This book was written to make it easier for classroom teachers to teach students the skills they need to successfully conduct, analyze, and report an experiment and to carry out independent research; it also presents strategies for holding successful science competitions. Part 1 contains field-tested teaching strategies for developing student…

This monograph describes the Curriculum Inquiry Cycle (CIC), focusing on the first phase. The CIC is a professional development process that supports educators in making curriculum and instruction decisions responsive to state standards, local needs, and student characteristics. The process is designed to improve learning and teaching, with the…

This manual is intended to give novice and veteran teachers a basis for inquiry within their classrooms. The following sections are intended to guide the reader through an introduction to practicing inquiry within the classroom: Philosophical Overview, Historical Overview, Use in the Classroom, How to Establish Inquiry in Your Classroom, and…

The document claims that American Indians are the least represented culturally different population in science-related fields of study. In American Indian community schools, science is still taught using outdated conformity-and-assimilation strategies, which neglect consideration of Native American cultural views. The report describes a study…

Students must have uninterrupted periods of time to process information, to reflect on what has been said, observed, or done, and to consider what their personal responses will be. After at least three seconds of uninterrupted silence, a significant number of positive outcomes occur for students and teachers. Students are more effective in…

This paper explored how art history is taught in secondary schools. The author maintained that identifying the origins and evolution of ideas ensures that proposed models of teaching art history adhere to the philosophical base from which they derive. The paper is divided into five sections. In the first part, the author described four categories…

This collection of essays describes practices in environmental education and points to possibilities in the field. The intention is to appraise selected practices in order to prepare the ground for a consideration of alternative images of environmental education that may shape future action. The following articles are included: (1) "A…

This collection of lectures includes the following contributions from faculty at the University of Colorado at Boulder: (1) "Aloof Professors and Shy Students" (Patricia Nelson Limerick); (2) "Teaching the Thundering Herd: Surviving in a Large Classroom" (Charles R. Middleton); (3) "The Scientist as a Story Teller" (R. Igor Gamow); (4) "Active…

The characteristics and major events of early American science are discussed in this paper. The philosophical influences and scientific practices of prominent scientists in early American time periods are examined and referenced in terms of their orientation to inquiry-oriented methods. Specific descriptions of the scientific accomplishments of…

This monograph examines the issues surrounding the educational movement toward emphasizing critical thinking in our schools. The emergence of the critical thinking movement in education in today's schools is discussed in the light of the historical role of schools in our society and the developing complexity of educational needs. The concept of…

Research, evaluation, and policy analysis are elements of inquiry whose functions, aims, purposes, intended audiences, and intended outcomes have been confused in the literature discussing how to accomplish them. Using the definition of "disciplined inquiry" provided by Cronbach and Suppes (1969), which defines disciplined inquiry as the…

A discussion is presented of a project that attempts to link research interest in teachers' implicit theories, attitudes, beliefs, and teaching practice and with a preservice introductory educational psychology course. The main purpose of the study was to make more personally meaningful and practical the pedagogical theories, research, and ideas…

This paper reviews the literature concerning integrative curricula for gifted learning. The goals of such curricula include encouraging students to incorporate innovative ideas into their learning activities, promoting self-actualization, unifying students' educational activities across subject-matter boundaries, and aiding students in organizing…

Assumptions about nature and personhood and the relationship between the two are implicated in the aim of doing philosophy with elementary school students and transforming classrooms into communities of inquiry. Assumptions are also made about dialogue; truth; knowledge; and the ability of children to form communities that will engender care for…

This study was designed to find out how far suggested textbooks have been adopted in teaching a new chemistry syllabus in Kenya and if the chemistry books now being used in schools to teach the new syllabus involve activity and encourage the process of scientific inquiry. The new syllabus is a merger between the traditional separate chemistry…