The purpose of this qualitative research was to describe and analyze the ways in which newly inducted supervisors (in the first three years of their work) tasked with clinical supervision, cognitive coaching, and similar forms of developmental instructional supervision were engaged in a "reflective dialogue" between their supervisory…

Informal science education (ISE) experiences can provide powerful opportunities for people with disabilities to experience and learn about science. When designed to be inclusive, such experiences can lead people with disabilities to feel competent and empowered as science learners, generate excitement and enthusiasm for science, and be equitable…

Education reform movements often promise more than they deliver. Why are such promises plausible in light of seemingly perpetual education reform? Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork based in a nonprofit education reform organization, this article explores the appeal of popular notions about "using data to close the racial achievement…

When she began teaching college geology and paleontology, the author anticipated some resistance from those who believed in a 6000 year-old earth, from creationists and those who advocate intelligent design, or possibly from students who simply wished to be consistent with the family religion and still take a course involving evolution and the Big…

Library and information management (LIM) organisations are on an almost continual path of change driven by changes in technology, service models, staffing structures, and financial allocations. The way in which LIM organisations approach change varies, as does the success rate of change management procedures undertaken. One particular approach to…

The beginning of any science activity for young learners is "play." Exploration and investigation are the building blocks of science, especially in the foundation years, and well-planned play in a safe environment will provide a structure within which children can explore fruitfully. In this article, the author provides examples of how "play" acts…

In this article, which includes three video clips, the author argues that the small experiments, inventions, strategies, and pauses in young children's play seen in the clips reveal a legitimate form of scientific thinking. He notes that science and play both represent a frame of mind, an attitude toward the events one observes. (Contains 3…

This paper responds to the articles in the recent special edition of The Curriculum Journal (Volume 20, Number 3). The special edition discusses an "archaeological" approach to student enquiry, with associated ideas of personalisation, competency development, and building learning power. We argue that the papers both raise and omit complex issues…

Teachers are required to work with data on a daily basis to assess the effectiveness of their teaching strategies, but may not approach it as research. This paper presents a reflective discussion of how and when a professional development team used an action research project to help 12 K-6 teachers explore the effectiveness of reform based Nature…

Educative mentoring is an idea developed by Feiman-Nemser [Feiman-Nemser, S. (1998). Teachers as teacher educators. "European Journal of Teacher Education," 21(1), 63-74; (2001). Helping novices learn to teach: Lessons from an exemplary support teacher. "Journal of Teacher Education," 52(1), 17-30] to reflect current conceptions of mentoring that…

For many decades, science educators have asked, "In what ways should learning the content of traditional subjects serve as the means to more general ends, such as understanding the nature of science or the processes of scientific inquiry?" Acceptance of these ends reduces the role of disciplinary context; the "Footprints Puzzle" and Oregon's…

The academy is defined by a fundamentally uncertain pursuit of certainty. The question of whether academic work is a sufficient form of engagement on its own is inseparable from the contradiction inherent to this pursuit. Like any properly academic question, it lends itself to a forum: a response is nearly obligatory for any professor in the…

We investigated whether the sexes differ in science performance before they make important course and career selections. We collected teacher-report data from a sample of children from the Twins Early Development Study (TEDS) assessed at ages 9, 10 and 12 years (N greater than 2500 pairs). In addition we developed a test of scientific enquiry and…

In this brief retrospective essay, the value of a particular kind of classroom talk is extolled--not the kind of talk that simply feeds back information, but rather talk that has the power to shape knowledge through participant engagement with a range of processes: hypothesising, exploration, debate and synthesis. This kind of talk is the…

This study examined the complexities of mentoring discourse and agentive teacher preparation. I argue that such an examination is necessary to better prepare student teachers to engage agentively with the powerful status quo in schools. I begin by discussing the intersections of current thinking about mentoring and dialogue, and I describe how…