Tag Archives: inquiry

PIESC3 project funded

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The PIESC3 (Promoting Inquiry-based Elementary Science through Collaborative Curriculum Co-Construction) project has been funded by the Roy J. Carver Charitable Trust and University of Iowa. The project involves a quasi-experimental, non-randomized two group pre-/post- repeated measures research design, as well as in-depth case studies, over two years to investigate the effectiveness of the PIESC3 professional development program for elementary (K-5) teachers and to learn more about how elementary teachers use existing science curriculum materials to plan and engage in inquiry-based science. This project will be carried out in collaboration with the Davenport Community School District (DCS) and Mississippi Bend Area Education Agency.

Article published in Science Education

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A paper from the CASES longitudinal study has just been published in the March issue of Science Education. The study focuses on beginning elementary teachers’ beliefs about the use of driving questions and investigation questions to engage students in science as inquiry. Specifically, we investigated how four beginning elementary teachers conceptualize the role of these questions in inquiry-based science, how they negotiate their use in light of their other beliefs and priorities, and how these beliefs evolve over the first three years of their teaching careers.

Forbes, C.T. & Davis, E.A. (2010). Beginning elementary teachers’ beliefs about the use of anchoring questions in science: A longitudinal study. Science Education, 94(2), 365-387.