Using Inquiry to Improve Pedagogy through K-12/University Partnerships

This article focuses on the impact a collaborative project between university graduate fellows and K-12 classroom teachers had on improved pedagogy in the classroom and in the future at the university. Nine teams participated in a yearlong professional development project to improve pedagogy and communication skills of the participants. This study shows that the participants, the fellows and the K-12 teacher partners, made changes in planning, implementation, and even motivation for using inquiry-based methods in their classroom. External observations of the teams further support the individuals' claims of improved pedagogy using inquiry and impact on student conceptual understanding. The Horizon Classroom Observation instrument was used for these observations. The teams showed an overall increase in scores, as well as overall effective and exemplarily implementation of their planning. The program design, the implementation, and the results of this three-year study will be elaborated in this article.