We present a year-long case study that documents the interactions between a teacher-research-mentor (TRM) and two 11th grade students working in their school laboratory on an extended inquiry project that is part of reformed mandatory requirements for advanced-level matriculation in physics. Both the students (females) and the TRM (male) are Arab…

Inquiry practices can be integrated into various settings that differ in terms of their constraints and hence in the scope and depth of the practices that students experience. Key policy papers suggest implementing a gradual learning sequence for inquiry practices so that students' learning experiences in more constrained settings can serve them…

The aim of this paper is to explore high school students' critical consciousness development in the context of youth participatory action research (YPAR) focused on food security at an alternative school in Alabama. The YPAR project took place in an elective agriscience class with 10 students (Seven Black, two white, one Latino) who were in the…

This article details an experiment in an 11th and 12th grade 3-week intensive course, the Science and History of Contagious Disease. The course was an interdisciplinary survey of how diseases are spread along with an examination of social responses. Although both lecture and discussion based, the course revolved primary around a trip in which we…

This article describes the results of a study into students' experiences of independent research project work in science. Independent research projects are projects in which students are supervised (usually by a teacher, scientist or both) to work independently on a scientific problem or question over an extended period. We collected data from 39…

This article describes methods and findings from a study focused on youth living in rural communities in northern New Hampshire who struggle with accessing STEM learning opportunities because of economic underinvestment and geographical isolation. These challenges also negatively impact researchers hoping to learn how rural youth benefit from…

Science and technology are argued to have controversial consequences on individuals, societies and environments. Citizens' socio-political activism seems paramount to address these consequences. This paper reports on Venezuelan students' socio-political actions on socioscientific issues highly relevant to them. It particularly focuses on students'…

This article describes in some detail aspects of the Student Voice initiative funded and championed by Ontario's Ministry of Education since 2008. The project enables thousands of students to make their voices heard in meaningful ways and to participate in student-led research. Some students from grades 7 to 12 become members of the Student…

In examining open inquiry projects among high-school biology students, we found dynamic inquiry performances expressed in two criteria: "changes occurring during inquiry" and "procedural understanding". Characterizing performances in a dynamic open inquiry project can shed light on both the procedural and epistemological…

This article presents the findings of a 3-year case study that examines the lasting effects of having participated in cogenerative dialogues during a 9th grade science experience. Theo, a high school student researcher of more than three years, affords insights into the expansion of human agency, attributing it to his consistent participation in…

This article shows how students confront offensive language head-on by researching its history and reconsidering its use in contemporary conversation. It describes an assignment in which students study the histories and social reception of words (in some cases considered obscenities) used to insult people of various social categories. Students…

Functions are all around us, disguised as actions on concrete objects. Composition of functions, too, is all around us, because these actions can be performed in succession, the output of one serving as the input for the next. In terms of Gray and Tall's (2001) "embodied objects" or Lakoff and Nunez's (2000) "mathematical idea…

This research is part of a broader project being carried out by Erain School (San Sebastian) since February-March, 2004. The project is centered on the educational use of digital video. It has been catalogued as an R&D&I Project by the Diputacion (provincial council) of Guipuzcoa and the Basque government who collaborated in financing it,…

Whether you're a stream studies novice or a veteran aquatic monitor, "Watershed Dynamics" gives you abundant practical resources to extend your students' investigations into local water quality and land-use issues. This two-part set is ideal for teaching biological and ecological concepts and research techniques. It also shows how the interplay…

In recent years, the science teaching community and curriculum developers have emphasised the importance of teaching inquiry and teaching science as inquiry. One way of developing learners' skills for planning and carrying out scientific research is by allowing them to perform independent research, guided by a teacher. It was recently discovered…