This booklet synthesises the research on teacher professional learning and development that has been demonstrated to have a positive impact on valued student outcomes. Its findings relate to teachers who have received at least some initial teacher education and who are in the process of deepening their knowledge and refining their skills. The…

The momentum gathering behind authentic learning/critical skills raises fundamental issues concerning teaching and learning. This article discusses some of the more general arguments surrounding authentic learning with particular reference to an in-depth evaluation of its impact on schools in one part of Great Britain. It then moves on to describe…

While Garrison and colleagues' (2000) Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework has generated substantial interest among online learning researchers, it has yet to be subjected to extensive quantitative verification or tested for external validity. Using a sample of students from 55 online MBA courses, the findings of this study suggest strong…

The 9th International Conference on Educational Data Mining (EDM 2016) is held under the auspices of the International Educational Data Mining Society at the Sheraton Raleigh Hotel, in downtown Raleigh, North Carolina, in the USA. The conference, held June 29-July 2, 2016, follows the eight previous editions (Madrid 2015, London 2014, Memphis…

The word "attitude" has different meanings. While some educators wish their students had less attitude, others are looking for ways to help students develop the kind of questioning, critical attitude that will allow them to interrogate and rethink what they already know or take for granted. This article describes a teacher education program that…

This book presents a philosophical perspective to elementary and secondary teaching based on the idea of the classroom as a community of inquiry and the idea of "Philosophy for Children." Together these provide a methodology and a content for teaching and improvement of thinking. Thinking is conceived as an enterprise which is both affective and…

Essentially about classroom practice, this book is based on the idea that social education brings the world into the classroom. The book provides opportunities for young learners to explore and clarify values and attitudes, develop investigative skills, discuss issues, solve problems, make decisions and act on the understandings they have…

This paper focuses on how teachers in a rural elementary school, involved in the fourth year of a restructuring process (the Accelerated Schools Project), used inquiry to transform teaching and learning. In the past, teachers generally worked within their own classrooms and had little input in school wide operations. However, after four years of…

This book is based on the premise that students apply thinking skills to learning science concepts by doing through firsthand experiences in an interactive, open atmosphere; constructing by building knowledge through guided inquiry; and connecting by relating learning to the world around them. The contents of this book have been designed to…

This paper outlines a three semester hour undergraduate, core course in Scientific Inquiry that increases student knowledge and advances student skills in understanding science as knowledge, process, and human enterprise. This course was developed as a bridge between science and the humanities and a bridge for entry-level students in the…

This paper presents the results of a comparison of the effects of gender on fourth-grade students' learning in hands-on science. This study is part of a 3-year classroom based project of hands-on science in 6 urban and 2 suburban classrooms (n=171). Half of the teachers used a supported-inquiry approach, and half used activity-based science to…

In an interdisciplinary approach to improve faculty members' teaching competencies in higher education at the University of Innsbruck (Austria), an action research type of program proved most suitable to promote reflective professionality across the disciplinary boundaries. After an introductory session individual projects were initiated, in which…

As reflective teaching has been a major concern in education with the movement for increased teacher professionalism and involvement in all aspects of school decision-making, the 10 articles in this volume address reflective practice in the social studies with an emphasis on how reflection and inquiry can contribute to both teacher and curriculum…

An inquiry method for learning art history assumes that students will be more interested if they conduct their own research about artists, works of art, and cultures. The collection of the following types of information will help guide their inquiry: description of the work of art, techniques and materials used, where the artist lived, purpose of…

One of a series of Australian publications on social studies skill development, this booklet introduces secondary students to survey techniques and their applications for gathering data in the school and community. Following an introduction, material is divided into eight chapters. Topics covered are the nature and stages of a social survey,…