This book presents a range of possibilities and starting points for--and conversations about--meaningful journeys related to the exploration of visual arts content and the engagement of learning. The authors highlight and blend theoretical, practical, and flexible approaches to integrating curriculum inquiry and curriculum design. "Curriculum…

This article provides an instructional approach to helping students generate open-inquiry research questions, which the authors call the "open-inquiry question template." This template was created based on their experience teaching high school science and preservice university methods courses. To help teachers implement this template, they…

This study explored how preservice teachers grew in their understanding of inquiry science through conducting an in-depth individual inquiry investigation in their science methods course. Elementary preservice teachers' understanding about inquiry investigations, their attitudes towards the assignment, and their views towards using individual…

Longitudinal research is needed to investigate the effect of science teacher education programs. The impact of the program may not be evident until two or three years after the experience. This type of research can also assist in planning interventions and professional growth opportunities. Universities often do not take responsibility for…

Radio telemetry data available via the internet are used to facilitate long-term inquiry projects. Through these projects, students gain a deeper understanding of scientific inquiry and the nature of science, while developing their own questions and procedures and carrying out those procedures before sharing their findings with peers. (Contains 1…

It can reasonably be argued that the primary role of elementary teachers is to prepare their students to be literate adults, and thus many are literacy specialists. Often these teachers lack confidence in science and avoid it because it is not their specialty. Most elementary teachers have never conducted a scientific inquiry, yet they are being…

The development of a scientifically literate society is dependent upon effective communication. Accordingly, the Benchmarks for Science Literacy, which defines science literacy goals for United States students K-12, contains an entire section on communication skills. One of the skills described in the Benchmarks is that "students should be able to…

This study compared preservice teachers' beliefs (taken from journal reflections) about inquiry before, during, and after their field placement experiences. The subjects of the study were preservice students (n=48) enrolled in an elementary science methods course at a large midwestern university during the spring semester of 2001. Most of the…

Addresses problems and possibilities in development of practitioner research stemming from a semester-long master's level research course. Presents course context; outlines the four classroom studies that examined journal writing; explores commonalities among studies; shares conversations among researchers on issues of systematic inquiry,…

This qualitative study examined how a methods class focusing on beliefs about teaching for democracy in a diverse society influences the beliefs and pedagogical decision making of a group of preservice teachers. This inquiry, a 2-year study of preservice social studies teachers, encompassed their social studies methods course, student teaching…

Describes how to utilize instructional resources to personalize a social studies methods course for elementary school teachers-in-training. The approach involves teacher-pupil verbal interaction, inquiry, and valuing. (Author/DB)

The purpose of this causal-comparative study was to compare attitudes that male and female preservice elementary science methods teachers have toward science and science teaching. The stratified random sample (n=80) was drawn from the population of preservice elementary teachers enrolled in an elementary science methods course during fall 1990,…

Presented is a methods textbook designed for elementary school teachers to help them improve the teaching of elementary school science. The author has attempted to guide teachers in choosing curriculum to be taught by considering educational objectives, diagnosing learner needs, and then evaluating the success of their teaching in terms of learner…

While most students in a secondary language arts methods course found writing and reading each other's critical literacy autobiographies interesting and helpful to their understanding of literacy, they struggled with how to respond to their classmates' autobiographies. That struggle emerged within a teacher inquiry project whose central question…

Discusses the need for preservice elementary teachers to experience inquiry first-hand, suggesting that they engage in problem-solving rather than just "talking about" it. A typical teacher education program is described with suggestions to incorporate inquiry-oriented experiences. An inquiry-oriented activity using sand and funnels is included.…