Student-centered Inquiry Research Articles

Creating a classroom tiriti with young learners: A pathway to understanding te Tiriti o Waitangi

This is a reflection on Riverdale Primary School’s approach to teaching Te Tiriti o Waitangi using a student-centred, inquiry-based framework. Over a 10-week inquiry in the Pae Ake classroom (Year 2 & 3), students explored Te Tiriti o Waitangi not only as a historical document but as a living agreement with ongoing cultural and societal significance. As part of this learning, they created their own classroom tiriti, using the experience to engage with principles of democratic processes, leadership, and to immerse themselves in learning about tikanga Māori. The project incorporated practical activities, including developing negotiation skills, learning to compromise, working collectively, clearly communicating expectations, and participating in a ceremonial signing. This approach helped students build meaningful connections with the values and cultural foundations of Te Tiriti o Waitangi, while enhancing their understanding of the diverse relationships, worldviews, and perspectives involved in its creation. By integrating lessons with interactive classroom experiences, this reflection illustrates how student-centred inquiry can foster understanding of Te Tiriti o Waitangi’s ongoing relevance, supporting bicultural learning in an Aotearoa New Zealand primary school context. Riverdale Primary provides an example of how student-centred inquiry can create inclusive and culturally responsive educational practices, fostering connections between students, their community, and the principles of Te Tiriti o Waitangi.

Exploring Contaminants of Emerging Concern Using Student-Centered Inquiry Experiences with Zebrafish (Danio rerio) as a Model Organism

After numerous calls for action, science education within the United States is increasingly moving toward student-centered instructional models that emphasize science as a process and phenomena-based learning. In turn, this shift in instructional practice is driving the need for classroom-tested curricula that develop students’ science process skills and engage students in authentic science learning. In this article, we present a set of materials that were used to deliver inquiry-based science instruction for middle school students exploring the impact of contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) on human health. Using the highly adaptable zebrafish model organism (Danio rerio), our activities guide students through the process of asking a scientific question, developing and testing a hypothesis, and using evidence to draw conclusions. Finally, we provide recommendations for implementation based on our experience with both in-classroom and distance learning modes of implementation.

Student Voice in School Improvement: A Principal in the Nuevo South Reflects on a Student-Centered Practitioner Inquiry

The purpose of this brief is to share my reflections as a practitioner-scholar conducting a student-centered inquiry. My dissertation sought to provide a channel for accessing Latinx students’ voices regarding their experiences in credit recovery programs. I share what I learned from students and how the power harnessed by the input of authentic student voice is now driving instructional change throughout the building and the district. I conclude with recommendations for other practitioners on ways they may begin to include students in school improvement efforts as co-leaders, co-researchers, and co-policy actors.

Getting ‘more and more comfortable’: using an Activist Approach in a dance PE content course

ABSTRACT Background Despite the value dance can bring to people’s lives, many physical educators find dance intimidating (Goodwin [2010]. “Dance is Not a Dirty Word.” Strategies 24 (1): 10–12.). Teachers’ self-consciousness becomes problematic if they negotiate this discomfort by omitting dance as a movement option (MacLean [2018]. “Teachers as Agents of Change in Curricular Reform: The Position of Dance Revisited.” Sport, Education and Society 23 (6): 563–577.). Given the relationship many physical educators have with dance, teacher educators need to be proactive in how they teach dance content. While many preservice teachers enter programs of study with sport proficiencies, they do not necessarily come with that same level of ability in dance (Rovegno and Bandhauer [2017]. Elementary Physical Education: Curriculum and Instruction. 2nd ed. Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.). While teaching dance can glean from studies of pedagogical strategies employed in sports-related content, we cannot rely on such generalizations because of preservice teachers’ embodied discomfort associated with dance (Rovegno [1992]. “Learning a New Curricular Approach: Mechanisms of Knowledge Acquisition in Preservice Teachers.” Teaching and Teacher Education 8 (3): 253–264.). Purpose: This study was designed to listen to preservice teachers and respond with them to help understand and negotiate their barriers to dance. Specifically, the purpose of this study was to examine the use of an Activist Approach (Oliver and Kirk [2015]. Girls, Gender, and Physical Education: An Activist Approach. New York: Routledge.) to teaching a dance content course for physical education preservice teachers. Methods This participatory action research project worked with participants to take ‘action on their own behalf as part of their own communities’ (Merriam and Tisdell [2016]. Qualitative Research: A Guide to Design and Implementation, 58. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.). This study occurred in a required dance content course at a United States southwestern university, meeting twice weekly for 50-minutes for 16 weeks from August-December 2019. The Activist Approach to teaching through the lens of Student-Centred Inquiry as Curriculum was used for data collection. Data sources included participant artifacts, focus groups, individual interviews, video recording, researcher journal, and peer debriefing. Data analysis was three-fold. Level one was ongoing for implementation in the course. Level two occurred after the completion of the course. The researchers then discussed together what they noted, which prompted level three to look for connections and motifs that recurred to crystallize the data. Findings We discuss two themes: (1) understanding and negotiating student tensions associated with discomfort in dance and (2) students’ willingness to take risks in dance despite discomfort. Conclusions We discuss our findings in relation to risks preservice teachers were willing to take despite their embodied discomfort. Using the Activist Approach as a framework helped structure a class that allowed preservice teachers to take risks to try new things and experiment beyond their comfort zones. By explicitly helping them identify and negotiate the discomfort to move through it, we offered the preservice teachers a process that will help them move forward so that they can teach kids whether sports, fitness, or dance.

