Self-organized learning was developed by Professor Sugata Mitra of Newcastle University on the foundation of his firm belief that learning will emerge spontaneously when children are encouraged to be curious and are allowed to self-organize. There are seven dedicated Self-Organized Learning Environments (SOLEs) that Mitra established in…

An exploratory study of a middle school curriculum directly aligned with the Next Generation Science Standards was conducted with a focus on how the curriculum addresses the instructional needs of students with learning disabilities. A descriptive analysis of a lesson on speed and velocity was conducted and implications discussed for students with…

Oxford College is a small liberal-arts intensive 2-year undergraduate division of Emory University, where inquiry-based courses are a required part of the general education program. We have developed an authentic research experience for undergraduates that mimics--as much as possible--a real undergraduate research experience. Our program provides…

One way to integrate indigenous perspectives in junior science is through links between indigenous stories of the local area and science concepts. Using local indigenous stories about landforms, a teacher of Year 8 students designed a unit on geology that catered for the diverse student population in his class. This paper reports on the…

This paper explores the relationship between practitioners' pedagogical purposes, values and practices in designing for inquiry-based learning in higher education, and the affordances of the Learning Activity Management System (LAMS) as a tool for creating learning designs in this context. Using a qualitative research methodology, variation was…

When teaching science, the time allowed for students to make discoveries on their own through the inquiry method directly conflicts with the mandated targets of a broad spectrum of curricula. Research shows that using an inquiry-based approach can encourage student motivation and increase academic achievement (Wolf & Fraser, 2008, Bryant, 2006,…

This booklet can help college instructors breathe life into sociology classes by showing students how sociology is "done" in the real world. Twenty-nine exercises demonstrate to students how data are collected, how data are used to support or refute ideas, how data are interpreted, and the questions raised by different methods of research. The…

Tells stories of children in their first year of school (mostly age five) who were using calculators for the first time. Implications are that children's thinking moves from a rough to a more thorough and refined grasp of the whole. Learning mathematics with calculators is more like the learning of language than traditional classroom mathematics.…

Defines inquiry, a student-centered discovery process, and introduces Pathways to Knowledge(TM), an information process model that provides stages and strategies for anyone interested in gathering, using, and evaluating information. Describes the six stages of Pathways: Appreciation, Presearch; Search; Interpretation; Communication; and…

Presents an account of a week of learning and instruction from a high school physics course to provide a context for discussion of the role and demands of teacher inquiry. Argues coordination of student inquiry and traditional content is a matter of discerning and responding to students' particular strengths and needs. (Author/KB)