspects of change, intellectual flexibility, and critical thinking. Dynamic inquiry learning is characterized by the following criteria: learning as a process, changes during the inquiry, procedural understanding, and affective points of view. This study compared the influence of open versus guided inquiry…

Asking questions is an activity central to inquiry learning. This research examined documents created during an open inquiry learning process of the Biomind programme for Israeli high school students. In addition, to understand how students express and develop curiosity in learning, we observed students during a molecular biology lesson, a subject…