This paper reports a study involving the construction and validation of a learning environment questionnaire that was used by both kindergarten students and their parents. Although the questionnaires were validated for use with five- and six-year old kindergarten students, the same format was used for both parents and students. Prior learning…

This curriculum unit consists of four lessons that are designed to broaden students' understanding of art and culture; each lesson can stand alone or be used in conjunction with the others. The introduction offers a conceptual framework of the Artworlds unit, which takes an inquiry-based approach. The unit's first lesson, "Worlds within…

This paper presents the results of a research project based on the Understandings of Consequence Project. This study motivated students to engage in inquiry in science classrooms. The complexity of the models is divided into four categories--underlying causality, relational causality, probabilistic causality, and emergent causality--and provides…

The purpose of this study was to investigate what effect an inquiry focused environmental science course has on preservice teachers' environmental attitudes. Over a three semester period preservice elementary education students taking an environmental science course, which incorporated inquiry strategies along with national recommendations in…

An enhancement program was implemented whose overall goal was to improve the teaching of life science and biology as an inquiry-oriented and socially relevant discipline in rural Minnesota schools. Teams of elementary, middle, and high school teachers from selected districts spent 6 weeks in a residential workshop program during the summer,…

This book provides guidance to beginning and experienced educational material developers. The targeted objectives are guiding developers on external funding, explaining the complex process of developing instructional materials, and pointing out the human interactions and issues involved in the development process. Chapters include: (1) "The…

This lesson guide accompanies the Hubble Deep Field set of 10 lithographs and introduces 4 astronomy lesson plans for middle school students. Lessons include: (1) "How Many Objects Are There?"; (2) "Classifying and Identifying"; (3) "Estimating Distances in Space"; and (4) "Review and Assessment." Appendices…

This book presents multiple assessment formats and strategies appropriate for inquiry activities for both indoor and outdoor education. Chapters 5-8 feature examples of disciplinary assessment practices for biology, chemistry, physics, and earth sciences. Other contents include: (1) "A Rationale for Assessment"; (2) "Developing New Assessment";…

This paper reports on a hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) investigation of the relationships among baseline science achievement of students in the Science Co-op Local Systemic Change project (grade 3, N=1,134; grade 6, N=1,482), students' attributes (gender, awareness of the nature of science, attitudes toward science, school science and science…

This paper focuses on the process of knowledge formation and scientific inquiry. Science laboratory settings may provide opportunities for students to participate in scientific inquiry. With scientific inquiry, students develop their beliefs according to experiences in which they use their prior knowledge, experimentation, and problem solving…

This document was developed in response to the expressed need of physical science teachers for materials designed to facilitate and enhance the teaching of the 1999 North Carolina Standard Course of Study for Physical Science. The materials provide a guide to translating the goals and objectives of the Physical Science curriculum into good…

Discusses the use of a combination of inquiry learning and transactional analysis in physics teaching to provide a student with opportunities to develop more positive attitudes about himself and physics. Included is a detailed description of three major ingredients: Transactional model, process approach, and teaching methods. (CC)

Reports a study examining the differences between the types of questions asked while teaching reading by teachers educated in the Science Curriculum Improvement Study method of inquiry-discovery science instruction and teachers of reading not educated in this science instructional approach. (TO)

Discusses the projected demand for trained accident investigators on the nation's highways in the next five years. (Editor)

A sequential, problem-solving approach is offered as a strategy for the classroom teacher who wants to help the student increase his skills of inquiry, conceptual learning, and value clarification. (Author/KM)