The present study explores ways to enhance students' question-asking ability (i.e., the ability to ask critical questions), which is the premise of scientific inquiry and a precondition for effective science teaching. A survey of junior high school students in Zhejiang province in China showed that students' questioning behavior was not well…

Scientific expertise and outcomes often give rise to controversy. An educational response that equips students to take part in socioscientific discussions is the teaching of Socially Acute Questions (SAQs). Students engaging with SAQs need to engage with socio scientific reasoning, which involves reasoning with evidence from a variety of fields…

Inquiry is essentially a process in which research questions are asked and an attempt is made to find the answers. However, the formulation of operational research questions of the sort used in authentic scientific inquiry is not a trivial task. Here, we set out to explore the possible influence of separating the research question from the…

This study explores questioning practices adopted by elementary teachers while facilitating science inquiry discussions prior and subsequent to their participation in a summer institute in which they were provided with scholarly descriptions of inquiry-based teacher questioning (i.e., typologies of questions used by discourse analysts to…

We set out to understand how different instantiations of inquiry emerged in two different years of one elementary teacher's classroom. Longitudinal observations from Mrs. Charles' 5th grade science classroom forced us to carefully and deliberately consider who exactly was responsible for the change in the class activities and norms. We provide…

Despite the heavy reliance on textbooks in college courses, research indicates that college students enrolled in first-year science courses are not proficient at comprehending informational text. The present study investigated a reading comprehension questioning strategy with origins in clinical research based in elaboration interrogation theory,…

The purpose of this study was to find out how teachers use questions in classroom discourse to scaffold student thinking and help students construct scientific knowledge. The study was conducted in large-class settings where the medium of instruction was English although the students were non-native speakers of the language. Six teachers teaching…

A model constructed by combining nine theories relating wait-time, teacher expectations, equity and fate control to inquiry behaviors is described. Results indicate implusive students can be converted to reflective pupils by providing them with time to think and by allowing alternative answers. (BR)

Presents a position strongly advocating inquiry training in science for students at all levels, but particularly at the elementary level. (SL)

Determined the effects of questions on the learning of 55 undergraduate education majors from case exhibits associated with a "walk-through" museum exhibit. The case exhibits contained diagrams, some specimens, a large amount of written material, but no questions. Also compared the effects of experimenter generated questions versus…

Determined relative effects of rhetorical, factual, valuing, and hypothesizing question types when these questions were interspersed throughout the reading passage in textual materials for students (N=383) in introductory biology. Reported results are based on a 20-item test given immediately after reading the passage, 2 weeks later, and 9 weeks…

Two postlaboratory discussion strategies (Probing and Nonprobing) were tested for effectiveness on learning science concepts by sixth graders. Similar laboratory experiences were provided to all, but discussion strategies differed. Analysis indicated significantly higher mean gain scores for the Nonprobing strategy group. (PS)

To enhance the learning outcomes achieved by students, learners undertook a computer-simulated activity based on an acid-base titration prior to a university-level chemistry laboratory activity. Students were categorized with respect to their attitudes toward learning. During the laboratory exercise, questions that students asked their assistant…

Investigated effects of varied wait-time durations and cognitive questioning levels on student achievement. Analyses of achievement results (using 30 preservice elementary teachers and 129 students) indicated significant differences attributable to teacher wait-time and cognitive questioning level. (JN)