Diffusion and osmosis are central concepts in biology, both at the cellular and organ levels. They are presented several times throughout most introductory biology textbooks (e.g., Freeman, 2002), yet both processes are often difficult for students to understand (Odom, 1995; Zuckerman, 1994; Sanger "et al.", 2001; and results herein). Students…

As science teachers, they understand the importance of gaining student interest to promote learning. They know how challenging it is to spark the curiosity to truly engage students in the processes of "doing science." One often-used method of motivation is the demonstration of science in action. Demonstrations such as "discrepant events". They are…

The Technology Enhanced Elementary and Middle School Science II project (TEEMSS), funded by the National Science Foundation, produced 15 inquiry-based instructional science units for teaching in grades 3-8. Each unit uses computers and probeware to support students' investigations of real-world phenomena using probes (e.g., for temperature or…

Discusses the history of American science and science education, with particular emphasis on the development of scientific inquiry and experimentation. Focuses primarily on the activities of individuals in the 1800's, and the introduction of science into secondary schools and higher education institutions in the early 1900's. (TW)

This document presents a collection of articles selected from the Journal of College Science Teaching. The selected articles represent how college science teaching should be practiced and include modifications in classrooms and laboratories to allow for the development of inquiry skills. Articles include: (1) "What Should Students Learn about the…

FAST I (Foundational Approach to Science Teaching I) is an inquiry and inductive-reasoning approach to learning physical science, ecology, and relational study. The program was successfully adapted for middle school students with mild disabilities. Teacher preparation, classroom groupings, behavior management procedures, evaluation, and…

Describes the "Physics by Inquiry" course that is designed to address student misconceptions. Explains how the course was taught at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro for teachers and how it was taught at Ohio State University for elementary-education majors. Concludes the course is exportable to many different environments…

This is the final evaluation report of the On Growth and Form (OGAF): Learning Concepts of Probability and Fractals by Doing Science project that aimed at engaging high school students in hands-on science activities, experiments, and computer simulations that use probability and fractal geometry to model ragged structures in the real world.…

Describes a website designed to allow students to publish their own accounts of school science investigations they have carried out. Makes suggestions for initiating computer-mediated student discussions of the nature of science based on information contained in the website. (WRM)

Presents an excerpt from "Network Science, A Decade Later: The Internet and Classroom Learning", a publication based on four years of research that examines the role of technology in fostering inquiry-based approaches to learning. (Author/NB)

In this article, the author discusses "The Biology of Food" course. This course--a large lecture course with no laboratory section--is a mixture of kitchen chemistry, post-eating food metabolism, origins of different foods (from crop breeding to evolution), and ecological and environmental impacts of farming and harvesting practices. Nearly every…

Inquiry can be implemented in various ways, ranging from simple classroom discussions to longterm research projects. In this article, the authors developed a project in which high school students were introduced to the nature and process of scientific discovery through a two-week guided inquiry unit on "limnology"--the study of fresh water, which…

Involving students in inquiry-based exercises is much more difficult than simply providing activities for them to do in the classroom. While active learning suggests students are physically participating in the lesson, inquiry learning requires that they are also mentally participating in it. Academic theorists agree it is more the mental…

"Hands-on Current Electricity" gives K-8 teachers the opportunity to experience inquiry learning about current electricity by (1) experimenting with current electricity through a variety of activities, (2) discovering preconceived mental models of electricity used to understand their observations, (3) creating new mental models that have greater…

Network Science projects are endeavors in which a number of classrooms conduct the same scientific experiment and pool their data using World Wide Web technology. This paper reviews selected findings from research on these projects and describes the recent Web applications that were developed in response to these findings. Findings indicated that…