New technologies are increasingly giving science teachers the ability to access and customize science lessons. However, there is substantial debate in the literature about whether and under what conditions teacher customization benefit student learning. In this study, we examined teacher customization of inquiry-based science lessons from an…

Much research has identified and confirmed the core elements of the well-known Community of Inquiry Framework (CoIF): Social, Cognitive and Teaching Presence (Garrison, 2011). The overlap of these Presences, their definitions and roles, and their subsequent impact on the educational experience, has received less attention. This article is prompted…

There are no summative evaluations for compulsory and basic education in Taiwan. This research discusses and analyzes present teacher evaluation implementation. The implementation of policy nowadays means "Teacher evaluation for professional development". Teacher evaluation for professional development is a voluntary growing project of…

Transfer in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields from community colleges to 4-year institutions holds great policy significance in alleviating the female underrepresentation in the STEM pipeline, with proportionately more female students attending community colleges. Considering the knowledge gap on this often overlooked topic,…

The introduction of performance-based state funding of higher education can be traced to the late 1970s which eliminated bonuses, and replaced regular state funding in part or completely, with funding tied to achievement of state-defined performance goals, which often include student outcomes, like graduation and retention rates. In this article,…

Using case studies, we describe what happens from novice to apprentice when preservice teachers learn to teach in an urban teacher-residency (UTR) program with a focus on inquiry. Our UTR operates within a "third space" in teacher education, seeking to realign traditional power relationships and to create an alternate arena where the…

To explore questions in history and to construct historical narratives, historians work with evidence from the past. This approach to teaching history (inquiry involving the use of evidence) is an accepted part of the research on history teaching and is promoted widely in standards frameworks and practitioner publications as "good history…

"Energy" is a term often used in everyday language. Even young children associate energy with the food they eat, feeling tired after playing soccer, or when asked to turn the lights off to save light energy. However, they may not have the scientific conceptual understanding of energy at this age. Teaching energy and matter could be…

This paper focuses on the divide between the university as a site of teacher education and the profession of practicing teachers. We employed a theoretical inquiry methodology on a singular case study which included formulating questions about the phenomena of the university-profession divide (UPD), analysing constituents of the UPD, and…

The laboratory is a mainstay in STEM education, promoting the development of critical thinking skills, dexterity, and scientific curiosity. The goals in the laboratory for nonchemistry, prehealth majors, though, could be distinguished from those for chemistry majors. In service courses such as organic chemistry, much laboratory time is often spent…

I describe the first stages of a process of design research in which I employ problem-based learning in a course in engineering ethics, which fulfills a requirement for students in engineering degree programs. The aim of the course is to foster development of particular cognitive skills contributing to moral imagination, a capacity to notice,…

The "working scientifically" strand of the new primary science curriculum for England has re-emphasised the importance of children having opportunities to carry out different types of enquiries to answer their scientific questions. To promote this as an ongoing aim of primary science education, it is equally important for trainee primary…

Children are naturally curious about the world around them and are often intrigued by everyday objects and experiences. Primary school teachers frequently make use of "WOW moments" to generate children's interest in science (Feasey, 2005). These moments capitalise on the children's fascination with objects and experiences in their…

This article describes the development of a lesson sequence that supports secondary-level students to construct an explanatory model for electrostatic attraction using a guided enquiry method. The students examine electrostatic interactions at a macro level and explain the phenomena at the atomic level. Pre-tests, post-tests, homework assignments…

The purpose of this study was to compare the ability of different instruments, independently developed and traditionally used for measuring science teachers' beliefs in short-term interventions, to longitudinally measure teachers' changing beliefs. We compared the ability of three self-report instruments (Science Teaching Efficacy Belief…