The Impact of Pre-Service Teachers’ Orientation on the Implementation of Inquiry-Based Science Instruction

The purpose of the study is to investigate how pre-service elementary teachers’ orientation about science inquiry impacts their implementation of inquiry-based instruction. Teaching orientation is one of the levels of pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) which impacts on teachers’ instructional practice. With thirty-one pre-service teachers, data are collected using a survey and three vignettes and are analyzed using a correlational coefficient. The results show that (a) there is a moderate relationship between pre-service teachers’ view of inquiry-based instruction and their willingness to implement it; (b) pre-service teachers’ confidence in implementing inquiry-based instruction increases as they gain experience with inquiry-based methods through coursework; (c) the participants favor using inquiry methods, but they feel more comfortable with a more teacher-centered approach. It implies that one science method course may not suffice to produce teachers who are self-efficacious about teaching inquiry-based science. Thus, they need additional instruction to implement a more student-centered inquiry approach.

How to Promote University Students to Innovative Use Renewable Energy? An Inquiry-Based Learning Course Model

This paper aims to explore a student-oriented curriculum model on Renewable Energy Sources (RES), since RES is an important solution to the energy problem, and training talents with relevant skills and qualities has become a key part of our overall energy strategy. Based on Taylor Principle and PDCA Cycle Theory (Plan, Do, Check, Act), this paper proposed a “Student-centered Inquiry” RES course model together with three reference templates for the design, teaching, and evaluation processes of the course. This dissertation conducted a case study on 27 students from China University of Petroleum (East China), and the primary purpose of the study was to find out how changes in the curriculum could affect the learning effects of both high achievement students and low achievement students. By adopting the paired T-test and independent T-test, the results indicated that: (a) There was a relationship between the new curriculum model and the students’ academic performance, (b) the improvement in low-achievement students was more significant than in high-achievement students, and (c) the new curriculum model has positive effects on students in terms of knowledge transfer, methodology, reductionism, and consciousness formation. In view of the limitations of current RES related education in universities, these results can be used as templates to improve the quality of RES education.

‘Can we play the real sport?’ Co-creating a student-centered after-school sports club

ABSTRACT Background For years, physical activity settings had portrayed a discourse that does not allow to add new and different elements in its practice. This discourse established a status quo that has affected in many ways the structure, the pedagogy and practice of physical activity settings. This is the case of out-school programs. Purpose The purpose of this paper is to understand the process of co-creating an after-school sports club implementing a student-centered pedagogy. Methods This was an activist research project framed in two semesters. A key aspect of activist research is rooted in social interaction and a student-centered pedagogy is central in its framework. Participants included a doctoral candidate (lead author), a university professor (peer debriefing and second author), 3 college graduate and undergraduate students and 13 middle school students. Data collected included 11 peer-debriefing meetings, 22 youth debriefing meetings, 22 researcher journal entries and 13 debriefing meetings with the college adult participants. Findings Implementing a student-centered pedagogy such as the Student-Centered Inquiry as Curriculum approach helped to co-design and co-create this process within the sports club, which are divided into three sections: (1) design process of a student-centered sports club, (2) challenges and successes process of a student-centered sports club design, and (3) ‘Can we play the real sport? – Co-creating a student-centered sports club curriculum. Conclusion Co-creating a student-centered after-school sports club had two key elements: collaborative work and time. These two key elements helped a student-centered pedagogy central to an activist approach to become the bridge that facilitates youth engagement in out-school settings such as an after-school sports club.

