Pedagogy

Communities of Practice and the Elevation of Urban Elementary Teacher Discourse About Critical Pedagogy of Place

Children who live in under-resourced communities and attend under-resourced schools deserve access to high-quality teachers and educational opportunities to support their success and well-being. This study emerged from a professional development (PD) for urban teachers working in such schools, to expand educational opportunities for elementary students through outdoor science teaching.

Author/Presenter

Gail Richmond

Roberta Hunter

Tali Tal

Grace Tukurah

Lead Organization(s)
Year
2024
Short Description

Children who live in under-resourced communities and attend under-resourced schools deserve access to high-quality teachers and educational opportunities to support their success and well-being. This study emerged from a professional development (PD) for urban teachers working in such schools, to expand educational opportunities for elementary students through outdoor science teaching.

Using Simulations to Support Students’ Conceptual Development Related to Wildfire Hazards and Risks from an Experiential Learning Perspective

From the experiential learning perspective, this study investigates middle and high school students (n = 1009) who used an online module to learn about wildfire hazards, risks, and impacts through computational simulations of wildfire phenomena. These students were taught by 18 teachers in urban, rural, and suburban schools across the United States. We analyzed students’ simulation behaviors captured in log files, responses to an assessment administered before and after the module, and demographic surveys, as well as teachers’ responses to a post-module implementation survey.

Author/Presenter

Trudi Lord

Paul Horwitz

Hee-Sun Lee

Amy Pallant

Christopher Lore

Lead Organization(s)
Year
2024
Short Description

From the experiential learning perspective, this study investigates middle and high school students (n = 1009) who used an online module to learn about wildfire hazards, risks, and impacts through computational simulations of wildfire phenomena.

Demands, Tensions, and Resources When Implementing Ambitious Mathematics

In this article, we explore demands and tensions involved when schools implement ambitious mathematics teaching (AMT). Following a description of a framework that distinguishes between internal and external demands, we characterize the tension between these in terms of alignment, balance, and buffering, which collectively speak to coherence. We then describe AMT and how it represents a departure from traditional mathematics instruction found in most countries.

Author/Presenter

Jeffrey Choppin

Christine Green

William Zahner

Year
2024
Short Description

In this article, we explore demands and tensions involved when schools implement ambitious mathematics teaching (AMT).

Cultivating a Higher Level of Student Agency in Collective Discussion: Teacher Strategies to Navigate Student Scientific Uncertainty to Develop a Trajectory of Sensemaking

In a traditional lecturing environment, students possess limited agency in accepting or rejecting information provided by teachers. A higher level of student agency involves opportunities and actively identifying uncertainties and collaborating with peers to deepen understanding within the classroom community. Teachers play a crucial role in guiding students through sensemaking by addressing uncertainties and assisting in solution development. Student uncertainty is recognized as a pedagogical resource, engaging them in sensemaking and enhancing agency levels.

Author/Presenter

Ying-Chih Chen

Lead Organization(s)
Year
2024
Short Description

Teachers play a crucial role in guiding students through sensemaking by addressing uncertainties and assisting in solution development. Student uncertainty is recognized as a pedagogical resource, engaging them in sensemaking and enhancing agency levels. This study analyzed 28 whole-class discussions led by seven science teachers, identifying three phases: problematization, coherence negotiation, and new understanding enactment.

Shaping Ambitious Science Teaching to Be Culturally Sustaining and Productive in a Rural Context: Toward a Justice-Centered Ambitious Science Teaching Framework

We find ourselves at a time when the need for transformation in science education is aligning with opportunity. Significant science education resources, namely the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and the Ambitious Science Teaching (AST) framework, need an intentional aim of centering social justice for minoritized communities and youth as well as practices to enact it. While NGSS and AST provide concrete guidelines to support deep learning, revisions are needed to explicitly promote social justice.

Author/Presenter

April Luehmann

Yang Zhang

Heather Boyle

Eve Tulbert

Gena Merliss

Kyle Sullivan

Lead Organization(s)
Year
2023
Short Description

Significant science education resources, namely the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and the Ambitious Science Teaching (AST) framework, need an intentional aim of centering social justice for minoritized communities and youth as well as practices to enact it. While NGSS and AST provide concrete guidelines to support deep learning, revisions are needed to explicitly promote social justice. In this study, we sought to understand how a commitment to social justice, operationalized through culturally sustaining pedagogy might shape the AST framework to promote more critical versions of teaching science for equity.

