Background: Guidance has showed positive effects on promoting inquiry-based learning in science education. While an increasing number of studies focus on the design of guidance in simulation-based inquiry learning due to recent technology developments, how different designs of a same type of guidance affect learning remains a question. Objectives:…

In this review, we explore the notion of teaching science to English language learners (ELLs) as a balancing act between simultaneously focusing on language and content development, on the one hand, and between structuring instruction and focusing on student learning processes, on the other hand. This exploration is conducted through the lens of a…

Although the human mind resists confusion, this feeling of disequilibrium nurtures learning. Newkirk, the author quotes, says intelligence is not a matter of being smart--it is the capacity to view difficulty as an opportunity to stop, reassess, and employ strategies for making sense of problems. These same habits of mind define reflection, a…

According to a century-old tradition in biological thinking, organisms can be considered as being optimally designed. In modern biology this idea still has great heuristic value. In evolutionary biology a so-called design heuristic has been formulated which provides guidance to researchers in the generation of knowledge about biological systems.…

The purpose of this study was to examine students' understanding of argumentation when talk and writing were provided as learning tools, as well as to explore how talk and writing can best support students' construction of scientific knowledge. Most current studies have examined discourse patterns over a short interval of only a few class periods…

The "Approaches to Studying Inventory" (ASI) was based on qualitative research by Marton and Saljo, which established "surface" and "deep" approaches to study. This article attempts a new qualitative explication of the meanings of study. A heuristic due to Husserl is employed which distinguishes between the "noema", the "subjective object" of…

Following a brief discussion of the lack of definition and cohesion in the social studies and the curriculum, the paper argues that the reflective inquiry rationale has had the most significant influence of all the alternative rationales for the field and its curriculum. The paper presents its case in four basic sections. The first section,…

A 1986 policy instituted by the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges calls for strengthening the rigor and academic standards of all college-level courses to be counted toward the associate degree. The policy calls for all courses to promote students' ability to think critically. One of the first difficulties encountered by…

The 4th International Conference on Educational Data Mining (EDM 2011) brings together researchers from computer science, education, psychology, psychometrics, and statistics to analyze large datasets to answer educational research questions. The conference, held in Eindhoven, The Netherlands, July 6-9, 2011, follows the three previous editions…

Help-seeking has become a topic of growing interest in the past 5 years for educators and psychologists concerned with the development and enhancement of children's active learning skills. This paper explains the instrumental role of help-seeking in learning. Major conceptualizations of help-seeking are examined and evaluated for their utility in…