One of the goals of secondary science education is to help students develop skills related to scientific inquiry. However, the results of previous studies have shown that students have difficulties in identifying problems, formulating hypotheses, drawing conclusions, and designing experiments. The main objective of this contribution is to indicate…

This practitioner action research study explored features of NGSS-based pedagogies to improve secondary education student engagement, critical thinking, and collaborative problem-solving. It examined ways that constructivist pedagogies might encourage students to understand science by putting their skills and knowledge into practice as young…

The author was an engineer for 20 years in both development and applications followed by 15 years as adult educator primarily at a Midwestern urban university with under-represented students. Beginning fall 2008 and for the next 7 years, he developed interventions for "underprepared" STEMM (STEM and pre-Medical) students. This freshmen…

"Proceedings of International Conference on Education in Mathematics, Science and Technology" includes full papers presented at the International Conference on Education in Mathematics, Science and Technology (ICEMST) which took place on April 1-4, 2021 in Antalya, Turkey. The aim of the conference is to offer opportunities to share…

This document presents the proceedings of the 20th Annual Research Forum held June 25, 2015, at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Included are the following 21 action research papers: (1) History Lives! The Use of Simulations in a High School Social Studies Classroom (Lydia Adkins); (2) Using Francophone Music in the High…

Describes the sociocultural theory motivating strategy "transformative communication" as well as a specific dialogue sequence that can be used as a cultural tool for accompanying such interaction. Illustrates the utility of the dialogue sequence in four key episodes within and inquiry-based high school earth science class. (Author/SAH)

The central objective of this article is to teach students to analyze the Middle East situation by learning to think in terms of concepts and generalizations. Two teaching strategies, opining and inquiry, are suggested. Stressing geography as concept learning demonstrates how geography can be a contemporary problem solving, generalizing…

The author examines the nature of reflective thinking and its necessity as an educational goal. The work of John Dewey, empirical approaches to reflective judgment, evidence of students' ability to use it, and implications for education are discussed. (SK)

Does the inquiry method really make a difference in educational development? Author launched a review of research literature reported during the past decade, with special focus on the use of inquiry for teaching the social studies. (Author/RK)

To test materials and teaching strategies for a public issues curriculum, staff members of the Project planned, taught, and evaluated a three-year experimental program in a large high school. Evaluation data is presented. (JB)

Examines problem complexity, inquiry method, learning style, and presentation method to quantify the magnitude of their effects on learning scientific inquiry in high school science curriculum. Recommends the use of collaborative learning tools to accommodate diverse learning styles in distance learning environments and proposes a paradigm for…

Describes the nature and procedure of individualized inquiry and provides an illustration of its use in one social studies classroom. Steps include problem definition, hypothesis formation, information gathering, data analysis, hypothesis testing, and drawing conclusions. Recommends that teachers select responsible, intellectually capable, and…

Discusses the development and use of flowcharts to involve students in the major stages of experimental design and hypothesizing. The progress of stages attempts to simplify the complexity involved during problem-solving in science investigations. Several illustrative flowcharts are included. (JN)

Describes the stages and outcomes of a junior high school science lesson on erosion and deposition utilizing a "kids as researchers" theme. Stages include awareness, discussion, investigation, experimentation, generalization, and extension. (SK)

Gives a step-by-step description of a problem-solving microscale chemistry laboratory to show how this implementation of problem-solving teaching can be put into practice. Pedagogical and practical issues are discussed. (DKM)