Having students design their own methods regarding data collection during a lab may help them formulate appropriate investigative procedures. The authors use a modified gallery walk to develop science skills. (Contains 3 figures.)

The Personal Inquiry project is an investigation into the role that technologies can play in enabling effective inquiry. While it is generally agreed that inquiry-based learning has potential for student learning, especially in science, three main challenges remain. The first is to provide effective support for inquiry learning, for both students…

Because scaffolding is a crucial form of support for students engaging in complex learning environments, it is important that researchers determine which of the numerous kinds of scaffolding will allow them to educate students most effectively. The existing literature tends to focus on computer-based scaffolding by itself rather than integrating…

Teacher inquiry is a powerful professional development method for teachers to direct their own learning and focus on the particular needs of their own classroom. Yet, the study of effective professional development must broaden its focus beyond "what" skills and content teachers must acquire to consider "how" to best facilitate teachers' learning…

This study investigates the beliefs and practices of seven high school chemistry teachers as a result of their participation in a year-long inquiry professional development (PD) project. An analysis of oral interviews, written reflections, and in-class observations were used to determine the extent to which the PD affected the teachers' beliefs…

In this article, the author narrates her experience of meeting a Montessori kid for the first time and shares the characteristics she observed in Montessori students. The author was working as director of academic resources in university housing at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and met Jason, a pre-med sophomore who was the resident…

"Why are the seas blue?" is a huge question that may reach far beyond the middle school level. However, our objective is to bring "simple" tools into the classroom to explain science without tampering with its essence and complexity. The experiment described in this article is only concerned with teaching the subject of absorption as related to…

"Building Inquiry Partnerships" was a yearlong professional development course conducted in 2005-2006. The course emphasized an inquiry approach to learning, improving skills in instructional design, and nurturing librarian-teacher partnerships. This article describes the goals, design, and implementation of the course and summarizes the…

This paper reports on a study of elementary preservice teachers' inquiry-based practices, their efficacy beliefs, and the role beliefs had on two preservice teachers' practices in urban classrooms. Results show inquiry-based practices can be cultivated through field-based experiences and preservice teachers' efficacy beliefs, as it relates to…

The activity described here uses the creative natures of visual art and music to enhance students' potential for creativity while increasing their understanding of the science associated with force and motion. Students design, test, and redesign a sailboat vehicle; collect data; make interpretations; and then defend their design. Music is used to…

In this paper, we report on a mentoring programme which provides an accreditation pathway to a master's level qualification. The paper served three purposes. First, informed by selected literature on education we caution against expedient reductionist models that are based solely on novice-expert mentoring relationships with limited facility for…

This study's goal was to quantify the effects pre-lecture online quizzes and student-initiated inquiries to the instructor, either virtually or in person, had on students' achievement. Pre- and post-course tests were also implemented to an experimental and a comparison section of the same course. The number of electronic administrative contacts…

This article reports a self-study from a larger research project that explored the impact on pre-service and in-service teacher education of a new national curriculum in New Zealand and the conceptualisations of epistemological shifts signalled by that document. A pedagogical initiative to introduce inquiry-based learning into a graduate diploma…

There is a continuing need for engaging inquiry-based laboratory experiences for advanced high school and undergraduate biology courses. The authors describe a guided-inquiry exercise investigating the pH-dependence of lactase enzyme that uses an inexpensive, wide-range buffering system, lactase dietary supplement, over-the-counter glucose test…

This paper describes emergent learning and situates it within learning networks and systems and the broader learning ecology of Web 2.0. It describes the nature of emergence and emergent learning and the conditions that enable emergent, self-organised learning to occur and to flourish. Specifically, it explores whether emergent learning can be…