Although confusion is generally perceived to be negative, educators dating as far back as Socrates, who asked students to question assumptions and wrestle with ideas, have challenged this notion. Can confusion be productive? How should instructors interpret student expressions of confusion? During two semesters of introductory physics that…

This study is based on two exploratory questions with the aim of determining the relative effectiveness of two different student activities, called "Reading, Presenting and Questioning" (RPQ) and "Experimenting and Discussing" (ED), in changing students' perceptions and attitudes about the impact of physics learning on the…

Pairing an inquiry lesson with a traditional reading activity creates a jarring philosophical mismatch between the interaction, deep thinking, and scientific reasoning that drives meaningful inquiry instruction and the "scan the text, copy the answers" response often obtained from elementary nonfiction readers. Realizing that there must be a…