This book is designed to assist teachers at the 9-12 grade levels in addressing the goals of the National Science Education Standards (NSES) in their own classrooms concerning the teaching and learning of chemistry. The Standards expect students to learn science in an active manner and emphasizes methods of inquiry and deductive reasoning based on…

The I-Search is an inquiry-based process that compels students to move away from the traditional research report format in which they restate old information, empowering them and bringing out their curiosity and love of learning while laying a foundation for building a community of lifelong learners. Using the I-Search process, children move from…

Despite recent science education reform efforts, researchers continue to report the under-representation of females in science professions and coursework. As concerned educators, organizations, and institutions consider ways to facilitate female participation in science, it is important to examine what serves as door-openers and gate-keepers to…

While most students in a secondary language arts methods course found writing and reading each other's critical literacy autobiographies interesting and helpful to their understanding of literacy, they struggled with how to respond to their classmates' autobiographies. That struggle emerged within a teacher inquiry project whose central question…

This paper argues for extending the definition of "technology" in education to include much more than just computers, and for recognizing the dangers of using technology for its entertainment purposes. Two conceptions of the proper use of technology in science classrooms are offered: (1) technology as tool; and (2) technology as topic. Specific…

The Carolina Coastal Science Web site is an instructional system defined as an arrangement of resources and procedures used to promote learning. This paper describes the blending of a systems approach to instructional design with additional constructivist elements in order to develop the Carolina Coastal Science Web site. The Web site is an online…

This collection offers research stories of teachers and teacher educators who explore their own artistic and analytic practices in many different settings. Divided into two parts, the collection examines why arts-based inquiry and teacher development are needed and offers examples of them. Following a prologue entitled "An Invitation to an…

These studies explore two mentor teachers' practice of supervision in a Professional Development School (PDS) setting and the meaning that these two mentors attach to their own work as mentors of prospective teachers. Through prolonged participant observation and in-depth interviewing of both interns and mentors, this study captures the unfolding…

Writing teachers notice how students who succeed with their written projects often do so after they have moved to a kind of anger either with themselves or the project, with external stimuli, or with a general sense of injustice. They are stimulated by the emotion to creative problem solving, and as an effect, they may succeed at eliminating the…

This report argues that the most effective way to raise academic achievement is for teachers to become inquiring professionals with action-research and reflective-thinking skills. The report defines effectiveness and examines the views of various stakeholders about what qualities they value in school, arguing that effectiveness is a complex…

This paper explores the effectiveness of teacher-scientist collaborations in bringing inquiry into pre-college classrooms. The Montana Organization for Research in Energy (MORE) and the University of Montana sponsored two institutes on "Teaching about Energy through Inquiry" for middle and high school teachers and energy scientists in 1996 and…

This paper introduces the biology laboratory as a learning project. Biology laboratories provide unique learning opportunities to students as traditional achievement outcome measures, and play an important role in the development of process skills, manual skills, and attitudes. However, there is insufficient data on undergraduate students majoring…

This book describes how one New York City middle school social studies teacher challenged the traditional, textbook-driven curriculum, kindled the students' interest, and ultimately transformed both teaching methods and learning experiences through process drama. Drawing from a blend of narrative reflections and classroom-based research, the book…

This paper presents an argument for self-study of teacher education practices as a means-and-ends tool for promoting reflective teaching. The assertion is that self-study serves a dual purpose: as a means to promote reflective teaching and as a substantive end of teacher education. The argument consists of a five-part theoretical rationale for the…

In this volume, researchers, practitioners, participants, and scholars address the proliferation of methodologies, ethical and disciplinary concerns, and issues of equity and diversity such research raises from a wide variety of viewpoints. "Acts of Inquiry in Qualitative Research" also presents a broad assortment of articles by authors…