In Hong Kong and Canada, indeed globally, slogans about learning to learn and teaching for 21st-century knowledge and skills are common. However, there are few examples of how teacher education courses or programs are responding to these new demands. In this paper, we propose a framework for designing teacher education premised on the theoretical…

This article describes how an inquiry stance can be embedded into a distance education program for inservice and preservice teachers through its delivery system and curriculum content. Confronted with the dilemma of limited faculty resources and a need to educate both preservice and inservice teachers in practices that would better meet the needs…

Contextual Teaching and Learning (CTL) integrates inquiry, problem- and project-based learning, cooperative learning, and authentic assessment. Case studies were carried out on 21 teachers who used CTL to teach science in elementary schools to diverse groups of children. The findings indicated that the conditions that fostered the implementation…

This article reports the results of a survey on K-8 teachers' inquiry beliefs and practices. The survey in this study was part of the National Science Foundation-supported, five-year, in-depth longitudinal case studies aimed at elucidating K-8 classroom teachers' motivations, goals, and purposes for carrying out inquiry in diverse, low SES…

The use of fictional writing, and in particular fictional dialogue, has gained increasing credibility and popularity within the field of qualitative social science research (Clough, 2002; Denzin, 1997; Tierney, 1998) but research in early childhood education has yet to exploit such methodologies. This article asks: what is meant by the term…

In the first part of this article, the authors introduced the living history program. This yearly, weeklong program features living portrayals of famous people, which becomes a catalyst for teaching curricular standards, as well as providing the spark for inquiry. Successful implementation of this program requires providing teachers with…

A variety of handheld applications and curricular materials have been developed to support inquiry science learning in recent years, but there are few handheld-supported assessment activities available to teachers. In Project WHIRL, researchers from SRI International worked in partnership with teachers from Beaufort County School District (SC) to…

Powerful Ideas in Physical Science (PIPS) is a preservice curriculum that provides modules for physical science courses designed for elementary education majors. Because the courses are built on the learning cycle approach, students develop concepts from activities and then apply this conceptual knowledge. A summative evaluation done by Horizon…

Building on the results of a prior study, the purpose of this qualitative study was to further explore where there is agreement on the effects of e-­learning technologies in higher education learning experiences. The results confirm that (1) there are many varied and polarized perspectives about e­learning, and each position should be carefully…

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Engineers at Marshall Space Flight Center, and their partners at other NASA centers and in private industry, are designing and beginning to develop the next generation of spacecraft to transport cargo, equipment, and human explorers to space. These vehicles--the Ares I and Ares V launch…

This book is the third volume of the paperback versions of "The SAGE Handbook of Qualitative Research, Third Edition." This portion of the handbook considers the tasks of collecting, analyzing, and interpreting empirical materials, and comprises the Handbook's Parts IV ("Methods of Collecting and Analyzing Empirical Materials") and V ("The Art and…

This study reports on exploratory research that investigated biology teachers' perceptions of their online information seeking practices and how these practices influenced their instructional planning activities. Quantitative and qualitative analyses of the results of an online survey and ten in-depth interviews measuring use of specific online…

Given the lack of preparation incoming school district superintendents receive and the many challenges they face, this article reviews the approach of the few existing programs for new superintendents and describes the leadership development strategies that would be beneficial. With this background, the article presents the findings from an…

This paper reports a three-year study of Praxis Inquiry based developments in teacher education undertaken by an international consortium of university colleagues who have worked in Australia, Iceland, Latvia, and the United Kingdom. Our study suggests that the attainment of inclusive community responsive pedagogies--in schools and in teacher…

This book is used as a two-day workshop for teachers in how to use the "History Alive!" program. The three premises of the program include: (1) cooperative interaction; (2) multiple intelligences; and (3) the spiral curriculum. The strategies developed focus upon: (1) Interactive Slide Lectures; (2) Social Studies Skill Builders; (3)…