This investigation focused on instructional practices within fifth- through eighth-grade science classes of selected Seventh-day Adventist schools. Teachers reported regular use of discussion, student projects, and tests or quizzes. Most respondents said they did not feel prepared or had "never heard of" inquiry, the learning cycle, or…

The purpose of this study was to assess student perceptions of the faith-learning integration process in instructional methods courses taught by a single professor. Thirty-one students were asked by the professor to complete an open-ended questionnaire at the end of their course experience. Results indicated that students in this study described…

There are many possible ways to approach the topic of educational theory and critique. One could inquire into the meaning of critical phenomena and subject-matter in practical education and instruction, investigate the various forms of critique with the goal of determining the extent to which they assist in clarifying pedagogical action, or one…

Gregory Bateson's (1988) enigmatic phrase, "The map is not the territory," carries a provocative message for scholarship on teaching and learning. I explore the implications of Bateson's phrase by way of reflecting on Bateson within the context of my own classroom story, which was based on teaching a literacy course to pre-service teachers.…

Over the past decade, the "scholarship of teaching and learning" has attracted increasing attention in higher education. Some see it as a new way of thinking about teaching in the context of evidence about student learning; others approach it through more formal and structured inquiry into student learning that involves peer review and critique…

To demonstrate how Newton's first law of motion applies to students' everyday lives, the author developed a learning cycle series of activities on inertia. The discrepant event at the heart of these activities is sure to elicit wide-eyed stares and puzzled looks from students, but also promote critical thinking and help bring an abstract concept…

Many aspects of the problem-based learning cycle aim at stimulating students to elaborate on their knowledge. This elaborative process is considered to be one of the most effective study aids for learning and applying information. One of the opportunities to stimulate this elaboration process is by offering students more, and more diverse,…

This article discusses an approach to teacher belief systems which casts an eye away from cognitive constructs toward sociological constructs to complement existing ideas about the nature and genesis of beliefs. I offer some theoretical ideas for extending the notion of beliefs and describe two contrasting senior mathematics teachers,…

The Spanish educational system will require certain changes in order to achieve the Bologna objectives for the European Higher Education Area, including a more professional profile, with new activities and roles for both students and teachers, who must assume new skills that will affect concepts and attitudes related to the teaching and learning…

This book is intended to offer college faculty members the insights of the development of reasoning movement that enlighten physics educators in the late 1970s and led to a variety of college programs directed at improving the reasoning patterns used by college students. While the original materials were directed at physics concepts, they quickly…

This dissertation investigates how teaching in a hands-on science center contributes to re/shaping one's teaching identity. Situated at the New York Hall of Science (NYHS) in Queens, New York, my research approach is to conduct a critical ethnography where the focus is on improving the teaching and learning of science for all involved. In…

This study has three major purposes, including designing mobile natural-science learning activities that rest on the 5E Learning Cycle, examining the effects of these learning activities on students' performances of learning aquatic plants, and exploring students' perceptions toward these learning activities. A case-study method is utilized and…

This paper attempts to identify the distinctive qualities of successful veteran teachers, referred to as "expert teachers", which separates them not only from novice teachers but more importantly from experienced non-expert teachers. Based on earlier case studies, this paper maintains that the critical differences between expert and…

Learning embryology remains difficult, since it requires understanding of many complex phenomena. The temporal evolution of developmental events has classically been illustrated using cartoons, which create difficulty in linking spatial and temporal aspects, such correlation being the keystone of descriptive embryology. We synthesized the…

Despite the challenges inherent in adopting problem-based learning (PBL) in the middle school classroom, successful PBL teachers are able to find suitable solutions. In this exploratory study we examined the perceptions and practices of five successful middle school PBL teachers regarding the specific difficulties encountered with PBL and the…