We focus on the concept of matter and explore how young children in urban schools bridge their spontaneous concepts and everyday experiences with scientific concepts introduced to them by children's literature information books and their teacher. The study shows how material artifacts used in a sorting activity became ideational tools--semiotic…

1:1 laptop programs, in which every student is provided with a personal computer to use during the school year, permit increased and routine use of powerful, user-friendly computer-based tools. Growing numbers of 1:1 programs are reshaping the roles of teachers and learners in science classrooms. At the Denver School of Science and Technology, a…

Achieving national standards for science education for all students requires that the research agenda for inquiry-oriented instruction be well informed by current knowledge of successful and unsuccessful teaching practices in typical classrooms. Given the persistent lack of data about the nature of teacher behavior in inquiry-oriented teaching and…

This paper takes the position that philosophy is a critical avenue with which to approach a study of schooling, and that study of philosophy and philosophy of education will provide a framework needed for inquiry into schooling that is foundational, diverse, and critical. Processes of philosophical inquiry include the following: (1) conceptual…

By blending elements of inquiry with the components of portfolios, learning and thinking in teacher preparation courses can be extended and possible tensions between "covering content" and allowing "open-ended investigation" can be mitigated. Over the years, the author mused about how she might nudge graduate students in her…

The recent release of the National Science Education Standards and the previous release of Benchmarks for Scientific Literacy have initiated science education reform at the state, district, and local school levels. The purpose of this study was to investigate the extent to which a group of science teachers, administrators, and a curriculum…

This paper is the written account of a panel presentation about inquiry-oriented teaching practices. The purpose of this group of papers is to provide an opportunity to explore the state of knowledge of inquiry-oriented teaching based on direct observation of teachers, and analysis of those observations from an inquiry perspective. The paper…

This paper investigates middle school students' particular beliefs about the process of scientific inquiry as well as their beliefs about learning science, specifically the level of autonomy appropriate and their preference for memorization or understanding. Data collection instruments included a beliefs assessment, measures of student…

This study is part of a larger study on the problems that high school students' have in the interpretation and production of drawings and graphic representations in practical work in the biology laboratory, specifically with the use of the microscope. This part of the study focuses on classroom discourse among students and teacher as they use the…

This report documents the efforts of 15 Michigan school districts to bring about long term changes and improvement in the way science is taught to elementary school students. Over a three year period encouraging results on several fronts were noted, among which were improvements in student learning; an increase in teachers' abilities, confidence,…

This preliminary case study examined the philosophical perspectives of mathematics teachers at a high school situated near the Texas/Mexico border along the lower Rio Grande river valley. Ninety-eight percent of the students and 69% of the teachers are Hispanic. The mathematics teachers were administered a questionnaire that gauged their…

This is the fourth book in a sequence of four volumes written and designed for parents of students of science, particularly for those at the lower and upper elementary and junior high or intermediate level, senior high students, college students preparing to teach science, and all those individuals who are interested in science and the application…

This book was written to make it easier for classroom teachers to teach students the skills they need to successfully conduct, analyze, and report an experiment and to carry out independent research; it also presents strategies for holding successful science competitions. Part 1 contains field-tested teaching strategies for developing student…

This monograph describes the Curriculum Inquiry Cycle (CIC), focusing on the first phase. The CIC is a professional development process that supports educators in making curriculum and instruction decisions responsive to state standards, local needs, and student characteristics. The process is designed to improve learning and teaching, with the…

This manual is intended to give novice and veteran teachers a basis for inquiry within their classrooms. The following sections are intended to guide the reader through an introduction to practicing inquiry within the classroom: Philosophical Overview, Historical Overview, Use in the Classroom, How to Establish Inquiry in Your Classroom, and…