Science education reform has long focused on assessing student inquiry, and there has been progress in developing tools specifically with respect to experimentation and argumentation. We suggest the need for attention to another aspect of inquiry, namely "mechanistic reasoning." Scientific inquiry focuses largely on understanding causal…

This study compared inquiry and non-inquiry laboratory teaching in terms of students' perceptions of the classroom learning environment, attitudes toward science, and achievement among middle-school physical science students. Learning environment and attitude scales were found to be valid and related to each other for a sample of 1,434 students in…

Since 2003, a collaborative teaching project 'The Multicultural Society in the Netherlands' has been running with increasing levels of success. This project links Dutch Studies students at Sheffield with students at University College London to pursue a collaborative inquiry into issues of migration and multiculturalism. Cross-institutional…

There is an increasing need for students in the biological sciences to build a strong foundation in quantitative approaches to data analyses. Although most science, engineering, and math field majors are required to take at least one statistics course, statistical analysis is poorly integrated into undergraduate biology course work, particularly…

During the past few years there have been great strides in the advancement of technology with the rise of mobile devices leading to an era characterized by the instant access to and mobility of information. Mobile technologies have more recently been used in a variety of educational settings for a variety of purposes and educational goals.…

This is a self-study of my professional and cultural biography and identity, a history which directed me first toward the work of urban teaching and then into teacher education and research into comparative educational issues of racial and national identity. I use this inquiry to demonstrate how biography and identity influences the lived…

Research shows that mathematically gifted students learn differently from their same age group peers. They require curriculum to be differentiated to meet their specific learning styles (Johnson, 2000). Studies have shown that formal instruction in elementary school classrooms often lacks challenge for the gifted learner since courses in regular…

This study aimed to investigate the comparative value of experimenting with physical manipulatives (PM) in a sequential combination with virtual manipulatives (VM), with the use of PM preceding the use of VM, and of experimenting with PM alone, with respect to changes in students' conceptual understanding in the domain of heat and temperature. A…

This research addresses the effectiveness of an interactive learning environment, Inquiry Island, as a general-purpose framework for the design of inquiry-based science curricula. We introduce the software as a scaffold designed to support the creation and assessment of inquiry projects, and describe its use in a middle-school genetics unit.…

There has been growing interest in linking the learning of Science with the literacies of Science and representations. Recent attention has been focused on learning theories that emphasise the socio-cultural and situated aspects of learning, and in particular the notion of learning as participation in a discourse community. This paper will…

In this study, the authors compared four multimedia learning arrangements differing in instructional approach on effectiveness and efficiency for learning: (a) hypermedia learning, (b) observational learning, (c) self-explanation-based learning, and (d) inquiry learning. The approaches all advocate learners' active attitude toward the learning…

This article explores teachers' assessment knowledge and practice through a narrative inquiry of a college EFL teacher, Betty (pseudonym), in the People's Republic of China. Drawing on Crites' (1971) notions of "sacred stories" and "secret stories" in teachers' professional knowledge landscapes (Connelly & Clandinin, 1995),…

This study describes the influence of a secondary science methods program on secondary science preservice teachers' views and enactment of nature of science and inquiry-based instructional practices. Built into the structure of this program were three cycles of practice teaching and reflection in which the preservice teachers focused on key…

This study examined the impact of an intervention designed to promote inquiry-based instruction among early childhood/elementary preservice teachers in Earth science. Preservice teachers participated in training sessions and community-based internships to deepen Earth science content knowledge and develop inquiry-based practices. Analyses of Earth…

In this article the authors tell the story of their separate but related journeys toward "coming of age in methodology," journeys that brought them, as non-indigenous women, into relationships with indigenous peoples, who challenged them to unlearn their taken-for-granted notions about research. The first study highlights the pervasive…