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…

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…

Three series of eight fifteen-minute programs were made with conceptual and process orientation. Data was presented and open questions asked, but not answered. New ways of using traditional materials were demonstrated, as was the adaptability of television to non-expository teaching. (NH)

Three series of eight fifteen-minute programs each were made conceptual and process oriented. Data was presented and divergent questions asked about it, but not answered. New ways of using traditional materials were demonstrated as was the adaptability of TV to non-expository teaching. (NH)

Discusses the development and use of flowcharts to involve students in the major stages of experimental design and hypothesizing. The progress of stages attempts to simplify the complexity involved during problem-solving in science investigations. Several illustrative flowcharts are included. (JN)

Discovery learning, defined as intentional learning through problem solving and under the supervision of the teacher, is discussed in terms of its advantages and disadvantages, with suggestions for its application. (JMF)

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

Reported is a study demonstrating the effects of acknowledgment of success as related to self-concept, problem solving behavior, or science concept development of seventh-grade students. Forty-nine students were randomly assigned to either the experimental group (those who received acknowledgment of successful autonomous discovery) or the control…

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…

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…

This study investigates the cognitive nature of teacher-pupil questions in "process oriented" and "content oriented" secondary social studies programs. Subjects were five classes selected from a program viewed by both teachers and pupils as process-oriented; five from a program viewed by both teachers and pupils as content…

Hands-on science activities and first-hand experiences of kindergartners studying trees demonstrate the true meaning of authentic assessment. The activities and teacher interactions had several things in common: (1) they asked students to perform or create something; (2) they invoked real-world applications; (3) they showed that there is more than…

This book describes inquiry learning during a year-long classroom exploration with 4th graders, which began with setting up a bird feeder and a journal for students to record observations. The authors argue that schools have been organized to make things easy for learners, shielding them from the messiness, ambiguity, and change of intellectual…

This book attempts to introduce students to the creative aspects of mathematics through exploratory problems. The introduction presents the criteria for the selection of the problems in the book. Criteria indicate that problems should: be immediately attractive, require data to be generated or gathered, appeal to students from junior high school…