As e-learning is evolving into a mainstream, widespread practice, adopted by higher education institutions worldwide, much effort is geared towards the articulation of models and strategies for implementing e-learning in formal education settings. In the field of pre-service teacher education, a rising challenge is to equip the "21st century…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of a 2-year professional development model in math and science on the self-efficacy of the teacher and its effects on teacher practice and student outcomes. Further, this study sought to incorporate the instructional use of Inquiry-Based Learning methods of Problem-Based Learning, Japanese…

Effectively enacting inquiry-based science instruction entails considerable changes in classroom management practices. In this article, we describe five interconnected management areas that need to be addressed when managing an inquiry-oriented K-8 science classroom. We introduce a pyramid model as a framework for thinking about these management…

The broad purpose of this self-study is two-fold: first, to aid in redressing the lack of attention given to the professional development of teacher educators; and second, to forward the idea that teaching reflectively is not only an excellent framework through which self-directed professional development can be enacted, but it is also an…

This paper responds to the challenge of how educational research might be practised in a contemporary world that is no longer necessarily organised by nearness and unity. Focusing on ethnography, it argues for what a multi-sited imaginary contributes to research in the field of education. By giving prominence to the notion of multi-sited…

Most children enjoy being in gardens. To capitalize on this interest, the authors designed a pea project in which second- and third-grade students would discover how plants grow under different conditions while also developing observation and nonfiction writing skills. As a result of this inquiry-based project, students learned how to think and…

Early-formed preconceptions can be explained by one of the intuitive rules identified by Stavy and Tirosh (2000) called "More A-More B". By starting with students' preconceptions, revealed through the use of a formative assessment probe, teachers can scaffold inquiry-based experiences that will confront children with their misconceptions and guide…

This article explores the mixed fortunes of historical inquiry as a method in educational studies and exposes evidence for the neglect of this method in religious education research in particular. It argues that historical inquiry, as a counterpart to other research methods, can add depth and range to our understanding of education, including…

Do our genes exclusively control us, or are other factors at play? Epigenetics can provide a means for students to use inquiry-based methods to understand a complex biological concept. Students research and design an experiment testing whether dietary supplements affect the lifespan of Drosophila melanogaster over multiple generations.

This study is based on survey research conducted in 2010 and 2011, involving graduate students using a 3D immersive environment for their coursework. Investigators examined students' perceptions of community and presence via coursework offered in the immersive world. Utilizing the Sense of Community II index and the Communities of Inquiry survey,…

This paper presents an innovative, interdisciplinary, design-and-build course created to improve placement, content, and pedagogy for introductory engineering design education. Infused at the freshman level, the course aims to promote expert design thinking by using problem-based learning (PBL) as the mode of delivery. The course is structured to…

The PISA performance of Hong Kong has prompted this study to investigate if scientific literacy (SL) of Hong Kong students can be improved further through a high school biology course employing the STSE approach. A STSE course was developed in accordance to the contexts of Hong Kong and a framework for the assessment of scientific literacy was…

This paper proposes both theoretical and empirical approaches to differentiating the community of inquiry (CoI) in online classes at individual and group levels. Following the example of research on organizational climate, it assesses the strength of shared perceptions of teaching presence, social presence, and cognitive presence. The paper…

This study offers a new way to assess TPACK within the context of a graduate program revitalized to focus on new literacies. Whereas previous studies have focused on teacher lesson planning or modeling best practices, our research examines TPACK by exploring the Creative Synthesis Projects of graduates from our program. These projects reveal the…

This study reports on a content course for science immersion teacher candidates that emphasized authentic practice of science and thinking scientifically in the context of introductory astrophysics. We explore how 122 science teacher candidates spanning three cohorts did and did not reason scientifically and how this evolved in our program. Our…