This monograph addresses the issues in phenomenology as applied to educational research. The first chapter discusses problems with the following traditional goals of scientific methodology when applied by social scientists to educational research: measurement, control, objectivity, generalizability, and prediction. The second chapter explains the…

The eight case studies included in this volume were conducted during a major study of Canadian science education. The study was undertaken to establish a documented basis for describing the present purposes and general characteristics of science teaching in Canadian schools, to provide a historical analysis of science education in Canada, and to…

The paper defines action research and what conception of theory might best contribute to its development. Action research is a continuous conscious attempt to seek increased meaning and direction in a teacher's relationship with students. Practical inquiry of teachers with their students is a form of educational research. A Masters Degree Program…

Some preliminary ideas on narrative inquiry in educational studies and educational reform are presented. Illustrations from Bay Street School (drawn from a 9-year research project on personal knowledge and narrative) are included. Since whatever may be said about narrative as method follows from its character as phenomenon, the aspects of…

In order to explore the rhetorical components of instruction at the undergraduate level and determine whether differences and similarities exist among the discourse fields represented by instructors in the kind of talk which they regard as desirable in their classroom, formal interviews were conducted with teaching faculty representing l5…

The dominant view of inquiry reflected in graduate educational research courses has been labelled as positivistic or quantitative. Instructional strategies have been designed to train students to become more skilled in the use of complex statistical procedures, more efficient in the development of preordinate designs permitting increasingly higher…

Voice can be considered as the writer's attitude toward the reader (the rhetorical function) and the writer's attitude toward the subject or object being written about (the epistemic function). Voice is expressed by such things as word choice, rhythm, sound, and juxtaposition of words and sentences. Moreover, the writer's attitude toward the…

The teaching of science in the K­-12 classroom has been less than successful. Students typically do not develop science literacy and do not understand the role and relevance of science in society. Inquiry­-based learning is an approach which promises to improve science teaching by engaging students in authentic investigations, thereby achieving a…

What should we do with our brightest and best? Neal Watkin and Johannes Ahrenfelt suggest an enquiry for a very high ability Year 8 group which is both challenging and genuinely historical. The enquiry itself has cross-curricular elements within its historical framework: it draws on geography, sociology and citizenship. This should not distract us…

In two, linked articles, appearing in this and the next edition, Maria Osowiecki shares an account of a five-lesson enquiry, based on the concept of historical significance (National Curriculum Key Element 2e) for mixed ability Year 8. She wanted to experiment with an array of creative teaching techniques that would appeal to a wide range of…

The implementation of inquiry-based teaching is a major theme in national science education reform documents such as "Project 2061: Science for All Americans" (Rutherford & Alhgren, 1990) and the "National Science Education Standards" (NRC, 1996). These reports argue that inquiry needs to be a central strategy of all…

The development of critical ability, or cognitive criticism, is being studied in a two-year Swedish project described in this progress report. Cognitive criticism is valuable in all occupational fields, but especially futurology and technology assessment. This project proposes to make concrete the aims of critical training, and to identify and…

This publication is designed for educators, researchers, and students in both school and university audiences. In an effort to give a more in-depth analysis of the Inquiry Type Science Curricula, this publication defines its terms, describes goals and objectives of modern science curricula, gives a history of, reasons for, and description of…

Reports a study which reinforces the assumption that objectives enable learners to retain essential points and to organize complex cognitive processes needed for successful inquiry-oriented learning experiences. Results that knowledge of science processes (POST Scores) contributes more to achievement variance than the use of behavioral objectives.…

From a special report, "What's New in Curriculum.