A Qualitative Phenomenology of Christian Middle School Implementation of Inquiry-Based Science Instruction

The purpose of this qualitative phenomenology study will be to explore curriculum coordinators, teachers, and principals’ implementation of Inquiry-Based Instruction (IBI) in Christian middle school science classes in the central Virginia area. IBI will be referred to as “a teaching method that combines the curiosity of students and the scientific method to enhance the development of critical thinking skills while learning science” (Warner & Myers, 2008, p.3). A qualitative phenomenology study will be made to consider the requirements and implementation of IBI in the Christian middle schools as compared to the requirements and implementation of IBI in the National Science Education Standard (NSES). Curriculum coordinators, teachers, and principals, and participated in this study from five Christian middle schools in the central Virginia area. The guiding theories include John Dewey’s (1948) Constructivism, Lev Vygotsky’s (1998) Social Constructivism, and William Glasser’s (2005) Choice Theory as they relate to the beliefs curriculum coordinators, teachers, and principals have regarding the implementation of IBI. A primary research question for this study is, “If research supports successful outcomes of IBI, then how and why do Christian CMSST, principals, and curriculum coordinators implement or not implement IBI?” Interviews, classroom observations, and document reviews were used for triangulation and data collection. The data analysis used in this study were completed by using Moustakas’ (1994) seven step thematic coding derived from the observations, interview transcriptions, and school documents in the form of lesson plans and objectives (Merriam, 2009; Moustakas, 1994)

Developing resilience in the elementary school classroom

Explores the ways in which elementary school teachers can help their students develop the skills associated with resilience. For this study, an extensive literature review was conducted and surveys were completed by twelve elementary school teachers in Washington, Oregon, California, and New York

Evaluating the controversial issue of the value-added tax

The purpose of this study was to introduce the value-added tax to many of us who have never heard these words. This study also encourages the United States to change the tax laws to introduce a value-added tax into the United States. Proposals of the value-added tax include: reducing the federal deficit, achieving global competitiveness, and to fund a national health care program. All of these issues are of top concerns of the federal government. By introducing the growing industry of Travel and Tourism, it is demonstrated how this industry could help the federal government achieve some of the proposed issues on how to use the money from the value-added tax if implemented