Having a well-founded insight into the characteristics of teachers inquiry-based attitude (IA) supports operationalising IA as a learning goal in teacher education (TE). The aim of this study is to refine the notion of IA from an ill-defined global concept into something with reliable and valid characteristics. To do so, data were gathered on…

The aim of this explorative study was to find the factors limiting sixth-grade learners' outcomes in acquiring skills related to the transformative inquiry learning processes as well as to analyse the interrelations between inquiry skills in order to develop an optimal support system for designing Web-based inquiry learning environments. A…

Reported is an examination of the effects of a newly devised science course upon the logical thought processes of college freshmen. Five tasks designed to determine whether the student did thinking logically when presented with problems of conservation of volume, reversible operations, reconciliation of irrelevant variables, and elimination of…

From the Series "Social Studies Education: The Elementary School -- Focus on Inquiry.

A model for teaching social studies by the discovery approach is presented. The authors maintain that the temporal inquiry teaching model holds considerable promise for encouraging student enthusiasm, emphasizing higher cognitive levels, and stimulating divergent student thinking and activity. (Author/DB)

Teachers are encouraged to examine more critically the assumptions on which science curricula are based so they will be less likely to accept naive approaches to discovery learning. Examples from the Physical Science Study Committee (PSSC) and Nuffield Physics are used to show how they use discovery learning. (IS)

Elementary teachers and principals enrolled in an elementary education graduate course developed this guide which interprets and applies the concept of inquiry teaching and learning. The purpose of the guide is to bridge the gap between the theory of the inquiry process and its use in the classroom. It is written for use by elementary educators as…

The writings of 33 authors in either curriculum theory or social studies are analyzed to determine whether each author supports structure-discovery views, reflective-inquiry views, or expresses views that tend to reflect both positions or neither position regarding the new approaches to teaching social studies. The structure-discovery method is…

A set of instructional materials and methods, designated Inquiry Development Program, was designed to teach children how to learn independently. The student was presented with an event which had an outcome that ran counter to his expectations. Motivated by his curiousity, he then searched for an explanation to the discrepancy between what he…

Presents an account of a week of learning and instruction from a high school physics course to provide a context for discussion of the role and demands of teacher inquiry. Argues coordination of student inquiry and traditional content is a matter of discerning and responding to students' particular strengths and needs. (Author/KB)