Argumentation is vital in the development of scientific knowledge, and students who can argue from evidence and support their claims develop a deeper understanding of science. In this study, the Argument-Driven Inquiry instruction model was implemented in a two-semester sequence of introductory biology laboratories. Student's scientific…

Several authors have argued that early childhood education and care (ECEC) is essentially an ethical practice based on certain values and conceptions about the purpose of education. Is this also the case for educational practices surrounding the highly valued notion of curiosity? While psychological approaches portray it as neutral, this article…

This paper presents findings from a study into the value of lecture captures for online postgraduate courses. There has been little scrutiny of the role of on-campus lecture capture in online courses. We addressed this gap by exploring online distance learning students' perceptions of lecture captures through the lens of the community of inquiry…

Lesson observation has been used with pre- and in-service teachers to improve classroom practices. In addition, reflection and criticality can be developed when teachers use evidence from their lessons and engage in collaborative discussions. Therefore, it is essential for pre-service teachers to collect data from their practices and reflect upon…

This study identified the accumulated distributions of the enacted discursive moves during classroom inquiry to demonstrate how a science teacher reacted to the existence of two mutually exclusive social languages: everyday social languages of the students vs. social languages of school science. The participants were a science teacher and 26…

In recent decades, important advances have been made in understanding how discursive symmetry can be achieved in whole-class dialogue. However, very little is known about how this dialogue may progress in the sense of critically linking ideas in coherent lines of collective inquiry. This article investigates this issue by analyzing 4 consecutive…

Researchers propose that experiencing and manipulating physical principles through objects allows young children to formulate scientific intuitions that may serve as precursors to learning in STEM subjects. This may be especially true when children discover these physical principles through object affordances during play. The present study…

This paper investigates young children's exploratory play and inquiry on playscapes: playgrounds specifically designed to connect children with natural environments. Our theoretical framework posits that playscapes combine the benefits of nature and play to promote informal science exploration of natural materials. This, in turn, is expected to…

This study examines teacher discourse strategies used in kindergarten inquiry-based science learning as part of the Scientific Literacy Project (SLP) (Mantzicopoulos, Patrick & Samarapungavan, 2005). Four public kindergarten science classrooms were chosen to implement science teaching strategies using a guided-inquiry approach. Data were…

To explore questions in history and to construct historical narratives, historians work with evidence from the past. This approach to teaching history (inquiry involving the use of evidence) is an accepted part of the research on history teaching and is promoted widely in standards frameworks and practitioner publications as "good history…

An empirical study was conducted with the aim to develop teachers' confidence and proficiency with teaching mathematics through inquiry. The study followed 41 primary teachers and compared a regular mathematics lesson to a lesson taught using an inquiry approach; 19 of these teachers were also followed over three years. Lessons were coded on the…

Developing argumentation-based inquiry practices requires teachers and students to be explicit about classroom norms that support these practices. In this study, we asked: "How can a teacher scaffold the development of argumentation-based inquiry norms and practices in a mathematics classroom?" A primary classroom (aged 9-10) was…

This research explored how values are communicated in everyday life at preschool. This narrative inquiry focused on how values are conveyed through the use of a material artefact, a chart with traffic lights, as a communication and pedagogical tool. Twenty children aged 3-4 years in one Finnish preschool were involved in the initial data…

Students' thinking and learning in inquiry-based science is contingent on them being able to participate in substantive conversations so they explore their ideas and develop reasons and explanations for the outcomes of their investigations. While teachers understand the importance of talk for student learning, they are often unaware of the impact…

This paper reports on findings from a research project concerned with how electronic networking tools (e-networked tools), such as the Internet, online forums, and mobile technologies, can support authentic science inquiry in junior secondary classrooms. It focuses on three qualitative case studies involving science teachers from two high schools…