One hundred years after its conception, the scientific method continues to reinforce a kind of cultural lore about what it means to participate in inquiry. As commonly implemented in venues ranging from middle school classrooms to undergraduate laboratories, it emphasizes the testing of predictions rather than ideas, focuses learners on material…

This study examined 21 preservice secondary teachers as they engaged in activities aimed at fostering an understanding of the epistemic roles that models, theory, and argument play in scientific inquiry. Findings indicate that instruction can help preservice teachers develop more sophisticated understandings of scientific models and promote…

Discusses inquiry and how asking questions, answering the questions, and arguing the answer should be. Provides examples of inquiry investigations and make recommendations for inquiry-based teaching approaches. (YDS)

Most of America's pre-service science teachers enter their preparation programs without having conducted a single inquiry in which they have developed the question being investigated or the means to resolve it. This article describes a study in which twelve pre-service secondary science teachers developed their own investigations--from formulating…

Despite the ubiquity of the term "inquiry" in science education literature, little is known about how teachers conceptualize inquiry, how these conceptions are formed and reinforced, how they relate to work done by scientists, and if these ideas about inquiry are translated into classroom practice. This is a multicase study in which 14 preservice…