ABSTRACT:The purposes of this study were to (a) gain an understanding of the views of inquiry held by faculty members involved in undergraduate science teaching and (b) describe the challenges, constraints, and opportunities that they perceived in designing and teaching inquiry-based laboratories. Participants included 19 college professors, representing both life and physical science disciplines, from (a) 2-year community college, (b) small, private nonprofit liberal arts college, (c) public master's granting university, and (d) public doctoral/research extensive university. We collected data through semistructured interviews and applied an iterative data analysis process. College science faculty members held a "full and open inquiry" view, seeing classroom inquiry as time consuming, unstructured, and student directed. They believed that inquiry was more appropriate for upper level science majors than for introductory or nonscience majors. Although faculty members valued inquiry, they perceived limitations of time, class size, student motivation, and student ability. These limitations, coupled with their view of inquiry, constrained them from implementing inquiry-based laboratories. Our proposed inquiry continuum represents a broader view of inquiry that recognizes the interaction between two dimensions of inquiry: (a) the degree of inquiry and (b) the level of student directedness, and provides for a range of inquiry-based classroom activities.
The purpose of this phenomenographic study was to: (a) gain an understanding of the meaning of inquiry held by beginning science teachers and their instructors in an Alternative Teacher Certification Program (ATCP); and (b) compare science teachers' views of inquiry with what they learned in their ATCP. Participants were four beginning science teachers and two faculty members involved in teaching science methods courses in the ATCP. Semi-structured interviews, classroom observations, field notes, and written materials were the data sources. The primary data sources for the study were six to15 hours of classroom observation of teaching and learning and approximately 8 hours of interviewing with each teacher. Interviews with each faculty member were also completed. These interviews required 60-75 minutes. A phenomenological data analysis approach [Uljens, M. (1996). On the philosophical foundation of phenomenography. In G. Dall'Alba & B. Hasselgren (Eds.), Reflections on Phenomenography-Toward a methodology? (pp. 105-130). Göteborg: Acta Universitatis Gothoburgensis] was used to complete qualitative analyses and categorical summaries of the data. The results showed that the teachers held rather incomplete views of inquiry-based teaching [National Research Council. (2000). Inquiry and the national science education standards. Washington, DC: National Academy Press], and these views were highly discrepant with the views of teacher education faculty. Implication of the findings for science teacher education and future research on the development of inquiry-based practices are discussed. ß
This article describes the development and continuing validation of a measure of traditional and reformed teaching and learning practices for a sample of 298 science and mathematics faculty in eight higher education institutions in Georgia. Implications for the continued use of this new measure in these institutional contexts are discussed.
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