No matter how school library standards evolve to address changes in society and educational research, certain intellectual freedom principles remain constant, including the principle to protect all learners' rights to freely access and explore information and ideas. The American Association of School Librarians' (AASL's) "National School…

The Next Generation Science Standards states that "science begins with a question." (NGSS Lead States [2013] "Next generation science standards: For states, by states". Washington, DC: National Academies Press). Yet scientific inquiry among students and scientists alike often begins without a clear question. In this article, we…

Inquiry pedagogies provide opportunities to meet learning outcomes linked to developing scientific literacy. Within a European project intended at promoting Inquiry Based Learning (IBL), this paper presents quantitative and qualitative data about teachers' views of IBL and its enactment in England and Spain. Results show that teachers in both…

The purposes of this study were to (1) investigate 127 high school students' views about scientific inquiry at different grade levels, and (2) to describe factors such as the teacher's views about scientific inquiry, his teaching, and his curriculum that facilitated or constrained students' views about scientific inquiry. The majority of students…

This article examines evidence of teachers' work and learning in one school setting in the northern regions of Queensland, Australia, revealing how globalized performative practices that circulate around the collection and use of data in schooling settings are both confirmed and contested. Drawing upon the literature on the nature of…

Learn about the Challenge Based Science Learning Project and its larger implications for the fields of Next Generation Science Learning and Open Educational Resources. The project involved 18 middle school teachers and five administrators from three U.S. school districts partnering with instructional coaches and learning sciences researchers from…

This article presents case study research into a New Zealand primary school enacting a very sophisticated whole school inquiry approach to enhance teacher classroom professionalism and practice. A culture of inquiry manifests as an ontological 'way of being' in this school community, in the daily professional interactions between the teachers and…

Twenty-six states voluntarily partnered to provide leadership and guidance for the purpose of adoption of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). However, a need exists to examine the NGSS versus state standards to better understand changes in curriculum and instruction to make their implementation successful for all states. The present…

Inquiry-based and interdisciplinary teaching practices exemplify constructivist approaches to education capable of facilitating authentic student learning; however, their implementation has proven particularly challenging within certain contexts in the United States. This qualitative study considers one such context via an investigation of…

This study examines the impact of standards-based professional development on teacher efficacy and instructional practice of elementary and middle school science teachers. Professional development activities were conducted over a period of 3 years and included content courses as well as teacher involvement in professional learning communities.…

It is essential for teacher training institutions to reflect continually on changes in education policy with the view of ensuring that teacher training programmes that take the present needs and policies into account are in place. This article describes a four-year process through which a particular faculty of education went in search of an…

PT3 implementation grant funds have been used to restructure a teacher education program to meet the National Educational Technology Standards (NETS) defined by the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE). The Brigham Young University PT3 implementation grant supported design teams of teacher education and content area faculty who…

According to the National Science Education Standards, Standard A states that science students must have the abilities and understandings necessary to do scientific inquiry. The Standards explicitly state that small groups of students should hypothesize from prior experiences, construct explanations, evaluate explanations, design investigations,…

This paper describes a teacher-researcher's efforts to reshape students' attitudes and assumptions about mathematics in concert with the national mathematics standards. Changes as well as the ways students clung to traditional classroom roles are described. Mathematics formats and types of activities that were successful--and unsuccessful--for…

This article examines key issues in lecturer development programmes (LDPs) in Scottish higher education institutions, within the context of the national standards established recently for those who teach in United Kingdom higher education (HE). Many of the LDPs were developed in response to the Dearing Committee recommendations that university…