Interest driven learning has the potential to enhance the inquiry based learning process by contextualizing curriculum as students investigate scientific questions, collecting and analyzing data, and construct reasonable conclusions relative to their interests. This paper presents a project and its findings that involved preservice elementary…

The aim of the study was to examine the improvement of basic science process skills among second graders in science learning through an inquiry-based approach. The participants were 23 students from a second graders class. Participants were with the age around seven years old. The 5E model of inquiry-based approach was used to teach science. Mixed…

Makerspaces have become very popular in education because they "provide hands-on, creative ways to encourage students to design, experiment, build, and invent as they deeply engage in science, engineering, and tinkering" (Cooper 2013). Not only do makerspaces provide a safe learning environment for students to develop their 21st century…

In this paper, we present a study of second graders' learning about the nature of matter in the context of content-rich, model-based inquiry instruction. The goal of instruction was to help students learn to use simple particle models to explain states of matter and phase changes. We examined changes in students' ideas about matter, the coherence…

This qualitative multiple-comparative case study investigates (1) The reported experiences and impressions of four pre-service teachers (PTs) on practicum placement in four different classrooms (grades 1-9) where a new Steps to Inquiry (SI) framework was being utilized to support students conducting open inquiry; (2) The relative dispositions of…

This article tells the story of one second grade teacher and the ways she integrated informational texts into her classroom. Reported by the classroom teacher and a researcher who studied her practice for a year, the manuscripts detail the ways Michelle (the classroom teacher) embedded informational texts in her classroom primarily within the…

Teaching science to diverse learners can be a demanding and challenging task. Teachers may be underprepared and thus unsure of how to best address the needs of their students in their classroom. One approach to helping teachers is through professional development. Yet, programs that focus mainly on science or special education can fail to fully…

There is a particular need for inquiry-based lessons in the early elementary grades, when students are starting to develop their analytical skills. In this article, the authors present a 2-tiered inquiry-based lesson plan for 1st and 2nd grades that has been successfully used by graduate teaching fellows involved in the National Science Foundation…

When planning to teach science to students who are English language learners (ELLs), science teachers and some science educators look to sheltered instruction as a potential guide. The possibility of blending inquiry-based teaching with a sheltered instruction framework seems a promising method for providing high-quality science learning…