| The processes, understandings, and uses of inquiry are identified by the National Science Education Standards (National Research Council, 1996) as a key component of science instruction. Currently, there are few examples in the literature demonstrating how teachers go about co-constructing inquiry-based activities and how mentors can promote the use of reform-based practices by novices. The purpose of this interpretive case study was to investigate how a mentor and her protégé collaboratively developed, implemented and assessed three inquiry-based experiences. The questions that guided this research were: (1) How does the mentor assist protégé growth in the development, implementation and assessment of inquiry-based experiences for secondary science students? (2) How are the protégé's perceptions of inquiry influenced by her participation in developing, implementing and assessing inquiry-based experiences for secondary science students?;The co-construction of the inquiry activities and the facilitation provided by the mentor represented Lev Vygotsky's (1978) social construction of information as the mentor guided the protégé beyond her cognitive zone of proximal development. The participants in this study were a veteran science teacher who was obtaining her mentor certification, or Teacher Support Specialist, and her protégé who was a science teacher in the induction phase of her career. Data were collected through in-depth, semi-structured interviews, tape recordings of planning sessions, researcher field notes, and email reflections during the co-construction process. Inductive analysis of the data led to the identification of common categories and subsequent findings, which reflected what the mentor and protégé discussed about inquiry and the process of collaboration.;The six themes that emerged from this study led to several implications that are significant for science teacher preparation and the mentoring community. The teachers indicated tools, such as the "Essential Features and Variations of Inquiry" table, were helpful for planning and assessing inquiry-based experiences. Examination of findings revealed how the process of purposefully collaborating on the development of inquiry-based lessons fostered a more student-centered approach to teaching and learning by the protégé. Therefore, having new teachers continue to collaborate with reform-minded mentors beyond their first year of teaching may help new teachers develop inquiry-based pedagogies. |
