A series of inquiry plans for the systematic development of learning and thinking skills are provided in this teaching guide. The materials for each grade level include: 1) a summary of the plans, justification of them, identification of the concepts and content that the students will explore, and an outline of the instruction strategy; 2) a…

The Amherst Project has announced a program available on a cooperative basis to schools, school districts, and regional educational groups interested in developing and implementing new high school curriculums along inquiry lines in American history and social studies. The program involves a coordinated effort at experimental curriculum development…

This essay examines flaws in the standard hypothetical-deduction inquiry model and offers another quite different model of inquiry, the multiple-completing model, for use in the school classroom. In positing this new model of inquiry the assumption has been made that a pedagogical inquiry model need not necessarily be an accurate reflection of…

American Indian paraprofessionals were trained to teach parents to use social learning principles to develop question-asking skills in their first-grade children. Subjects were assigned to three treatment groups of 10 subjects each for a time lag control form of multiple baseline design. Two hypotheses were tested: (1) instruction by parents would…

In 1972, new goals in teacher education and certification, based on performance or competency-based teacher certification, required the redesigning of New York state certification programs. Modifications in 1943 and 1963 had already required a fifth year of graduate study and supervised student teaching, usually as a culminating experience, for…

Twenty teacher-developed elementary and secondary instructional activities on geography-related topics are available in a single activity, loose-leaf format as an on-going series. Simulations, role playing, mapping, group discussion, experiential learning, and field excursions are some of the instructional approaches. Materials include case…

New social studies curricula and methods need to be adapted to fundamental aims of education -- the stimulation of cognitive and moral development. Educational implications of Piaget's work in cognitive stage development and the author's work in moral stage development are based upon the cognitive developmental transition of John Dewey, who…

A project was undertaken to develop and evaluate the effectiveness of a unit of instruction which would teach economically deprived first grade children some interesting scientific concepts and increase their curiosity behavior and willingness to offer hypotheses, carry out experiments, and evaluate outcomes. The instructional unit was based on…

The small size of college composition classes encourages exciting and meaningful interaction, especially when students are divided into smaller, autonomous groups for all or part of the hour. This booklet discusses the advantages of combining the inquiry method (sometimes called the discovery method) with a group approach and describes specific…

Some characteristics of inquiry training which make it applicable to geography instruction are described. The first section reviews various conceptual approaches and provides frameworks for the study of inquiry teaching. The second section presents two case studies which illustrate inquiry teaching approaches to a geographic study of world…

Presents the idea that self-questioning is an important resource for learning, and that creative drama should provide a unique support for "wondering" in the classroom because drama teachers model open-ended questioning and elicit the same from students. (JC)

Presents a method that enables students to assess political cartoons and record their findings in written form. Suggests guidelines for cartoon evaluation as well as questions which help organize interpretations. Includes three political cartoons and descriptions of how they might be used in the classroom. (GEA)

Computer-based education has the power to alter human thinking processes, and this change can be brought about by schools. Research is needed on methods to integrate the computer into classroom instruction. Computer based instruction can increase the student's participation in instructional systems design. (GDC)

A lesson that illustrates how student questioning can serve as the basis for a social studies unit is presented. It is appropriate for a junior or senior high school class studying political parties at the local, state, or national levels. (RM)

An inquiry approach to history can be realized through the use of microcomputers. In a project at the University of California at Santa Barbara, teams of high school teachers and scholars have developed a series of computer programs whose contents are problems in U.S. history. A sample problem is described. (RM)