According to John Dewey, Seymour Papert, Donald Schon, and Allan
Collins, school activities, to be authentic, need to share key features
with those worlds about which they teach. This book documents learning
and teaching in open-inquiry learning environments, designed with the
precepts of these educational thinkers in mind. The book is thus a
first-hand report of knowing and learning by individuals and groups in
complex open-inquiry learning environments in science. As such, it
contributes to the emerging literature in this field.
Secondly, it exemplifies research methods for studying such complex
learning environments. The reader is thus encouraged not only to take
the research findings as such, but to reflect on the process of arriving
at these findings.
Finally, the book is also an example of knowledge constructed by a
teacher-researcher, and thus a model for teacher-researcher activity.