Exploratorium Science Snacks are miniature versions of some of the most popular exhibits at the Exploratorium, San Francisco's (California) museum of science, art, and human perception. Nearly 100 teachers worked with Exploratorium staff members to create scaled-down versions of exhibits that teachers could make using common, inexpensive,…

Focusing on multiple ways in which learners gain access to knowledge and skills, this handbook explores the possibilities of broadening current conceptualizations of literacy to include the full array of the communicative arts (reading, writing, speaking, listening, viewing). The handbook pays particular attention to the visual arts of drama,…

The purpose of this report is to synthesize two other evaluation reports ascertaining the effectiveness of the Scope, Sequence & Coordination (SS&C) project on ninth and tenth grade student achievement of the National Science Education Standards. The overall evaluation utilized a time lag, post-test-only design in which the perceptions and…

This curriculum guide is divided into five lessons, each containing several activities that reflect the natural path of inquiry that third or fourth grade students might take in considering the water that arrives in their bathroom sinks each morning. Starting from the familiar faucet, the students are encouraged to reflect on their own habits and…

Biogeography examines questions of organism inventory and pattern, organisms' interactions with the environment, and the processes that create and change inventory, pattern, and interactions. This learning module uses time series maps and simple simulation models to illustrate how human actions alter biological productivity patterns at local and…

This paper reviews the literature supporting a discovery- or inquiry-based learning approach to science and describes its benefits for students and teachers. The creation and evaluation of a website related to discovery-based learning is also described. (Contains 20 references.) (WRM)

Summarizes findings of seven studies dealing with how teacher behavior affects student performance in activity-centered science classrooms at the elementary and junior high school levels. Concludes that activity-centered classrooms encourage student creativity in problem solving, student independence, and help low ability students overcome initial…

Describes Project Alliance, a program that brings the university and science communities together to support middle school teachers working in teams to create integrated inquiry-based science curricula. Discusses the two-year program that trains teachers to become leaders in science education reform, six types of science partnerships, partnership…

Because children are in danger of losing their curiosity in adolescence, science teaching in primary school is of critical importance. Nurturing curiosity requires that the locus of control must reside with the learner. Instructional density (the amount of teaching) must not inhibit children's thinking and decision-making so as to remove the…

This article explores the issue of ethical impact of conversation in the classroom, arguing that the experience of critical inquiry conducted through classroom dialog can cultivate precisely those ethical characteristics required of participants in the public life of a deliberative democracy. (SM)

A sixth-grade social studies teacher examined how to give her students more autonomy. By teaching them how to function in cooperative learning environments, the teacher noticed significant improvements in student-teacher interaction, a lessening of disciplinary problems, and a strengthening of individual student leadership. (Author/SM)

Assembles in print form a World Wide Web-based presentation on 12 Internet resources that stimulate inquiry and help develop elementary and secondary school students' critical thinking skills. Other highlights include sources for evaluating Web-based resources, using the Internet with students, listservs, creating Web-based resource guides, and a…

Explores the relationship among teachers' cognitive styles, their preference of leadership styles, and their susceptibility to stress. Data from the self-reports of elementary teachers suggest that nonanalytic teachers prefer principals who stress process rather than task and appear less susceptible to occupational stress than the more analytic…

Explores the term "story" as it defines method and object of inquiry in teaching and learning, and explores story as a mode of knowing. Considers the political context of the story and issues of gender, power, ownership, and voice and the contributions of stories to case studies. (SLD)

Focuses on a project of the Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment (GLOBE) Program that explores whether student data are accurate enough to support rigorous scientific investigations. Reports the results of a team investigation. (DDR)