Where it is used
Each entry identifies the volume, edition, chapter or appendix in which the work appears.
The evidence behind the series
Follow the research.
Explore every source.
Browse the scientific research and professional literature used across all seven volumes of The Science of Learning for Educators.
7book volumes
8author ranges
1searchable library
Search the collection
Find a paper, author or idea.
Choose an author range, search a title or concept, or narrow the collection by source type. Open any result to see where it appears in the books, read its evidence summary and follow available source links.
2 references
-
- Vol 3 RE: Chapters 5, 9, 13
inquiry-based sciencestructured group workdialogic teachingevidence evaluationpositive interdependenceindividual accountabilityshared understandingteacher facilitationJournal article Evidence summaryAt a glance
Gillies reviews how cooperative learning can strengthen inquiry-based science by making students’ reasoning, questioning, and evidence evaluation socially interactive. Inquiry asks learners to investigate authentic problems, propose and test explanations, compare ideas, and reconcile new evidence with prior understanding.
Key ideas
Productive cooperation, however, does not arise merely from placing students in groups. Teachers need to establish norms for respectful dialogue, create positive interdependence and individual accountability, teach interpersonal skills, use manageable mixed groups, and scaffold explanations and challenges. The review emphasizes dialogic teaching: teachers invite elaboration and justification while students learn to listen, question, rebut misconceptions, and build shared understanding. Evidence summarized from structured-group studies indicates stronger cooperation, interaction, and learning than in unstructured groups, although implementation requires substantial teacher learning and classroom management.
Why it matters
The article’s practical message is that inquiry and cooperation are mutually reinforcing only when group processes are explicitly designed. Teachers remain active as designers, models, questioners, and facilitators rather than withdrawing from instruction.
-
- Vol 2 RE: Chapter 4, App C, App D
- Vol 7 RE: Chapter 5
inquiry learninginstructional scaffoldingcognitive loadteacher facilitationstaged fadingepistemic practicesflexible knowledgeJournal article Evidence summaryAt a glance
Hmelo-Silver, Duncan, and Chinn respond to claims that problem-based and inquiry learning provide minimal guidance and overload novices. They argue that established forms of PBL and inquiry are not unguided discovery: teachers and learning environments supply extensive scaffolding while students investigate authentic problems or phenomena.
Key ideas
Supports include carefully designed tasks, facilitation, prompts, modelling, questioning, representations, collaboration structures, resources, and staged fading of assistance. These measures reduce unnecessary cognitive load, direct attention toward productive reasoning, and make disciplinary practices accessible without replacing learners’ intellectual work. The authors also broaden the outcomes under consideration. Such approaches aim not only at immediate factual recall but at flexible knowledge, problem solving, epistemic practices, collaboration, and self-directed learning. Evidence must therefore be interpreted in relation to the actual instructional design and intended goals.
Why it matters
The article does not claim that every inquiry implementation succeeds or that novices need no explicit teaching. Its central distinction is between minimally guided discovery and scaffolded, facilitated inquiry, making implementation quality and alignment between supports, learners, content, and outcomes decisive.
A transparent research trail
More than a bibliography.
What it contributes
Evidence summaries explain the central idea and why the source matters to educators.
How to access it
Entries link to lawful full text where available, or to a publisher, library or purchase page.
Edition abbreviations
- TE
- Teacher Edition
- PE
- Practice Edition
- RE
- Research Edition
Citation checks
References are checked against publisher records, scholarly indexes, DOI or ISBN metadata, repositories and author records where available. An entry marked [Citation not verified] preserves the wording found in the relevant volume without attributing findings to an unconfirmed work.
From sources to a coherent pathway