The impact of a professional development experience involving scientists and fourth to eighth grade teachers of science was explored. Teachers attended a summer program at a research facility where they had various experiences such as job shadowing and interviewing scientists. They also participated in authentic inquiry investigations and planned…

This paper examines upper elementary and middle school teachers' learning of mathematics and science content, how their perceptions of their disciplines and learning of that discipline developed through content-rich learning experiences, and the differences and commonalities of the teachers' learning experiences relative to content domain. This…

In inquiry-based science education, there have been gradual shifts in research interests: the nature of scientific method, the debates on the effects of inquiry learning, and, recently, inquiry teaching. However, many in-service programs for inquiry teaching have reported inconsistent results due to the static view of classroom inquiries and due…

To monitor and evaluate program success and to provide teachers with a tool that could support their transformation in teaching practice, we needed an effective and valid protocol to measure the quantity and quality of inquiry-based instruction being led. Existing protocols, though helpful, were either too generic or too program specific.…