Chat-based Role-Play for Preservice Teachers to Practice Eliciting Students’ Arguments

In this article, we describe our implementation of an innovative approximation of practice in teacher education: chat-based role-play. In so doing, we share our collective experiences as teacher educators about how the preservice teachers (PSTs) across our four methods courses—two elementary science courses, one elementary mathematics course, and one middle school mathematics course—practiced eliciting students’ initial arguments about a matter investigation (for science) or a fractions or ratio problem (for mathematics).

Author/Presenter

Pamela S. Lottero-Perdue

Peter Rillero

Cathy Liebars

Adam Goldberg

Justin Reich

Lead Organization(s)
Year
2023
Short Description

In this article, we describe our implementation of an innovative approximation of practice in teacher education: chat-based role-play. In so doing, we share our collective experiences as teacher educators about how the preservice teachers (PSTs) across our four methods courses—two elementary science courses, one elementary mathematics course, and one middle school mathematics course—practiced eliciting students’ initial arguments about a matter investigation (for science) or a fractions or ratio problem (for mathematics).

National Science Foundation-Funded Research Facilitates STEM Teaching

TU professor studies avatar-based classroom simulations in three-year, $3 million NSF grant.

Kirkman, R. (2022, January 11). National Science Foundation-funded research facilitates STEM teaching. Towson University.

Author/Presenter

Rebecca Kirkman

Lead Organization(s)
Year
2022
Short Description

TU professor studies avatar-based classroom simulations in three-year, $3 million NSF grant.

Preservice Teachers Noticing and Positioning Students as “Knowers” in Equitable Scientific Argumentation-based Discussions

This study investigated how preservice elementary teachers' (PSTs) noticed the discourse practices they used to position students and their scientific thinking as they engaged a group of student avatars in argumentation-based simulated discussions. Using qualitative methods, 82 teaching reflections from 28 PSTs were analyzed. Findings indicate that in most reflections (66%), the PSTs were able to support co-construction of knowledge in the Mursion® simulations.

Author/Presenter

Amanda Benedict-Chambers

Lauren Madden

Pamela S. Lottero-Perdue

Jamie N. Mikeska

Meredith Park Rogers

Lead Organization(s)
Year
2023
Short Description

This study investigated how preservice elementary teachers' (PSTs) noticed the discourse practices they used to position students and their scientific thinking as they engaged a group of student avatars in argumentation-based simulated discussions.

Elementary Preservice Teachers' Responsiveness While Eliciting Students' Initial Arguments and Encouraging Critique in Online Simulated Argumentation Discussions

Engaging children in argumentation-focused discussions is essential to helping them collaboratively make sense of scientific phenomena. To support this effort, teachers must listen and be responsive to students' ideas to move the discussion forward with the goal of reaching consensus. Given the complexity of this ambitious science teaching practice, in lieu of traditional field experiences, online simulated teaching experiences provide opportunities for preservice teachers to practice implementing these strategies in a low-risk, high-support environment.

Author/Presenter

Pamela S. Lottero-Perdue

Heidi L. Masters

Jamie N. Mikeska

Meredith Thompson

Meredith Park Rogers

Dionne Cross Francis

Year
2023
Short Description

Limited research has explored elementary preservice teachers' responsiveness while navigating an argumentation-focused discussion, particularly in an online simulated teaching experience. The purpose of this study was to examine preservice teachers' responsiveness to students' ideas while eliciting students' initial constructed arguments and encouraging argument critique in two online simulated teaching experiences.

Socioscientific Modeling as an Approach Towards Justice-Centred Science Pedagogy

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.

Author/Presenter

Year
2023
Short Description

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. In this article, we add to the justice-centred science pedagogy framework by offering tools to make sense of science and social factors and introduce socioscientific modelling as an instructional strategy for attending to social dimensions of science in ways that align with justice-centred science pedagogy.