The setting for this chapter is Bradley University—a midsize, private, comprehensive university in a Midwestern community of approximately a quarter million people. In the past decade, new faculty members have brought philosophies of teaching that see the importance of facilitating students’ involvement in their personal journeys to build expanded, connected constructs of knowledge and skills as an integral part of being a professor. The programs described are the result of a very productive collaboration between the science and teacher education faculties who view teaching through this student-centered lens. A major goal of the programs is to increase the level of inquiry-based science instruction used by teachers in local schools. Throughout this chapter, “inquiry-based instruction” is conceptualized as being student-focused activities that are within a continuum of learner responsibility and involvement in making decisions related to seeking answers to questions about the natural world.
Details
Type Book ChapterPub Date 4/1/2009Stock # PB192X6_7