Implementing an epistemologically authentic approach to student-centered inquiry learning

The beliefs that curriculum developers hold about the processes by which physicists build their knowledge should be used to determine the activities in which students engage, when they engage in them, and how they are assessed.

Secondary Science Teachers’ Self-Efficacy Beliefs and Implementation of Inquiry

ABSTRACT The purpose of the study is to understand secondary science teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs and implementation of inquiry to provide information for the improvement of science education in a Midwestern U.S. state that has not yet adopted NGSS. An explanatory sequential mixed methods design was selected to capture both a broad perspective of science teachers’ self-efficacy and inquiry implementation. Thirty-nine secondary science teachers participated in this study. The Teaching Science as Inquiry questionnaire (TSI) was employed, and the online survey software Qualtrics was used to collect quantitative data. For the qualitative phase, data collection consisted of 13 face-to-face, individual, audio-taped interviews. Findings demonstrate that there is a connection between the teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs and implementation of all five essential features of inquiry. The teachers are also more confident in teaching science through teacher-centered inquiry than student-centered inquiry. Additionally, teachers’ background in terms of content knowledge, pedagogical knowledge, and experience is a variable that affects teachers’ self-efficacy and implementation of teaching science as inquiry.

Perceptions of radiography students toward problem-based learning almost two decades after its introduction at Makerere University, Uganda

IntroductionProblem-based learning (PBL) has been reported to be a valuable student-centred learning approach across the globe. In PBL students first encounter a problem, which triggers discussion, followed by student-centred inquiry. Makerere University College of Health Sciences has been using PBL for radiography students since 2002. Over the years, the learning landscape may have changed, including the significant disruption of learning by the coronavirus disease 2019 global pandemic. The study aimed at exploring the perceptions of undergraduate radiography students about the PBL curriculum at Makerere University almost two decades after its introduction. MethodsThis exploratory qualitative study involved 18 radiography students sampled purposively, from whom data were gathered using focus group discussions. Thematic analysis was subsequently used. ResultsThree key themes emerged from the data: (1) quality of teaching, (2) curriculum efficiency, and (3) curriculum expectations and rating. All students were generally positive about the curriculum. Most agreed that the curriculum was efficient to a greater extent and had met their expectations and desired objectives. Students, however, faced challenges; for example, with limited learning resources during the learning process. ConclusionThis study highlights the significant role of PBL in enhancing student's problem-solving, critical thinking, literature search, and, most of all, their practical skills. Prioritization of teaching based on practical relevance and learning objectives is of great importance. The radiography students believed that their curriculum program was generally beneficial to them; however, it was affected by limited resources and limited availability of teaching personnel, which needs to be addressed.

The Counter-Roll in Science

A controlled experiment, everyone learns early in school, is the hallmark of good science. But what, exactly, is the hallmark of a controlled experiment? For many people, a controlled experiment is, straightforwardly, one “controlled” by the scientist. If you can “control” the variables and produce a predicted result (based on your hypothesis), then you seem to have proved cause and effect. Scientific credibility seems to emerge from the power of demonstration and technology. However, this widespread view of the core meaning of control in science – this month's Sacred Bovine – is mistaken (Boring, 1954, 1969). It thus fosters a misleading impression of what makes scientific claims reliable. Here, I journey through the history of the term control and show how the concept contributes to the distinctive nature of scientific reasoning. The origin of the modern term control may seem surprising. Yet it is also informative. It comes from the French contre-rolle , translated as “counter-roll.” No one uses counter-rolls today. But historically (beginning at least by the 12th century), royal household expenditures were documented on paper rolls. Later, rolls recorded other business, trade, and tax accounts (Figure 1). In some cases, the transactions were recorded on two rolls simultaneously. The duplicate roll – the counter -roll – was kept independently by a trusted officer. The copy could later be consulted when auditing the accounts, allowing one to detect any illicit tampering with the original records. Basically, the counter-roll was a parallel reference copy for comparison, a method to identify and thereby limit errors. The method helped to guarantee reliability in accounting (see Hoskin & Macve, 1994, p. 76). Eventually, the person who managed the counter-roll became known as the comptroller – a term still used today for someone who manages and monitors the finances of a business …

Language for a specific purpose: Business Russian

This essay examines methods for integrating Business Russian into the classroom for the specific purpose of real-world research application. Included are both the Language for Specific Purposes (LSP) methodology used within the classroom (Crouse, 2013) to engage in this type of research in Russian, as well as the results of student-centered inquiry (McCarthy, 2015). The practical results of the research are then presented in a brief history of why five select companies came to conduct business in Russia and the results of inquiries to these companies as a specific study with repercussions for the pedagogy. A list of best practices for conducting business in Russia, gained from the branches of the US companies that continue to successfully operate in Russia despite sanctions, expulsions, and diplomatic difficulties follows. The conclusions drawn from the teaching of language for a specific purpose and its practical results demonstrate the need for such high-impact (community-based learning, oral history interviews, and integrated study abroad) practices in education today.

