Teacher use questioning techniques to evaluate students' learning, check class work and homework, review and summarize lessons, and motivate students to pay attention, learn, develop thinking skills, and investigate independently. Teachers often overestimate the value of such questions. Asking thought-provoking questions and waiting for answers…

Proposes that more research is needed in the areas of teachers' beliefs, knowledge, and practices of inquiry-based science as well as student learning included in the design and implementation of inquiry-based curriculum. Suggests that particular attention be paid to research on inquiry in diverse classrooms and to modes of inquiry-based…

Focuses on a small group of middle school students as they develop understanding of emergent systems, which are notable in that macro-level properties emerge as the result of micro-level interactions between system components. Describes students' initial understanding of emergent systems as well as their thinking. (Contains 35 references.)…

Explains a study that assesses students' ideas about animals. Evaluates textbooks and trade books according to the identifications and words they use. Discusses student responses from different grade levels on the classification of animals and identifying what is an animal. Summarizes the results of the study and makes recommendations on the…

Places manuscripts on female superintendencies within the historical context of feminist scholarship and highlights contributions to promising research directions. The first research stage provided descriptive information on women's underrepresentation. Subsequent stages chronicled noteworthy women superintendents' lives, explored barriers, and…

Presents a strategy for teaching anatomy to middle school students. Recommends teaching about an organism's niche and ability to make connections between structure and function rather than using standard anatomy lessons. (YDS)

Describes ways to improve organizational learning for problem solving using advocacy and inquiry. Presents the ladder of inference model and discusses ways to use case method and lecture/discussion to strengthen collective learning. (SK)

Reports the results of research and development on a programmatic effort to change prospective teachers' preconceptions of teaching, learning, and pupils by participation in a learning system designed to promote learning interactions predicated by cultural-historical activity theory and mediated through computer technology and telecommunications.…

This study examines elementary students' abilities to conduct science inquiry through their participation in an instructional intervention over a school year. The study involved 25 third and fourth grade students from six elementary schools representing diverse linguistic and cultural groups. Prior to and at the completion of the intervention, the…

Two technology-oriented activities are used successfully with entry-level geometry students during their study of symmetry. Reflection symmetry gives students opportunities to deepen their understanding of fundamental mathematical concepts like slope and symmetry, in a flexible and self-paced way.

This study examined whether online tool support for regulation promotes student learning during collaborative inquiry in a computer simulation-based learning environment. Sixty-one students worked in small groups to conduct a scientific inquiry with fluid dynamics. Groups in the experimental condition received a support tool with regulatory…

In a speech at the Symposium for Experiential Education Research 2003, Henderson discusses the importance of theory in building a body of knowledge. She says that to use information to create a body of knowledge, researchers must continue to develop and apply theory, and to address the emerging opportunities for evidence-based research and…

Students investigate energy conversions by collaborating to develop a free standing track of plastic tubing through which a ball bearing moves at the fastest possible speed. Friendly competition leads to discussion of what worked and did not work and to the identification and investigation of underlying principles. (Contains 4 charts.)

A description on inquiry-based approach to teaching comparative vertebrate, skeletal morphology is presented that could be easily adapted to teach comparative morphology for any discipline, provided that sufficient physical models are available. This approach requires students to probe the material world for evidence that would allow them to…

Feminist ideas and practices permeate the consciousness, relationships, and politics of women and men across continents. Certainly, they are central to work in the scientific study of family structures and processes. It is exciting to engage in discussion and debate with other feminist scholars about the relative contributions of feminist theories…