Many students reach the middle school level without appropriate critical thinking skills. This has important implications for educators and the future workforce. This mixed methods quasi-experimental design study investigated the use of a science inquiry kit and its effect on the critical thinking skills and dispositions of elementary students.…

Doing and learning science are social activities that require certain language, activities, and values. Both constitute what Gee (2005) calls Discourses. The language of learning science varies with the learning context (Lemke, 2001,1990). "Science for All Americans" (AAAS, 1990) and "Inquiry and the National Science Education…

Over the last decade in Australia, the role of the teacher has changed. Teachers are now expected to model and foster in their students a wide range of skills such as critical thinking, self-regulated learning, knowledge of self and others and lifelong learning. These changes are having a significant impact on the design of pre-service teacher…

This article highlights how undergraduate students implemented inquiry-based learning strategies to learn how nonprofit organizations utilize volunteers. In inquiry-based learning, students begin with a problem or question with some degree of focus or structure provided by the professor. The student inquiry showcased in this article was based on a…

Switching rural primary students on to local science was a project centred on a cluster of seven Tasmanian primary schools over a full school year. The project had as its aims a mix of professional development outcomes for participant teachers and an enhancement of science experiences for their students. In order to achieve these aims programs…

Inquiry is an integral part of the teaching and learning of science. However, many science teachers are unsure of how to promote and support inquiry in the classroom or how to design lessons that engage students in inquiry in a way that improves students' understanding of important concepts and practices in biology. In this article, the authors…

Using a cross-case analysis of three distinct participatory program evaluations, this paper contributes to current discourse on how evaluators create opportunities for learning. Although each team of evaluators intended to promote planned process use, post-evaluation discussions amongst them identified evidence where use emerged throughout the…

The examination of alternative hypotheses can initiate students into scientific practices and equip them with scientific literacy skills that will help them participate in ongoing debates involving complex socio-scientific problems. Hypothesis testing, in which the examination of alternative hypotheses is situated, has received much attention in…

In this article I argue that the concept of personalisation is simply rhetorical unless it facilitates theory and practice which takes seriously and engages with the value of the human person. The idea of human value is a fundamental theme in social and cultural life and the motor behind many psychological and social processes. Traditionally,…

Research about the benefits of formative assessment as a means of improving student learning has encouraged policy-makers and teachers in countries like the UK, Australia and New Zealand to promote and use classroom-based assessment for learning in the qualifications arena. However, recent research suggests teachers are implementing a narrow…

The authors describe an inquiry-based learning project that required students in a first-year world history course to reflect on and analyze critically the nature of the knowledge found in Wikipedia--the free, open-content, rapidly evolving, internet encyclopedia. Using a rubric, the authors explored students' perceptions of the collaborative and…

Outdoor education (OE) takes place within a range of program settings and contexts (e.g., recreational, educational, developmental, or therapeutic). Experiential learning is central to OE and focuses these programs around elements of inquiry, active learning and reflection in the outdoor classroom. The personal, social and environmental benefits…

This naturalistic inquiry explored the theory of transactional distance by investigating how a novice adult learner experiences an online environment. Three themes that are related to how the novice learner reduces the transactional distance space emerged from an analysis of interview transcripts: creating a voice for learning, connecting in a…

As described in "How People Learn," "Developing Biological Literacy," and by the Commission on Undergraduate Education in the Biological Sciences during the 1960s and early 1970s, laboratories should promote guided-inquiries or investigations, and not simply consist of cookbook or verification activities. However, the only word that could describe…

How can you connect, supplement, and extend students' firsthand investigations? Look toward your bookshelves for a clue. Books and other textual materials can serve the following roles in support of scientific inquiry: providing context, modeling, supporting firsthand inquiry, supporting secondhand inquiry, and delivering content. Each of these…