This research examined the outcome of a year two intervention which aligned two instructional contexts, to impact preservice teachers' Environmental Education (EE) self-efficacy beliefs and their use of inquiry-based instruction. The intervention immersed candidates in inquiry-based pedagogies and EE content across a science content course and a…

Young children are keenly motivated to inquire into and make meaning about their worlds. This article discusses "working theories", one of two indicative learning outcomes of the New Zealand early childhood curriculum, "Te Whariki". Working theories occur as children attempt to find connections between their experiences and…

My doctoral research project sought to explore the ways in which school music teachers' values and beliefs impact on their students' experience of music education. Music in schools is often positioned as a subject for the few rather than for the many. The literature describes music teachers themselves as elitist, more interested in their subject…

This study offers recommendations and a model for other teacher educators who are interested in training teachers in the use of three-dimensional (3D) immersive virtual worlds (IVWs) for their own teaching. Twelve special education teachers collaboratively explored the usability of Second Life (SL) for special education by completing a full…

The central focus of this multilayered educational action research project was three-fold: (1) to provide opportunities for public school student leadership activities grounded in participatory and youth participatory action research; (2) to support a group of teacher-researchers in practicing and innovating in participatory action research…

This paper looks at the historical consciousness of prospective history teachers in Canada. Using a bilingual online survey instrument inspired by the pan-Canadian research "Canadians and their Pasts" with volunteer participants (N = 233), the study investigates their background knowledge, their perceptions of the trustworthiness of…

This article shares a school based inquiry project undertaken by staff in a special day school in the North Island of New Zealand supported by an external teacher educator/researcher from the United States. The inquiry project followed the Accessible Research Cycle (Jones, Whitehurst, & Egerton, 2012), which is a phased progression of…

In Web 2.0 environments, the quality of published information can vary significantly and much of the information on the Internet is unproven. This unverified information hinders rather than facilitates student learning, especially among undergraduate students who depend heavily on Internet resources for their studies. Currently, we do not have…

The purpose of this study was to determine Primary Teacher Education (PTE) Trainees' perceptions regarding their preparedness to teach science in primary schools. A descriptive survey research design was used and stratified proportionate random sampling techniques used to select 177 males and 172 females. The study found out that more male trainee…

This study examined a program that gives undergraduate candidates options for teacher certification. Candidates in STEM majors were recruited in order to provide them with a compact, flexible, and innovative option for adding teacher licensure to their bachelor degrees. This program used early field experiences that allow candidates to practice…

This study examines the difference in effectiveness between two scientific inquiry programs-one with an emphasis on scientific reasoning and one without a scientific reasoning component-on students' scientific concepts, scientific concept-dependent reasoning, and scientific inquiry. A mixed-method approach was used in which 115 grade 5…

The purpose of this study was to analyze seven widely used high school biology textbooks in order to assess the nature of science knowledge (NOS) and scientific inquiry (SI) aspects they, explicitly or implicitly, conveyed in the Mendelian genetics sections. Textbook excerpts that directly and/or fully matched our statements about NOS and SI were…

Data-driven inquiry (DDI) is the process by which teachers design and implement classroom assessments and use student results to inform/adjust teaching. Although much has been written about DDI, few details exist about how teachers conduct this process on a day-to-day basis in any specific subject area, let alone chemistry. Nineteen high school…

This study focuses on the design and testing of a motivational animated pedagogical agent (APA) in an inquiry learning environment on kinematics. The aim of including the APA was to enhance students' perceptions of task relevance and self-efficacy. Given the under-representation of girls in science classrooms, special attention was given to…

A simplified activity examined gas density while employing cost-efficient syringes in place of traditional glass bulbs. The exercise measured the density of methane, with very good accuracy and precision, in both first-year high school and AP chemistry settings. The participating students were tasked with finding the density of a gas. The…