Discusses the role of academic librarians in expanding information literacy to teach critical thinking; describes the New Media Classroom (NMC) that teaches how to use primary sources on the Web; and shows applications of NMC inquiry activities in a library setting, including a case study that involved collaboration between the librarian and…

The National Research Council (1996), the American Association for the Advancement of Science (1993) and the National Science Teachers Association (2004) all posit that quality science instruction for all students is imperative in promoting scientific literacy that extends into adulthood. Hands-on, inquiry based experiences are effective means of…

Most people are frustrated with the current scientific method presented in textbooks. The scientific method--a simplistic model of the scientific inquiry process--fails in most cases to provide a successful guide to how science is done. This is not shocking, really. Many simple models used in science are quite useful within their limitations. When…

This hypothesis-driven laboratory exercise teaches how DNA evidence can be used to investigate an organism's evolutionary history while providing practical modeling of the fundamental processes of gene transcription and translation. We used an inquiry-based approach to construct a laboratory around a nontrivial, open-ended evolutionary question…

Classroom management presents a serious challenge in most schools, but especially in schools on a Navajo Reservation that have been traditionally academically low-performing schools. There appears to be a mismatch between the attitudes, skills, and behaviors Navajo children bring with them to school and the expectations schools have for their…

In the process of designing and field-testing bioinformatics curriculum materials, we have adopted a three-stage, progressive model that emphasizes collaborative scientific inquiry. The elements of the model include: (1) context setting, (2) introduction to concepts, processes, and tools, and (3) development of competent use of technologically…

Purpose: From the competency point of view, this article aims to review and discuss existing global leadership and other related literature, and to combine findings and suggestions provided in previous literature in a more integrative framework of global leadership competencies. Design/methodology/approach: The paper reviews and discusses the…

Extensive assessment of innovative core courses pointed to five features of the courses that led to students being actively engaged in learning. Faculty teaching the courses created an environment to foster collaborative learning, facilitated student ownership of learning, structured their courses to connect academic ideas with other disciplines…

North Carolina State University (NCSU) is a Research Intensive (Research I) university located in Raleigh, the state capital. Increasingly over the past ten years, NCSU faculty interested in issues of teaching and learning have used the term "inquiry-guided learning" (IGL) to describe the kind of learning they are trying to promote. The…

Our graduate degree program includes a component of six one-credit courses, in which teachers find ways to bring into their own classroom practices theory learned in related three-credit courses. Prior research indicates that taking course work alone may not bring about changes in teachers' decision-making. Prior research also encourages higher…

This study investigated differences across four countries in the amount and nature of above-average ability and average-ability pre-adolescents' everyday life, scientific, moral, spiritual and religious questions. The participants (N = 975) of this study were fifth-and sixth-grade elementary school students from different schools in Finland (N =…

This study reports on student experiences in an inquiry-oriented elementary science methods course. Students in this course designed and conducted an independent investigation, and then adapted that investigation to develop an inquiry-oriented lesson and a corresponding performance assessment. Students' written reflections expressed increased…

Although substantial scholarship of a theoretical and empirical nature has accumulated on the young child's developing self-concept, scholars have not to any great extent examined the child's self-knowledge as a spontaneously occurring process-in-action. This paper highlights findings of empirical research as well as classroom vignettes, personal…

Teachers' beliefs about science reform have an important effect on how science is taught. This article examines a kindergarten teacher's science curriculum as she seeks to implement five of Washington State's Essential Academic Learning Requirements (EALRs) for core concepts and principles of science. The authors examine factors that affect…

This report offers a number of specific teaching techniques that research suggests will help 4th- to 12th-grade students in this nation's schools. The report focuses on all students, not just those who display writing difficulties, although this latter group is deservedly the focus of much attention. The premise of this report is that all students…