There are many meanings of "scientific reasoning" or "scientific inquiry" in use, and many corresponding orientations toward its enhancement and tracking. Deciding what these terms mean once and for all is an elusive and likely chimerical goal. However, setting down some core models might help in being clear on where different researchers stand…

The "Living Environment Regents Examination" is meant to provide a measure of the quality of New York State students' knowledge and understanding of biological content and science inquiry ability, as it is defined in the "MST Standards" and the "Living Environment Core Curriculum". This article examines the degree to…

This reflective essay explores the relationship between wonder and learning. Building on the belief that child-like wonder is a precursor to growth, the author discusses four ways to encourage wonder in her college students: getting straight on "who we are" as learners, providing opportunities for discovery and surprise, asking and inviting…

Do young children who seek the conceptual kind of an artifact weigh the plausibility that a current function constitutes the function intended by the object designer? Three- and four-year-olds were encouraged to question adults about novel artifacts. After inquiring about what an object was, some children were shown a function that plausibly…

What is inquiry? Although many teachers are using inquiry based curricula, often they have not engaged in answering or personalizing this question. This study examines teachers' changing definitions of inquiry over a semester using the process of guided reflection. Through inquiry experiences and reflection, these teachers developed and…

The major purpose of this study was to explore the social studies teachers' perceptions and understandings of citizenship education in primary schools in Botswana. The study adopted a post colonial lens by using the notions of the pedagogy of imperialism and contrapuntal criticism to interrogate the teachers' perceptions of citizenship education.…

This study investigated the role of collective knowledge building in promoting scientific inquiry and achievements among Hong Kong high-school chemistry students. The participants included 34 Grade 10 (15-16 years old) students who engaged in collective inquiry and progressive discourse, using Knowledge Forum®, a computer-supported collaborative…

Algebra is the gatekeeper of access to higher-level math and science courses, higher education and future earning opportunities. Unequal numbers of African-American males drop out of Algebra and mathematics courses and underperform on tests of mathematical competency and are thus denied both essential skills and a particularly important pathway to…

Building on an earlier 2008 summary prepared for OECD by Marlene Scardamalia and Carl Bereiter, this paper by Gesa S. E. van den Broek provides a more extensive discussion of approaches described as "research based innovation." "Fostering Communities of Learning" is a constructivist approach in which teachers help students discover important…

This ethnographic case study uses life history and qualitative methodologies to offer biographical profiles that highlight perspectives on writing of eight Black African-born male youth with limited and disrupted formal education enrolled at a secondary school in northeastern United States. Participants from Liberia, Sudan, and Somalia relocated…

Dual-enrollment programs allow high school students to enroll in college-level classes to gain college and high school credit concurrently. Research on how online, dual-enrolled high school students (DES) construct knowledge when compared with online community college students (CCS) is needed to help administrators determine the design,…

This study implemented a qualitative approach to examine the phenomenon of "inquiry-based science pedagogy or inquiry instruction" as it has been experienced by individuals. Data was collected through online open-ended surveys, focus groups, and teacher reported self-reflections to answer the research questions: 1) How do middle level…

The rapid proliferation of technology can have profound effects on the evolution of teaching, learning, scholarship, and governance in higher education (Katz, 2008). However, instructors report that simply "keeping up" with new instructional technologies, let alone integrating them productively into one's teaching, can be a significant…

The goal of this study is to further corroborate a hypothesized population parameter for the frequencies of social presence versus the sum of teaching presence and cognitive presence as defined by the community of inquiry model in higher education asynchronous course forums. This parameter has been found across five variables: academic institution…

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of an activity-based explicit nature of science (NOS) instruction undertaken in the context of a "Science, Technology and Society" course on the prospective science teachers' (PSTs') understandings of NOS. In this course, social science based inquiry activities were used to as a context…