A Portrait of Connection through Consultation: Tasmanian Senior Secondary Sport and Recreation Management Students—Cross-Sectoral Partners and the Role of Authentic and Meaningful Pedagogy to Impact a Small Island Community

ABSTRACT In the 21st century, the need for curricula and student-centered inquiry to be authentic, meaningful and transformative is widely accepted by the primary, secondary and tertiary education sectors. To achieve this, participation of high-school students in university curricula is an approach that should be considered, as it could extend the education and societal opportunities typically available. However, so far there exists a shortage of literature discussing this approach or evaluating its long-term impacts. The island state of Tasmania (Australia) is a small embryonic-regional-economy in which the youth are often held back from navigating their way into prosperous adulthood by long-established societal and financial challenges, including seventh (7th) generation unemployment, the highest youth suicide rate in the country, an inert labor market, reduced numbers of fulltime jobs, an increasingly growing dependence on welfare, and one of the country’s highest school drop-out rates. Combined, these issues appear overwhelming. Since 2014, the state’s only university, education department and local industry have collaborated to deliver deeper learning to senior secondary students. Data suggest the “deeper” approach has been meaningful because it meets the immediate and longer-term needs of those the pre-tertiary and tertiary education systems are attempting to serve. Given the collaboration and longer-term needs, a university 100 level Sport & Recreation Management (SRM) course delivered to senior secondary school students (years 11 and 12) through the lens of a community of emerging practice has merit because the university is well placed to facilitate complementary thinking for sophisticated phenomena.

Utilising computer based learning to complement class teaching of gross anatomy

This study examines the use of three computer programs designed for the study of gross anatomy; An@tomedia Online, AnatomyTV, and Thieme, as in-class learning support programs within the newly adopted “Block model” of teaching delivery at Victoria University. Victoria University is the first and only Australian university to have introduced a block model of education. With the introduction of ‘The Block Teaching Model’ the focus of the use of in-class time towards meaningful and active learning has become paramount. We used these programs as in-class student-centered inquiry based learning activity. The aim of this research was to investigate how the use of these programs impact on student engagement and student experience in their study of gross anatomy which is now offered in a time-compressed block teaching method. An opinion-based survey using the Qualtrics software was conducted at the end of each anatomy unit teaching block of semester 1 in 2019. The survey was distributed to all students enrolled in the unit. Results indicate that all programs used were viewed as making a positive contribution to student learning. The use of An@tomedia Online was particularly helpful in assisting first-year students studying gross anatomy with the interpretation of laboratory-based prosected cadaveric material within the new teaching context.

Geo-Inquiry: Informed Action to Make Our World a Better Place

With new standards in social science and science, student-centered inquiry drives contemporary geography education (Mohan 2018; Swan, Lee, and Grant 2018; Hauf 2014). Developed by the National Geog...

Teachers’ beliefs about inquiry-based learning and its impact on formative assessment practice

ABSTRACT Background Inquiry pedagogy has been advocated as means to engage and motivate students to learn science. The development of teacher formative assessment practice in inquiry is key for a successful implementation of student-centred inquiry pedagogy in the classroom. Purpose This study explores secondary science teachers’ espoused beliefs about inquiry-based learning and the impact this has on their actual formative assessment practice in the classroom. Sample The study involved two experienced science teachers. Design and methods This study provides two case studies of developing practice as teachers attempt to move towards student-centred inquiry approaches. The study combines teacher semi-structured interviews, recordings of teacher–student(s) conversations in inquiry lessons, and field notes of classroom observations. Following a qualitative approach, we did a thematic analysis of teacher interviews to infer teachers’ espoused beliefs about inquiry-based learning and about their perceptions of their role as teachers in inquiry lessons. We used a combination of the ESRU model and the Convergent/Divergent assessment framework to characterise teachers’ formative assessment conversations with their students in inquiry lessons. Results Our findings show that teachers’ beliefs about inquiry are consistent with how they teach and assess inquiry, and that the promotion of student autonomy is influenced by teacher beliefs. Teachers who position themselves as facilitators adopt more open guided inquiry approaches, while teachers who position themselves as ‘shepherds’ adopt more directed approaches to inquiry. This has important implications for students’ autonomy and self-regulation in inquiry lessons.

