Explains an online introductory biology course that applies the inquiry approach to hands-on laboratories. Evaluates learning objectives such as the knowledge of biology, reasoning, attitudes, and graphing skills. (YDS)

Contends that picture story books meet the goals of social studies, promote social inquiry, and are compatible with social studies curriculum standards. Describes the use of picture story books in the classroom. Includes an annotated bibliography, and discussion of the bibliography, that is meant to encourage social consciousness in students five-…

This article documents a collaborative, teacher inquiry process to uncover a diverse sample of 271 students from an urban high school reflect on teachers they admire and classes in which they feel the most comfortable. The findings indicate that the students described teachers in terms of who the teacher is as a person, the role that he or she…

Simply carving up a large comprehensive high school into several smaller schools does not guarantee improvement. In this article, the authors find that key lessons garnered from numerous small-school conversions can guide school leaders through the cultural changes that must accompany the structural ones if small schools are to fulfill their…

This paper set emerged from an international symposium that aimed to shed light on issues associated with the enactment of inquiry both as means (i.e., inquiry as an instructional approach) and as ends (i.e., inquiry as a learning outcome) in precollege science classrooms. The symposium contributors were charged with providing perspectives from…

Secondary science methods students' thinking on coteaching practice was studied for the development of conscious elements of practical teacher knowledge supporting the use of structured inquiry. Reflective dialogue on practice in an electronic forum was analyzed for elements of formal learning and biography (past and present) that informed…

This paper focuses on an early stage of developing curricular materials to support students' learning of scientific inquiry. The materials being developed and tested, called Classroom FeederWatch (CFW), aimed to support science inquiry and were developed by a collaborative team of private curriculum developers and scientists (ornithologists).…

This investigation examines the difficulties encountered by one graduate teaching assistant as she taught "Physics for Elementary Education," a large-enrollment, inquiry-based science course taught at a public Midwestern university. The methodological approach of hermeneutic phenomenology served as the lens to investigate the research question,…

Because preparation of principals has not kept pace with changes in the larger world of schooling, graduates of principal-preparation programs have been left ill equipped for the challenges and opportunities posed by an era of accountability. Principals receive limited training in the use of data, research, technology, the hiring or termination of…

In this online exploration of sound energy and the human ear, students carry out an inquiry-based activity, which leads them to websites featuring a diagram of a human ear, an interactive demonstration of the Doppler effect, a model of longitudinal waves, and an animation of human hearing. In the activity, students formulate, justify, and evaluate…

Science education has moved from the traditional lecture-and-demonstration model toward a student inquiry model. Inquiry activities allow students to discover many relationships of science for themselves. However beneficial this shift may be, former assessment methods used in the traditional model may no longer effectively determine student…

Two astronomy professors, using the Decoding the Disciplines process, help their students use abstract theories to analyze light and to visualize the enormous scale of astronomical concepts. (Contains 5 figures.)

The "National Science Education Standards" provide a vision and standard of science instruction that includes not only the factual, content-rich history of science but also an understanding of the processes and skills necessary to "do" science. Moreover, the "Standards" provide the framework for science instruction that embodies the use of…

Increasing numbers of music education researchers have begun to use qualitative methods to examine research topics using interviews, observations, documents, and archival data. In this article, I review qualitative research methodology and its origins and methods, discuss topics that have been studied by music education researchers using…

This article is written by three faculty mentors involved in Transforming Education through the Arts (TETAC), a 5-year effort to help reform five public schools in Ohio by integrating the arts into the curriculum. In this article, the authors discuss how art education can play a significant role in the PK-12 curriculum; create more demanding…