This article shares an example of a course in Combinatorics, taught at Adelphi University in Fall 2012, designed with a primary goal of engaging students in pursuing mathematics as mathematicians do. The course went beyond usual applications of inquiry-based learning in that students were also charged with the responsibility of posing the…

Employing metasynthesis as a method, this study examined 52 empirical articles on culturally relevant and responsive science education in K-12 settings to determine the nature and scope of complementarity between culturally responsive and inquiry-based science practices (i.e., science and engineering practices identified in the National Research…

To improve polymer education for 9-12 and undergraduate students, a plastic electronics laboratory kit using polymer semiconductors has been developed. The three-module kit and curriculum use polymer semiconductors to provide hands-on inquiry activities with overlapping themes of electrical conductivity, light emission, and light-harvesting solar…

This paper engages in a critical analysis of the educational theory of Paulo Freire. It is based on qualitative research which explores Irish adult literacy practice. The research harnesses the ontological aspects of Freire's theory; his interpretation of how human reality is constructed. Using this as the theoretical foundation for inquiry,…

The creation and identification of high-yield practices for empowering students to think, wonder, and own their learning is a high priority for school librarians who value instructional leadership. Future-ready librarians are working to create flexible learning environments in which their students design solutions, consider possibilities, and…

Using concepts such as Design Thinking to create inquiry-based, hands-on learning opportunities centered on student ideation and creation, Lewisville Independent School District (LISD) in North Texas reimagined the role of library instruction through implementation of a Mobile Transformation Lab. The purpose of this lab is to serve the more than…

Earth's easily seen surface features (mountains, volcanoes, and islands)--and the movement of the tectonic plates that lie below--offer hints about the processes that produced them. Inquiries in seismology, the study of earthquakes and other ground movements, can help students learn about Earth's geologic processes. This article describes an…

American and global history curriculum frameworks for high schools across the 50 states generally present the topic of the Cold War from the Western political perspective and contain material about the impact of the US-Soviet ideological rivalry on American society. This article argues that since the Cold War impacted the lives of people in the…

Inquiry-based working by teachers includes working with an inquiry habit of mind, being data literate, contributing to a culture of inquiry at the school level, and creating a culture of inquiry at the classroom level. Inquiry-based working has been found to contribute to educational improvements and the professionalisation of teachers. This study…

The purpose of this research was to analyze the physics cognitive competence and science process skill of students using scientific inquiry learning model based on conceptual change better than using conventional learning. The research type was quasi experiment and two group pretest-posttest designs were used in this study. The sample were Class…

Our paper builds on the construct of the zone of proximal development (ZPD) (Vygotsky in Mind in society: the development of higher psychological processes, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, 1978) to analyze the relationship between students' answers and the help they receive as they construct them. We report on a secondary analysis of…

The aim of this study was to determine the effect of inquiry-based laboratory activities on the students' understanding of the nature of science (NOS) in learning lights and optics topic. The method used in this research is quasi experiment. Sampling technique using random sampling to class and the samples were taken from grade 8 in one of junior…

In the fall of 2015, the author conducted a national survey of over 1,000 former high school speech and debate competitors. As he told a colleague, he was drowning in data. It was a good problem to have, but he was not sure how to thoroughly examine the heart of data; how would he make meaning of their experiences? Then, he realized, the answer…

We discuss affordances and liabilities of using a storyboard to depict a written case of a teacher's dilemma that involves race, opportunity to learn, and student community. We rely on reflections by the teacher educator who authored the written case and later depicted it as a storyboard to use it with his preservice teachers (PSTs). The analysis…

In the last twenty years in US science education, professional development has emphasized the need to change science instruction from a direct instruction model to a more participatory and constructivist learning model. The result of these reform efforts has seen an increase in science education professional development that is focused on…