Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
Table 23.1 Themes and discussions over the 7-week period of the course
Week
Theme
Discussion question
1
Introduction to classroom inquiry
Why would you not want to use inquiry?
2
Inquiry in the national science education
standards
What is one myth about inquiry that you
can especially relate to?
3
Images of inquiry in the K-12 classroom
How important is it for students to be able
to think logically and critically about
the world around them?
4
Preparing for inquiry-based teaching
When was your first introduction to
inquiry?
5
Making the case for inquiry
What is the best way to use research when
making decisions about the
incorporation of inquiry into the
curriculum?
6
Frequently asked questions about inquiry Why is the debate about inquiry versus
vocabulary important?
7
Supporting inquiry-based teaching and
learning in the classroom and in the
school
Where are you with respect to concerns
about change?
not discussed in this chapter. The focus is on the discussions, which are used to
provide insights into how teachers interpreted their experiences.
Participants
The data are derived from 19 teachers who participated in the course over the period
2004-2006. The teachers participated in three cohorts of five in 2004, five in 2005,
and nine in 2006. The teaching experiences of the teachers ranged from 2 to 17
years, with an average of 6.9 years and median of 5 years (see Table 23.2). The
teachers were drawn from rural, suburban, and urban public school districts and
participated from their schools, with no face-to-face meetings.
Data Sources and Analysis
WebCT captures a record of all interactions and contributions by participants. The
discussions have been analyzed using a phenomenological hermeneutical approach
(Lindseth & Norberg, 2004). This entails applying an iterative process of reading,
interpreting, and re-reading texts. Teachers' discussions were understood as consti-
tuting a text of shared speech. The full range of discussions were printed and read
several times in order to grasp their meaning as a whole. Emerging understandings
of the text were regarded as conjectures to be validated or re-interpreted through
subsequent analysis. Following the initial readings, the text was summarized into
condensed units that were abstracted to form themes, and sub-themes tied to the
 
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