Most students in most schools today study subject matter. They and their teachers conceive of the educational task as committing to memory large numbers of facts, formulas, and figures. A far more sophisticated perspective emphasizes teaching disciplines and disciplinary thinking. The goal of this approach is to instill in students the disposition…

Many of the basic concepts involved in the process of scientific inquiry can be represented by analogy to a simple game called Battleships. The same processes used in this child's game demonstrate what role hypothesis generation and testing play in the search for truth in nature. The analogy can also be extended to demonstrate how scientists…

This paper attempts to discuss behaviorism and the construction of knowledge. This review investigates whether behaviorism methodology has any advantages in learning a language in our classroom. This assessment also observes the critics of behaviorism and its weaknesses in a learning environment. This inquiry concentrates on the view point of B.F.…

Through an examination of one institution's efforts to strengthen teaching and learning on campus, the author makes a strong case for the use of common examinations as a powerful form of assessment as well as a fruitful context for faculty deliberations. Providing a continuing occasion for faculty inquiry and discussion, insuring grade…

Two elementary certified middle school science teachers are studied for changes in practical knowledge supporting the implementation of kit-based inquiry as part of a schoolwide reform effort. Emphasis is placed on studying how these two pilot teachers enact guided inquiry within their unique pedagogical and curricular interests, and what…

Research shows that scientific knowledge develops through a process of decision-making as well as discovery, and that argumentation is a genre of discourse crucial to the practice of science. Students should therefore be supported in understanding the scientific practices of dialectical and rhetorical argumentation as part of learning about…

This study examines ways in which students' experiences of a culturally-sensitive curriculum may contribute to their developing sense of ethnic identity. It uses a narrative-inquiry approach to explore students' experiences of the interaction of culture and curriculum in a Canadian inner-city, middle-school context. It considers ways in which the…

Threaded discussion forums have been a popular topic for the past few years in distance education research and studied as a factor in student participation, satisfaction, learning outcomes, social presence, and interaction. Only recently has it been considered as a potential vehicle for the development of critical thinking skills and deep…

This study explores teachers' informal formative assessment practices in three middle school science classrooms. We present a model for examining these practices based on three components of formative assessment (eliciting, recognizing, and using information) and the three domains linked to scientific inquiry (epistemic frameworks, conceptual…

In this article, the author presents and discusses activities that use a phenomena-first, guided inquiry approach to teach important concepts related to plant function, as well as the history and nature of scientific inquiry. These activities are intended for use with students in grades 3-8, as well as in elementary science methods courses. The…

In this article, we describe how the concept of "learning to learn" has developed in Spain, and give you an overview of relevant Spanish projects. First, we sketch out how this approach has developed in Spanish educational laws. We then give examples of research projects, assessment instruments and instructional programmes pertinent to…

Findings from this study of how two pairs of eighth-grade students each transacted with a website during think-aloud sessions at the conclusion of a curricular unit on Mexico and migration highlight the ways the students engaged in three interrelated tasks: (1) Identifying and making sense of "new" information; (2) Evaluating claims and evidence;…

In this research report we examine knowledge other than content knowledge needed by a mathematician in his first use of an inquiry-oriented curriculum for teaching an undergraduate course in differential equations. Collaboratively, the mathematician and two mathematics education researchers identified the challenges faced by the mathematician as…

In this article, the author talks about the concept of school library as a place of learning for students. He contends that a school library must be conceived in terms of three aspects. First, it should have a creative school library media specialist to lead the principal through a meaningful vision of what the library could be in terms of…

Education in this 21st century is concerned with developing intelligences. Problem solving in real-world contexts involves multiple ways of knowing and learning. Intelligence in the real world involves not only learning how to do things effectively but also more importantly the ability to deal with novelty and growing our capacity to adapt, select…