This report describes an experiment to introduce freshmen science students to inquiry-based learning. The overarching theme was the communication of scientific information to the public by the mass media. Students, working in groups, deconstructed news items (many dealing with basic biomedical issues) and assessed the veracity of statements with…

When teachers participate in professional development and learning opportunities it enables them to reconceptualise their assessment and teaching practices with the support of facilitators and researchers. National programmes of professional development and research, such as the three year Enhancing Effective Practice in Special Education (EEPiSE)…

This paper considers the value of reflexive pedagogical approaches in the teaching of academic communication and writing. We focus on a course developed for pre-degree foundation students at a London higher education institution. Drawing on the students' learning journals, we examine their reflections of the approaches practised on the course.…

Much has been written about the value of teacher research for inservice teachers. Despite the existence of several studies affirming these words, studies that richly describe how student teachers learn to do teacher research and then investigate the impact of inquiry on student teachers and teacher educators, particularly in culturally and…

The article reports work over one year by three teachers from the Milton Keynes Primary Schools Learning Network. Their collaborative classroom-focused action research investigated the limits and possibilities of pupils' and teachers' learning through self-evaluation. In phase one the teacher researchers used questionnaires, interviews and…

This narrative inquiry presents the experiences of a group of 10 new primary teachers grappling with relationships in the social context of their school environment during their first year of teaching. Their lived experiences are plotted together in the story of Gemma to provide one insight into the emotional dimension of attaining the identity of…

We present an alternative to a traditional first-year chemistry laboratory experiment. This experiment has four key features: students utilize stoichiometry, learn and apply principles of green chemistry, engage in authentic scientific inquiry, and discover why each part of a scientific lab report is necessary. The importance and essential…

What does informal formative assessment look like in the context of scientific inquiry teaching? Is it possible to identify different levels of informal assessment practices? Can different levels of informal assessment practices be related to levels of student learning? This study addresses these issues by exploring how 4 middle school science…

The pedagogical potential of classroom assessment to support student learning has increasingly been evidenced in research over the past decade. Constructive classroom assessment has been championed by assessment specialists, and endorsed by professional organizations. In practice, however, the process of changing classroom assessment from its…

An eight-year-old boy, Adrian, draws subject matter and formats for his writing from a new, digital medium: the video game. (Contains 2 tables and 5 figures.)

Fifth-graders explore complicated social issues and create a CD entitled Exploring Freedom. (Contains 2 tables and 6 figures.)

Network Science projects are endeavors in which a number of classrooms conduct the same scientific experiment and pool their data using World Wide Web technology. This paper reviews selected findings from research on these projects and describes the recent Web applications that were developed in response to these findings. Findings indicated that…

Missouri's Framework for Curriculum Development in Science acknowledges that teachers will bring the vision, ideals, and principles of the Show-Me Standards of the state of Missouri into their classrooms in exciting and innovative ways. The role of the frameworks is to provide districts with a "frame" for building curricula using the…

This paper analyzes the effects of ability grouping on middle school math and science achievement, attempting to account for these effects in terms of measurable classroom experiences of students. It is hypothesized that grouping effects operate through classroom instructional differences. Data collected from a national sample of public school…

Out of the school reform movement of the eighties have come recommendations for professional development schools, site-based management, and teacher empowerment. Such initiatives can be implemented only in environments where continuing pursuit of new knowledge exists at every level. There is a pressing need for educational models that strive to…