Meeting the challenge of program accountability is a goal for teacher education programs across the USA. In this context, achieving effective assessment practices that provide concrete evidence of program participants' knowledge and skills has become both an increasingly significant issue and a challenge to teacher education programs seeking to…

"We really need to get the government involved," said one student, holding his graph up to USDA scientist Steve Seefeldt. Dr. Steve studies methods to control "invasive" plants, plants that have been introduced to an area by humans and have potential to spread rapidly and negatively affect ecosystems. The first grader and his…

Schools are under increasing pressure to meet accountability requirements and show growth in student achievement across tested content areas. As a result, throughout the school year, student achievement data are analyzed to discover data trends that highlight both student gains and gaps in learning. Achievement gaps are identified and addressed…

This study examines the use of inquiry-based instruction to promote the understanding of critical concepts in thermodynamics and heat transfer. Significant research shows that students frequently enter our courses with tightly held misconceptions about the physical world that are not effectively addressed through traditional instruction. Students'…

The problem of a ladder leaning against a wall in static equilibrium is a classic example encountered in introductory mechanics texts. Most discussions of this problem assume that the static frictional force between the ladder and wall can be ignored. A few authors consider the case where the static friction coefficients between ladder/wall…

Reconceptualists and poststructuralists increasingly criticize child-centered pedagogy as being overly reliant on outmoded notions of (developmentally appropriate) practices. Reconceptualists believe that developmental theories should be critically examined cross culturally, whereas poststructuralists work from a social perspective to reconstruct…

Role theory is based in a conception of a social world wherein various roles are either available or made available and those participating in such worlds shape their identity according to the roles that are made available to them. In positioning theory, Haare and van Langenhove (1998) suggest that teachers are always in the process of…

Since an alarming number of students do not read their textbooks, the author investigated whether students might more readily review their course information if it were available on MP3 files instead of in textbook form. Her hypotheses are that students who have access to textbook section summaries in MP3 form will cover more of the textbook…

The genome projects of the past decades have created extensive databases of biological information with applications in both research and education. We describe an inquiry-based exercise that uses one such database, the National Center for Biotechnology Information Influenza Virus Resource, to advance learning about influenza. This database…

The authors developed a demonstration with two similar setups that provide students with both the prior experience to form an expectation and the discrepancy to grab their attention. They follow the demonstration with a structured exploration format that gives students a method for experimenting to find the one built-in difference (i.e., the…

In this article, we examine our understandings and use of personal literacy narrative as a medium for engaging teacher candidates in considering the differing perspectives and approaches found around literacy education. Drawing from narrative inquiry, we describe how we work with preservice teachers to articulate tacit stories and inquire into…

In this laboratory experiment, students quantitatively determine the concentration of an element (mercury) in an environmental or biological sample while comparing and contrasting the fundamental techniques of atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS) and atomic fluorescence spectrometry (AFS). A mercury analyzer based on sample combustion,…

Laboratory education can play a vital role in developing a learner's autonomy and scientific inquiry skills. In an innovative, mutation-based learning (MBL) approach, students were instructed to redesign a teacher-designed standard experimental protocol by a "mutation" method in a molecular genetics laboratory course. Students could…

Over 2 years a small group of middle school mathematics teachers' beliefs, attitudes, and practices were investigated in order to transform their practice to an inquiry-based, technology-rich model. Research has suggested that technology and pedagogical innovations should be introduced together, so that teachers learn mathematics in the way their…

The principal assertion of this article is that Indigenous research methodologies should be used to develop educational policies and practices for Native students. The history of American educational research is marred by a near complete dismissal of Indigenous knowledge, as Western research methodologies continue to define the landscape of P-12…