Elementary teachers face increasing demands to engage children in authentic science process and argument while simultaneously preparing them with knowledge of science facts, vocabulary, and concepts. This reform is particularly challenging due to concerns that elementary teachers lack adequate science background to teach science accurately. This…

The purpose of this study was to examine whether Socioscientific Issues (SSI) based learning environments affect university students' epistemological understanding of scientific inquiry differently from traditional science educational contexts. We identify and compare conceptions of scientific inquiry of students participating in an…

This study examines whether students enrolled in a general chemistry I laboratory course developed the ability to participate in scientific argumentation over the course of a semester. The laboratory activities that the students participated in during the course were designed using the Argument-Driven Inquiry (ADI) an instructional model. This…

Inquiry-based learning is shown as an effective methodology to reach diverse student populations. It aligns with the National Center for Culturally Responsive Educational Systems and their methodology of culturally responsive teaching. (Contains 2 resources.)

Studies on the cross-cultural adaptation of Chinese students in American higher education institutions have received more attention in the past decade with the dramatic increase of Chinese students enrolling in American colleges and universities. According to the 2012 Open Doors Report, the number of students studying in the United States from…

This paper presents another effort in determining the difficulty of engineering students in terms of solving word problems. Students were presented with word problems in algebra. Then, they were asked to solve the word problems orally; that is, before they presented their written solutions, they were required to explain how they understood the…

"Strategic Inquiry" is an innovative model for promoting teacher collaboration around identifying specific "learning gaps" that keep struggling students from succeeding. Gaps may include anything from the proper use of commas and conjunctions to concepts such as "slope" in math. The authors argue that addressing these…

A series of research projects were implemented over seven years to understand and facilitate teachers' experiences in adopting inquiry. An overview of the project, methodology and key outcomes are outlined as a basis for the partnership described in this symposium. We end the paper with a list of recommendations for designing collaborative…

This revision of "APA Guidelines for the Undergraduate Psychology Major" (2006) represents a national effort to describe and develop high-quality undergraduate programs in psychology. "Guidelines 2.0" grew out of an expectation expressed in the first iteration of the "Guidelines" that policy documents on curricular…

This teaching tip manuscript demonstrates how picture book illustrations can be used as an inquiry tool that facilitates one's connecting of visual investigations in a picture to the process of generating self-questions. Techniques suggested to promote self-questioning are (1) introducing young readers to an interactive picture book read aloud…

Faculty mid-career sometimes become cynical about and disengaged from their teaching. The consequences can be severe, from alienating their students in the classroom to causing faculty to abandon teaching altogether. This paper explores this vocational disconnect; and, more importantly, proposes remedies for re-energizing faculty; for helping them…

Ever since Thomas Jackson introduced philosophy for children (p4c) to Hawai'i in the mid-1980s, one of the defining characteristics of his p4c Hawai'i program has been its commitment to working with classroom teachers in Hawai'i's public schools. Part of the program's mission has been to find every way possible to support these teachers, both in…

This experiment describes a discovery-based method for the regio- and stereoselective hydrochlorination of carvone, appropriate for a 3-h second-semester organic chemistry laboratory. The product is identified through interpretation of the [superscript 13]C NMR and DEPT spectra are obtained on an Anasazi EFT-60 at 15 MHz as neat samples. A…

This article describes the successful implementation of an oral examination format in the organic chemistry curriculum at the University of Toronto. Oral examinations are used to replace traditional written midterm examinations in several courses. In an introductory organic class, each student is allotted 15 min to individually discuss one…

The potential of replacing petroleum fuels with renewable biofuels has drawn significant public interest. Many states have imposed biodiesel mandates or incentives to use commercial biodiesel blends. We present an inquiry-driven experiment where students are given the tasks to gather samples, develop analytical methods using various instrumental…