Over the centuries, changes in technology and education have transformed people's attitudes towards the arts, making them more accessible. Bohemianism and modern art in the 18th century challenged the elitist perception of the arts, democratizing access. Digital tools and online resources have further opened doors to creating and experiencing…

When it comes to research design, the literature largely focuses on prescriptions for strengthening causal inference--identifying confounders, selecting appropriately comparable cases, generating testable hypotheses, etc. This approach to research design features the logic of inquiry heavily, but overlooks the logic of discovery. The logic of…

Self-organized learning was developed by Professor Sugata Mitra of Newcastle University on the foundation of his firm belief that learning will emerge spontaneously when children are encouraged to be curious and are allowed to self-organize. There are seven dedicated Self-Organized Learning Environments (SOLEs) that Mitra established in…

The author describes key issues and uncommon concerns about the Common Core State Standards that fit within two categories: philosophical and pedagogical. Philosophically, Common Core State K-12 Standards should not be expected to be mastered at a specific grade level but based on developmental readiness. Pedagogically, Common Core State Standards…

This is the fourth paper in our Light-Emitting Diodes series. The series aims to create a systematic library of LED-based materials and to provide readers with the description of experiments and the pedagogical treatment that would help their students construct, test, and apply physics concepts and mathematical relations. The first paper provided…

Treasure quests in virtual worlds can help students develop multi-literacy communication skills and promote community, offering insights about art teaching and learning. As part of the new media literacy, students explore the offerings of Second Life (SL), a virtual world, as a series of quests. Multi-literacy involves communication. Through their…

In our science for non-science majors course "21st Century Physics," we investigate modern "Hubble plots" (plots of velocity versus distance for deep space objects) in order to discuss the Big Bang, dark matter, and dark energy. There are two potential challenges that our students face when encountering these topics for the…

We argue that student research skills in mathematics should be honed throughout the curriculum just as such skills are built over time in the natural and physical sciences. Examples used in the mathematics program at St. Olaf College are given.

One way to integrate indigenous perspectives in junior science is through links between indigenous stories of the local area and science concepts. Using local indigenous stories about landforms, a teacher of Year 8 students designed a unit on geology that catered for the diverse student population in his class. This paper reports on the…

Mendel and his peas. Goodall and her chimpanzees. Bentley and his snowflakes. Pasteur and his sheep. Not only do these stories intrigue students, but they also demonstrate the trials and tribulations associated with scientific inquiry. Using scientists' biographies piques student interest while providing an added dimension to their understanding…

In the activity described in this article, students learn about observation, interpretation, and argumentation. Students are led through several stages of observation and inference about an unknown object, during which they learn the value of representations and collaboration. They are then asked to construct an argument about the identity of the…

This classroom narrative proposes a process for reinventing academic research and writing in secondary schools for the 21st Century. We build on Macrorie's (1988) I-Search paper, drawing on affordances of Web 2.0 technologies and culture, to initiate the iSearch 2.0 process. iSearch 2.0 consists of four phases: 1) messing about and trying on…

The process used by scientists as they pursue research as a wheel with questions at the hub and various stages of the inquiry in a circular arrangement around the hub is described. It is noted that the process of scientific inquiry can begin from any stage and that stages may be revisited as often as the particular inquiry requires.

There has been considerable debate on the nature of scholarship over the past two decades. A key contribution to this debate is a seminal work in which Boyer (1990) articulates an expanded notion of scholarship. One of the four functions of scholarship that Boyer identifies in this expanded view of scholarship is the scholarship of integration. In…

Learning through discovery and inquiry is one of the cornerstones of mathematics education theory. The examples provide scope for the students to rediscover mathematics in an enjoyable way.