During the past decade interest in developing thinking skills has continued to be high and particular attention has been given to basic inquiry of the cognitive processes that are used in investigating topics and problems in the social studies. The central purpose of this study is to identify a set of processes that may be used to plan instruction…

The purpose of this packet is to assist teachers as they individualize instruction to meet the needs, interests, and abilities of seventh grade students. The activities in this unit are mostly inquiry and social science oriented. There are three major ideas behind the packet: 1) The first generation immigrants closely observed the customs of the…

The Public Law enacted in 1971 requires that fundamental subject matter areas taught in Wisconsin's public schools be assessed. It is proposed in this paper that assessment of the State's social studies programs needs to focus its attention on the school environment, which educators can and should control, change, and improve, rather than…

A rationale for the social studies k-12 program in Baltimore County is presented in this report designed to help teachers review a philosophy of social studies education. Accompanying the rationale are a series of related position papers which elaborate important aspects of social studies education. Also included is a Board of Education Policy…

This book discusses modern scientific inquiry and examines the procedures of inquiry into human behavior used in the behavioral science disciplines. Psychologists look at the individual's adjustive procedures and the evolution of those adjustments within a species. Anthropologists inquire into the behavioral similarities and differences of human…

Presents perspectives on creating new technology-based supports for science learning. Reviews current philosophies concerning the interpretative nature of scientific inquiry and discusses the difficulties of students and teachers in science education. Describes a prototype software system for supporting scientific inquiry processes in students.…

Presents five activities for grades 3-6 which show how to harness the fun of Halloween to achieve social studies goals such as values clarification, critical thinking, personal decision making, and inquiry. States that Halloween's rich history, contemporary customs, ancient rituals, and myths provide a high-interest background of common experience…

Recognizing that knowledge will enable the world's people to cope with worldwide relationships, Alger criticizes the social sciences for inhibiting needed research that would increase awareness of the linkages between human settlements and worldwide phenomena. Presents a progress report on the effort to identify islands of inquiry into the…

Presents study findings which explored the effect of teacher reasoning level and teaching style preference on improvement in student-reasoning ability. Reports that students of concrete operational teachers and of inquiry teachers showed greater gains in reasoning ability than students of formal operational teachers and of expository teachers. (ML)

Reports on effectiveness of an elementary school science program comparing attitudes toward science of Science Curriculum Improvement Study (SCIS) students and teachers with those of students and teachers in non-SCIS classes. Students (N=456) indicate preference for SCIS process-approach science, and SCIS teachers (N=109) spend more time teaching…

Inquiry teaching requires students to engage in hypothesis formation, collection and evaluation of evidence, and the drawing of logical conclusions. Prerequisite skills for inquiry learning are discussed, and examples of inquiry learning in a college level general psychology course are presented. (RM)

This Study Circle is based on research conducted by a team led by Victoria Purcell-Gates. Their research examines the relationships between two dimensions of literacy instruction (the degree of authenticity of activities and texts and the degree of student/teacher collaboration) and changes in the literacy practices of students outside the…

This volume will be of interest to teachers and teacher educators who already understand the power of nonjudgmental collaborative inquiry--and to those who are ready to discover it. Each chapter represents one meeting and is divided into three parts: text, conversation, and response. A list of suggested readings offers background on the issues…

This curriculum supplement, from The NIH Curriculum Supplement Series, brings cutting-edge medical science and basic research discoveries from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) into classrooms. It was designed to complement existing life science curricula at both the state and local levels and to be consistent with the National Science…

This book is designed for the middle school students to learn scientific literacy through event-based science. Unlike traditional curricula, the event-based earth science module is a student-centered, interdisciplinary, inquiry-oriented program that emphasizes cooperative learning, teamwork, independent research, hands-on investigations, and…