This book is designed for middle school earth science teachers to help their students learn about problems with hurricanes and scientific literacy through event-based science. Unlike traditional curricula, the event-based earth science module is a student-centered, interdisciplinary, inquiry-oriented program that emphasizes cooperative learning,…

This study investigated the impact of the Benedum Collaborative Model of Teacher Education at West Virginia University (WVU). Under this model, Professional Development Schools (PDSs) were expected to be sites of best practice, centers of inquiry, and empowered communities. The model raised admissions requirements, reinvented the curriculum, and…

A 1986 policy instituted by the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges calls for strengthening the rigor and academic standards of all college-level courses to be counted toward the associate degree. The policy calls for all courses to promote students' ability to think critically. One of the first difficulties encountered by…

This study was intended to design, enact, and evaluate a teacher education project on multiple forms of literacy and to examine whether teacher-learners would develop new understandings about language arts when defined more expansively to include multiple symbol systems offered by music and other art forms. The project was developed by teacher…

This new version explores the philosophical underpinnings, history, and key elements of each of five qualitative inquiry approaches: narrative research, phenomenology, grounded theory, ethnography, and case study. Using an accessible and engaging writing style, the author compares theoretical frameworks, ways to employ standards of quality, and…

This paper reviews the history of the GLOBE (Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment) Program, an international environmental science education program. The goals of the program are to: enhance the environmental awareness of individuals around the world; contribute to the scientific understanding of the earth; and to help all…

The activities in this collection are designed to help teachers bring the worlds of science and art into the classroom. Each activity is both a hands-on science investigation and an art experience. As students create satisfying art projects, they utilize science skills such as observing, predicting, investigating, and communicating. The projects…

This paper presents the preservice teacher portfolio as a multidimensional tool, addressing three dimensions of the portfolio based on data compiled within one university's teacher preparation program. It recommends the preservice teacher portfolio as a viable tool for assessing preservice teachers' capacity (knowledge, skills, dispositions, and…

This monograph contains 10 plant pathology experiments that were written to correspond to portions of a biology curriculum. Each experiment is suitable to a biology topic and designed to encourage exploration of those biological concepts being taught. Experiments include: (1) The Symptoms and Signs of Disease; (2) Koch's Postulates; (3)…

This paper describes a longitudinal case study that examined the various products that a primary grade student created as he co-researched with his teacher how to implement self-selected science inquiry in a suburban first grade classroom in New Jersey. Transcriptions of science presentations and interviews, parent and student reflection, and the…

This study investigated the influence of scaffolds on prospective teachers'(PTs') construction of scientific arguments. Participants were enrolled in an innovative science course aimed at providing PTs with experiences learning science using inquiry empowering technologies. PTs' arguments were constructed within the context of a light unit in…

This paper describes changes in students' ideas about science classes, attitudes about science, and motivations for studying science in a classroom designed to support project-based science learning. Findings indicate that providing students with opportunities to collect and analyze their own data in science classes results in a change in…

This qualitative case study identified how various conditions supported one voluntary novice teacher learning community called STEP+. Participants were all graduates of Stanford University's teacher education program (STEP), a fifth-year, combined master's and credential program. STEP+ teachers convened for as many as 5 years away from their…

This issue of ENC Focus focuses on the topic of inquiry and problem solving. Featured articles include: (1) "Inquiry in the Everyday World of Schools" (Ronald D. Anderson); (2) "In the Cascade Reservoir Restoration Project Students Tackle Real-World Problems" (Clint Kennedy with Advanced Biology Students from Cascade High…

This paper reports on a case study that was part of a 3-year longitudinal study about classroom discourse during a learning sequence related to environmental values and concepts. The lesson was planned and enacted by students in a fourth grade classroom during a field study. Whole class and small group classroom conversations and a field trip to a…