"Blended learning" is an educational approach that combines online and face-to-face components in the classroom, and it is becoming popular in American schools. But the quality of these programs is inconsistent; some are based on scientific findings on how children learn, while others lack such support. In fact, very little reliable…

Project EQuIPD--Engaging Quality Instruction through Professional Development--sought to establish and test for efficacy a professional development model to produce highly qualified teachers in STEM practices for all children, especially for students who are in traditionally underserved schools and districts within the State of Florida. The…

Teacher professional development and in-class mentors were used to support structured inquiry with math manipulatives. Twenty-four primary schools (n = 6,628 students) were randomly assigned to treatment and control groups as an experimental field trial to examine the effectiveness of this instructional approach in a scaled-up application in…

Despite a general consensus on the educational effectiveness of inquiry-based instruction, the enacted type of inquiry in science classrooms remains debatable in many countries including Saudi Arabia. This study compared guided-inquiry based teachers' professional development to teacher-directed approach in supporting Saudi students to understand…

Research suggests that professional development that engages teachers in instructional inquiry over an extended time through collaborative professional learning communities (PLCs) is effective in improving instruction and student achievement. Still, most professional development is offered as short-duration workshops that are not effective in…

Given the shift to Common Core, educational leaders are challenged to see new directions in teaching and learning. The purpose of this study was to investigate the instructional practices which may be related to the effectiveness of a performance-based system (PBS) and their impact on student achievement, as part of a thematic set of dissertations…

This study reports on a content course for science immersion teacher candidates that emphasized authentic practice of science and thinking scientifically in the context of introductory astrophysics. We explore how 122 science teacher candidates spanning three cohorts did and did not reason scientifically and how this evolved in our program. Our…

The International Baccalaureate (IB) programme utilizes an inquiry-based multi-disciplinary approach and focuses on the teaching of critical-thinking skills. The IB programme is growing at a rapid rate within the United States, with the overall number of IB schools having more than doubled in the last five years. The purpose of the present study…

This paper is a report of the impact of an externally funded, multiyear systemic reform project on students' science achievement on a modified version of the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) test in 33 small, rural school districts in two Midwest states. The systemic reform effort utilized a cascading leadership strategy…

This article examines whether models of cross-curricular, context-based learning are more effective in engaging learners through generating conditions which interest, motivate, engage and inspire pupils through a variety of effective pedagogies. This article reports on a case study of two cohorts of primary PGCE trainee teachers (292) over two…

This paper evaluates the perceived impact of the National Award (NA) for Special Educational Needs (SEN) Coordination in English mainstream schools. The Award was introduced in 2009 and has been mandatory for all new Special Educational Needs Coordinators (SENCos) since its inception. The framework used for the evaluation is based on the learning…

This article addresses the serious and growing need to improve science instruction and science achievement for all students. We will describe the results of a 3-year study that transformed science instruction and student achievement at two high-poverty ethnically diverse public elementary schools in Texas. The school-wide intervention included…

A primary instructional objective of most early science programs is to foster children's scientific curiosity and question-asking skills (Jirout & Klahr, 2011). However, little is known about the relationship between curiosity, question-asking behavior, and general inquiry skills. While curiosity and question asking are invariably mentioned in…

Animated pedagogical agents (APAs) have the potential to provide one-on-one, just-in-time instruction, guidance or mentoring in classrooms where such individualized human interactions may be infeasible. Much current APA research focuses on a wide range of design variables tested with small samples or in laboratory settings, while overlooking…

This mixed methods study described preservice teachers' conceptions of tides and explored the efficacy of integrating online data into inquiry-based instruction. Data sources included a multiple-choice assessment and in-depth interviews. A total of 79 participants in secondary, middle, and early childhood teacher education programs completed the…