Middle

Research on the teaching and learning of mathematics has made significant progress in recent years. However, this work has had only limited impact on classroom instruction in many countries. We report on an eight-year project in which we partnered with several large urban school districts in the U.S.

When asked what plants need for photosynthesis, many students can correctly recall the reaction equation and state that plants require CO2, H2O, and light. Many students, however, do not understand that these reactants are the raw materials plants use to make sugars and instead believe that they are food for plants. Moreover, when questioned further, students often voice the idea that plants get their food from the soil (Kestler 2014).

Ensuring all students have opportunities to engage in scientific argumentation is a key goal for K–12 students. While research has shown that teachers’ beliefs about argumentation can impact their classroom instruction and that students in low socioeconomic status (SES) schools are less likely to experience challenging science learning, there is little research focused on the relationship between teachers’ argumentation beliefs and student SES. As such, in this study we explored the scientific argumentation beliefs of teachers in low, mid, and high SES schools.

Despite the recent emphasis on science practices, little work has focused on teachers' knowledge of these key learning goals. The development of high quality assessments for teachers' pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) of science practices, such as argumentation, is important to better assess the needs of teachers and to develop supportive teacher education experiences. In this paper, we present lessons learned from a development process to conceptualize, design, and pilot a measure of teachers' PCK of argumentation.

Recent education reform efforts have included an increasing push for school science to better mirror authentic scientific endeavor, including a focus on science practices. However, despite expectations that all students engage in these language-rich practices, little prior research has focused on how such opportunities will be created for English-learning students.

Science education research, reform documents and standards include scientific argumentation as a key learning goal for students. The role of the teacher is essential for implementing argumentation in part because their beliefs about argumentation can impact whether and how this science practice is integrated into their classroom. In this study, we surveyed 42 middle school science teachers and conducted follow-up interviews with 25 to investigate the factors that teachers believe impact their argumentation instruction.

Educative curriculum materials provide teachers with authentic opportunities to learn new skills and practices. Yet, research shows teachers use curriculum in different ways for different reasons, and these modifications could undermine the learning goals of the curriculum. Little research, however, has examined the variation in teacher use of educative curriculum and the impact on teacher learning. In this article, we use organizational theory's concept of sensemaking to examine teacher learning from educative curriculum.

Noticing students' mathematical thinking is a key element of effective instruction, but novice teachers do not naturally engage in this practice. Prospective secondary school mathematics teachers were engaged in an intervention grounded in analysis of minimally edited video from local secondary school mathematics classrooms; the goal was to support their ability to notice important student thinking within the complexity of instruction.

Throughout elementary school, students learn about positive numbers and how they fit on a number line. The transition to using negative numbers, after only working with numbers greater than zero for several years, can be difficult for students (Murray 1985). The card game described here was used successfully with fifth graders; through the game, students explore the characteristics of numbers less than zero and how to add positive and negative numbers.