Enacting Inquiry-based Science Curricula: a Comprehensive Middle-school Study

The push for more hands-on and inquiry-based approaches to middle school science education has prompted school districts around the United States to move toward more progressive science curricula. However, science educators who are accustomed to traditional teaching methods face challenges when enacting these novel lessons in the classroom and, in turn, their resulting lessons are not enacted as intended. In addition, student interest and achievement in science may be influenced by how well these teachers implement changes, as well as how comfortable they feel with the curricular change in the first place. This book examines aspects of the first year of an inquiry-based middle school program enactment in the 7th and 8th grades of Secaucus Middle School in Secaucus, NJ. Strong relationships among student interest, student achievement, teacher attitude toward curricular change, and resulting teacher enactment are discovered and may inform the science education community on why fruitful reform efforts take time to occur.