The liberal arts of evidence-based inquiry are necessities for knowledgeable participation in a self-governing democracy and equally important in an innovation-dependent economy. Higher education's role in fostering these capacities has always been one of its most important contributions to the greater good. The current political environment calls…

Standards for early learning (e.g., children ages 0-5; prekindergarten, preschool, and younger) vary widely in their technical quality and specificity. The Center on Standards and Assessment Implementation (CSAI) recently conducted a literature review to determine the landscape in early learning standards and science, specifically centered on the…

It is well established that some charter schools do far better than others at educating their students. This variability has profound implications for the children who attend those schools. Yet painful experience shows that rebooting or closing a low-performing school is a drawn-out and excruciating process. This report investigates whether or not…

Background: The Internet of Things (IoT) is a global network of data-sensing devices which pupils can access during science or other curriculum activities. Purpose: This article reports on a commissioned evaluation of a small-scale pilot project to explore the potential of the IoT combined with local sensors to enhance pupils' data interpretation…

We explore the ways in which preservice teachers (PSTs) develop a practice "in" practice (Darling-Hammond, 2010) with diverse learners when placed in classrooms with college writing mentor teachers. Analyzing survey data and instances of stated confidence in PSTs' activity logs, we share results that reveal a significant increase in the…

The goal of this study is to investigate the effect of self-generation in inquiry-based learning and to identify the role of feedback. While open-ended inquiry-based learning with a high degree of self-generation requirements has long been considered optimal for facilitating effective learning, its long-run effects have been critically challenged.…

This research sought to improve students' science reading comprehension ability and marine ecological conservation learning interest through the implementation of an inquiry-based learning course. A Triggered situational interest-Reading-Inquiry-Presentation (TRIP) model was proposed to guide the course design. The quasi-experimental design was…

Background: Children's interest in science is known to decline around the upper primary age, and botanical topics are unpopular with students. Drama in education has the potential to increase motivation and interest in school science. Purpose: The study examined the impact of immersive drama on knowledge about biological classification and…

In Slovakia, a national project IT Academy -- the education for the 21st century -- was launched to promote student interest in science, mathematics and informatics across secondary education; and to also prepare students for the digital age. Geography education has an opportunity to undergo a process of reconceptualization and change in response…

As a dance practitioner in education, Jason Ohlberg is interested in how artistic inquiry through interdisciplinary, student-centered processes can engage dancers beyond traditional choreographic practices and offer deeper contexts for learning and growth. The research described in this article began through an inter-institutional initiative,…

Understanding students' capacity to direct their learning in school and beyond has been a sustained area of interest for practising science teachers, policy-makers, and educational researchers. This paper presents results from a longitudinal quasi-experimental study carried out to examine changes in students' self-reported levels of…

This study sought to determine how three teachers experienced learning when engaged in ongoing reflective inquiry regarding their teaching beliefs, teaching behaviors, and the comparison of those beliefs and behaviors. Three case studies describe teachers writing educational platforms, comparing their platforms to their classroom behaviors, and…

Metacognition is a required cognitive ability to achieve deep and meaningful learning that should be viewed from both an individual and social perspective. Recently, the transition from the earliest individualistic models to an acknowledgement of metacognition as socially situated and socially constructed has precipitated the study of…

The purposes of this study were to (1) investigate 127 high school students' views about scientific inquiry at different grade levels, and (2) to describe factors such as the teacher's views about scientific inquiry, his teaching, and his curriculum that facilitated or constrained students' views about scientific inquiry. The majority of students…

Prior knowledge of and interest in subject matter are recognised as important factors influencing students' academic achievement and the quality of their learning experience. Teaching students who are diverse in terms of their prior knowledge of and interest in the subject matter is an oft-cited challenge in science general education courses. The…