This article describes a new instructional model called Argument-Driven Inquiry (ADI). This model is designed to promote student engagement in processes of investigation design and scientific argumentation. In this study, the ADI instructional model is compared with a more traditional approach to instruction across 16 laboratory sections of…

"A Framework for K-12 Science Education" identifies eight science and engineering practices for K-12 classrooms. These practices, along with core ideas and crosscutting concepts, define the nation's learning goals for science. An important advance from earlier standards (AAAS 1993, NRC 1996), these practices are clearly identified "not" as…

Many times students are given the task of keeping a science notebook, but do not fully understand the process or purpose of this endeavour. Science notebooks contain not only data but also questions, predictions, observations, and reflections from their experiences in science. To maximize the effectiveness of the science notebook, teachers must…

In the globalized and technological world in which we now live, school leaders must be prepared to engage in complex and interdependent systems. Hierarchical power and authority will not provide the leader with the capacity to challenge people and systems to adapt and change to the emerging needs of students from differing social, political, and…

This study focuses on the mentor relationships between science teachers and their scientist mentors in a summer Research Experience for Teachers program at a United States national laboratory facility. Using mixed methods, the authors surveyed and interviewed (semi-structured) the eleven participating teachers before and after the program. The…

This article focuses primarily on our research group's year of preparation before the opening of a new K-7 publicly funded ecological "school" for students aged 5-12. The article begins with a discussion of the reasons for seeking ways to change the values of a culture which fails to confront the consequences of its destructive…

Narratives are being increasingly used in nursing and action research. In this participatory action research study, nurse leaders of an acute care of the older person unit collectively, critically and creatively reflected on lived experiences in order to explore the concept of person-centred leadership within their own practice. This paper…

While conducting a comparative research study in secondary Physical Education in South Korea and the United States, the question arose as to why the narrative inquiry research method we employed was chosen to study the experiences of teachers teaching the particular subject area to youth enrolled in four secondary schools (middle and high) in…

At the heart of contemporary teaching reform initiatives is a pedagogy based around inquiry. In this paper, we explore inquiry through the efforts of one pre-service teacher, Toni, during her practicum experience in a secondary mathematics classroom. We look at the ways in which she negotiates her practice amid intersecting stories of traditional…

Hydroponics is a process in which plants are grown using nutrient-rich water instead of soil. Because this process maximizes the use of water and nutrients--providing only what the plant uses in controlled and easily maintained systems--it is a viable alternative to traditional farming methods. The amount of control in these systems also ensures…

The purpose of this study was to examine the degree to which high school students improved their inquiry capabilities in relation to scientific literacy through their experience of a problem-based environmental health science curriculum. The two inquiry capabilities studied were scientific questioning and approaches to inquiry into their own…

This article addresses the difference between knowledge-inquiry and wisdom-inquiry in nuclear physics education. In the spirit of an earlier study of 57 senior-level textbooks for first-degree physics students, this work focuses here on a remarkable use of literary quotations in one such book. "Particles and Nuclei: an introduction to the physical…

This guided inquiry activity was developed to help students "view" an equilibrium system from the particulate level and make connections to their macroscopic observations. Part I helps students observe a physical equilibrium system in which water is transferred between two larger containers. In Part II, students examine what happens to a chemical…

The National Research Council's recent publication "A Framework for K-12 Science Education: Practices, Crosscutting Concepts, and Core Ideas" (NRC 2011), which is the foundation for the Next Generation Science Standards now being developed, places unprecedented focus on the practices involved in doing scientific and engineering work. In an effort…

An Earth science professional-development program for in-service middle- and high-school teachers increased participants' content knowledge about weather, climate, and climate change in addition to increasing their confidence in their assessment and teaching skills. The curriculum and funding gave them time, funding, and the help of content and…