Although there is a considerable emphasis on inquiry-based, active learning in standards documents, curriculum documents, and textbooks, there exists a great deal of debate regarding the effectiveness of specific curricular and instructional approaches, including kit-based instruction. This study examines the efficacy of science kits in improving…

An innovative zoo outreach program, Our Zoo to You, places zoo animals in local classrooms for extended observation periods. With guidance and support from zoo staff, students are able to safely experience a variety of animals, including geckos, snakes, legless lizards, horned toads, ringneck doves, ferrets, hedgehogs, African brown millipedes,…

In this article the author looks at the appropriation of the monitorial system of education across a number of Spanish American countries between 1818 and c. 1844. The British understanding of the method is compared with the Spanish American perception of it (privileging the similarities rather than the differences in perception among Spanish…

We argue that the student teaching seminar, a co-requisite to student teaching, may best be construed as a "first" introduction to a teacher learning community and to inquiry-oriented professional development. Using a qualitative case study design and discourse analysis, we examine 60 "Teaching Inquiries" (TIs) occurring in student teaching…

Preservice elementary school teachers' fragmented understanding of mathematics is widely documented in the research literature. Their understanding of division by 0 is no exception. This article reports on two teacher education tasks and experiences designed to challenge and extend preservice teachers' understanding of division by 0. These tasks…

This study is an investigation into Chinese EFL teachers' knowledge and understanding of teaching English as a foreign language within the context of a time of tremendous social change in China. In a medium-sized city, biographical narrative interviews and observation were used to three Chinese secondary EFL teachers, of three successive…

For many, the dominant model of curriculum development in science includes generating a topic, clarifying science content, identifying activities associated with the topic, and figuring out an assessment. Unfortunately, this approach tends to overemphasize activities and underemphasize mastery of science concepts and the process of scientific…

The objective of this research was to explore how authentic technology use and teacher inquiry may coalesce during curriculum-based, technology-enhanced field experiences for prospective teachers. Thirteen inquiries were analyzed using qualitative analytic procedures (Rossman, 1998). Results suggest that teacher inquiry may serve a variety of…

Over the past four decades, there have been numerous discussions on student achievement and school failure. Within this time, the debate over the causes and consequences of racial differences in achievement has been at the heart of the nation's social and political life. The author discusses the major developments in achievement research over the…

This article describes data from the Community Mapping Project, a set of statistical activities and inquiry projects within a summer seminar for high school students. In designing the Community Mapping Project, we attempted to create conditions under which urban students themselves would come to recognize how mathematics is relevant to their lives…

Focus of Study: This article investigates how teachers' relationships with boys can be central in bolstering boys' resilience and connection to their work in schools. Specifically, we examine how teachers understand the ways that their relationships with boys shape their teaching practice as well as their understandings of boys' learning in…

Although self-regulated learning is considered as a characteristic of individual students, the question may be raised as to whether a community of learners with its emphasis on inquiry learning in teams of students provides an appropriate environment to acquire and develop active and dynamic self-regulation strategies. Two cases of communities of…

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…