‘I became a teacher that respects the kids’ voices’: challenges and facilitators pre-service teachers faced in learning an activist approach

ABSTRACTSeveral studies demonstrate the benefits of educating for social justice in physical education teacher education programs [O’Sullivan, M. (2018). PETE Academics as public intellectuals and activists in a global teacher education context. Physical Education and Sport Pedagogy, 23(5), 536–543], which supports that pre-service teachers (PSTs) have the capacity to be active agents of change. In working with social justice, PSTs engage in what can be a very personal struggle with their own stereotypes and assumptions about the people they are working with [Oliver, K. L., Oesterreich, H. A., Aranda, R., Archeleta, J., Blazera, C., Crux, K., … Robinson, R. (2015). ‘The sweetness of struggle’: Innovation in physical education teacher education through student-centered inquiry as curriculum in a physical education methods course. Physical Education and Sport Pedagogy, 20(1), 97–115]. Although the challenges that PSTs faced to learn an activist approach to teaching are described in the literature, there is little research that aims to understand how these challenges progress across time. The aim of this study is to explore the challenges pre-service teachers faced when learning to use an activist approach across time. Participatory action research framed this 3-semester study (18 months). Participants included 10 pre-service-teachers, 90 youth, and two researchers. Data collected included: (a) collaborative PSTs group meetings; (b) PSTs reflective diaries after each teaching episode; (c) lead researcher observations collected as field notes; (d) PSTs generated artifacts; and (e) PSTs interviews and focus groups. Data analysis involved inductive and constant comparison. Results conveyed: (a) the PSTs’ assumptions about what student-centered pedagogy meant and the challenges of overcoming their misconceptions about teaching and learning; and (b) the PST’s struggles in coming to understand themselves as activist teachers, with dispositions as advocates of social justice. Future studies should continue to explore the challenges and facilitators PSTs face when learning an activist approach aimed at empowering both students and teachers to develop a critically conscious understanding of their relationships with the world through their effort to name and change the world together.

“Reflective of my best work”: Promoting inquiry-based learning in a hybrid graduate history course

This article discusses authentic inquiry-based learning in a hybrid graduate course, Teaching Hidden History, taught in 2015 and 2016. Students in this course created online history learning modules based on their own scholarly research. They defined their intended audience and crafted modules tailored specifically for those learners. The authors draw on course assignments, student modules, interviews, and focus group data to present a model of how inquiry-based learning can be scaffolded to promote the benefits of student-centered inquiry – namely the intrinsic motivation associated with the creation of authentic projects and practical skill acquisition.

Developing teachers’ pedagogical identities through a community of practice: learning to sustain the use of a student-centered inquiry as curriculum approach

ABSTRACTThis collaborative self-study explores how educators’ pedagogical identities developed in the process of learning to use a Student-Centered Inquiry as Curriculum (SCIC) approach in activity settings within a community of practice (CoP). Participants included a university professor, college instructor, postdoctoral student and doctoral student. Data included 16 weekly field notes and debriefings following observations, teacher artifacts, 16 weekly collaborative group meetings, and 3 90-minute interviews per teacher. Culture, values, beliefs and professional background were critical for the development of the teachers’ pedagogical identities in the process of learning to use a SCIC approach within a community of practice. These experiences created for some, places to further develop their ideas about teaching, whereas for others they caused great discomfort and a sense of personal loss. The CoP facilitated the development of the teachers’ pedagogical identities, changing positionalities, and negotiating culture, values, beliefs and professional backgrounds.

유추를 활용한 등비수열 문제 해결 과정 분석

In this study, I analyzed the problem solving processes about finding the convergence and divergence conditions of the geometric sequence using analogy and discussed the results of the problem solving pedagogically. According to the results, in order to find the convergence and divergence conditions of the sequence presented in the new form, with complex numbers, it was necessary to understand the structural similarity of convergence and divergence conditions of the already known geometric sequence comprised of real numbers. The problem solving processes were refined by analogy based on its structural similarity. In addition, students were able to re-explore solutions using dynamic geometric environment and apply similar procedures related to problem solving to search newly presented conditions. These results indicate that the dynamic geometric environment can play a significant role as a student-centered inquiry instrument in the analogy processes, which are one of the non-deductive or plausible reasoning.