Science

Justice-centred science pedagogy has been suggested as an effective framework for supporting teachers in bringing in culturally relevant pedagogy to their science classrooms; however, limited instructional tools exist that introduce social dimensions of science in ways teachers feel confident navigating.

Research on socio-scientific issues (SSI) has revealed that it is critical for learners to develop a systematic understanding of the underlying issue. In this paper, we explore how modeling can facilitate students’ systems thinking in the context of SSI. Building on evidence from prior research in promoting systems thinking skills through modeling in scientific contexts, we hypothesize that a similar modeling approach could effectively foster students’ systematic understanding of complex societal issues.

Liu, P., Taylor, S. Colwell-Johnson, A., Lee, A. A., McKinney, D., Harris, C. J., Linnenbrink-Garcia, L., Marchand, G. C., & Schmidt, J. A. (2023). Hearing all voices to promote learning orientation and effective collaboration. Science Scope, 46(7). https://doi.org/10.1080/08872376.2023.12315901

Liu, P., Taylor, S. Colwell-Johnson, A., Lee, A. A., McKinney, D., Harris, C. J., Linnenbrink-Garcia, L., Marchand, G. C., & Schmidt, J. A. (2023). Hearing all voices to promote learning orientation and effective collaboration. Science Scope, 46(7). https://doi.org/10.1080/08872376.2023.12315901

Liu, P., Taylor, S. Colwell-Johnson, A., Lee, A. A., McKinney, D., Harris, C. J., Linnenbrink-Garcia, L., Marchand, G. C., & Schmidt, J. A. (2023). Hearing all voices to promote learning orientation and effective collaboration. Science Scope, 46(7). https://doi.org/10.1080/08872376.2023.12315901

Making science accessible is an important and worthy goal, but for many students, science is inaccessible because what counts as science in the classroom is narrowly defined as what is known as western science, rooted in Europe in the 1600s and often privileging white, male-centric perspectives. In this article, we describe five examples of expanding what counts as science to help remove barriers to learning and to make school science more equitable and inclusive. Indigenous ways of knowing can complement western ways of thinking.

The Innovate to Mitigate (I2M) project poses challenges for secondary-school students to design feasible, innovative strategies that mitigate CO2 emissions and thus global warming. Design is informed by research on problem-based learning, pedagogy for which poses demands on teachers. This paper presents preliminary evidence about how I2M teachers supported student teams to engage in science and engineering practices.

The Innovate to Mitigate (I2M) project poses challenges for secondary-school students to design feasible, innovative strategies that mitigate CO2 emissions and thus global warming. Design is informed by research on problem-based learning, pedagogy for which poses demands on teachers. This paper presents preliminary evidence about how I2M teachers supported student teams to engage in science and engineering practices.

Mohan, L., Harris, E., & Guy-Gaytan, C. (2023). How it all happened: Cause and effect as a lens and thinking tool to observe and make sense of two puzzling phenomena. Science and Children, 60(7).

Cook Whitt, K., Harris, E., Kenyon, L., Kenyon, F. L., Hanson, A., Tate, R., Mohan, L., & Guy-Gatan, C. (2023a, April). Related Paper Set: Designing, supporting, and enacting elementary science units for teacher phenomenon adaptation. Related paper set presented at the National Association for Research in Science Teaching Annual Conference, Chicago, IL.