The study is based on a secondary analysis of data from the 3rd year of the Scientific Literacy Project (SLP), a federally funded research project that examines how kindergarten students learn science in inquiry settings (Mantzicopoulos, Patrick, & Samarapungavan, 2005). Videotapes of classroom lessons implemented as part of the Year 3 intervention were analyzed to identify kindergarten students' patterns of cognitive engagement during inquiry-based science learning, as well as to identify patterns of teacher discourse that promoted students' cognitive engagement. The data for the current study were drawn from videotapes and transcriptions of classroom discourse in 3 intervention classrooms that participated in the SLP. Three teachers and 55 kindergarten students participated in the study. Twelve categories of kindergarten students' cognitive engagement and eleven categories of teacher discourse were identified. The initial 12 student and 11 teacher discourse categories were further grouped into two superordinate categories (Higher Order and Basic) respectively. Chi Square analyses indicated that there was a statistically significant association between student and teacher superordinate discourse (alpha = 0.05). MANOVA analyses indicated that there was no significant difference on overall rates of kindergarten students' cognitive engagement by class (alpha = 0.05). [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]