Disciplinary Content Knowledge

What Does Knowledge of Dialogue and Argument Mean for Elementary Teachers’ Instructional Practices? A Case Study

Cadre-Admin — Fri, 24 Oct 2025 21:41:08 +0000

What Does Knowledge of Dialogue and Argument Mean for Elementary Teachers’ Instructional Practices? A Case Study

This study aimed to explore the development of teachers’ knowledge of dialogue and argument through three specific knowledge bases: declarative, procedural, and epistemic. Additionally, the study sought to understand the implications of this knowledge for implementing a knowledge generation approach in classroom settings. To achieve these objectives, a multiple-case study was conducted with 12 elementary teachers who participated in a professional development (PD) program centered on the Science Writing Heuristic (SWH), an approach designed to promote knowledge generation. Data collection involved classroom observations, interviews, and teacher reflections on the PD experience. Our analysis focused on evaluating the three knowledge bases in the context of using argument and dialogue, with a comparison across teachers categorized as low, moderate, and high implementers of the knowledge generation approach. The findings identified two key factors influencing teachers’ implementation of dialogue and argument: the depth of their knowledge in the three knowledge bases and the time allocated for development. The results underscore the necessity for teachers to move beyond merely acquiring declarative knowledge when aiming to implement high levels of argument and dialogue in their classrooms. Teachers who demonstrated moderate levels of argument and dialogue in their practice were found to possess at least a moderate level of procedural and epistemic knowledge. Furthermore, time emerged as a critical factor in the development of these knowledge bases. The study revealed that while some teachers reached advanced levels of knowledge within six months of the initial PD workshop, others required additional time to progress.

Ercan Dursun, J., Suh, J. K., & Hand, B. (2025). What does knowledge of dialogue and argument mean for elementary teachers’ instructional practices? A case study. Journal of Science Teacher Education, 1–24. https://doi.org/10.1080/1046560X.2025.2543564

Cadre-Admin Fri, 10/24/2025 - 17:41

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1046560X.2025.2543564

Developing Elementary Teachers’ Climate Change Knowledge and Self-efficacy for Teaching Climate Change Using Learning Technologies

Cadre-Admin — Mon, 30 Jun 2025 15:26:40 +0000

Developing Elementary Teachers’ Climate Change Knowledge and Self-efficacy for Teaching Climate Change Using Learning Technologies

Elementary teachers require support through professional learning activities to enhance their climate change literacy and bolster their self-efficacy for teaching climate change. This study explores methods for supporting in-service elementary teachers’ self-efficacy in climate change teaching by examining the impact of professional learning activities that incorporate learning technologies on climate change literacy. We present the findings from two in-service elementary teachers’ perspectives on how learning technologies facilitated the scaffolding of their self-efficacy for teaching climate change. Initially, both teachers held non-normative beliefs that ozone depletion was a cause of climate change. Interactive visualizations of climate models and simulations of the greenhouse effect enriched the teachers’ climate change literacy, leading to a correct understanding of the causal mechanisms linking greenhouse gases, energy, and global temperatures. The experience also elevated the teachers’ self-efficacy for teaching science concepts, with a particular focus on their understanding of the greenhouse effect and climate change.

Ibourk, A., Wagner, L., & Zogheib, K. (2024).Developing elementary teachers’ climate change knowledge and self-efficacy for teaching climate change using learning technologies. Journal of Science Education and Technology, 34, 504–520. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10956-024-10187-9

Cadre-Admin Mon, 06/30/2025 - 11:26

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10956-024-10187-9

Teacher Talk Supporting Student Progressive Discourse in Science

Cadre-Admin — Sat, 28 Jun 2025 16:35:33 +0000

Teacher Talk Supporting Student Progressive Discourse in Science

Student participation in science discourse requires multiple levels of support through tools such as curricular materials, as well as teacher talk. The actions of the teacher can provide opportunities for students to engage in disciplinary science talk. The norms associated with this talk can be used to define what students sound like when engaged in authentic science talk. However, often talk moves are employed in service of in-the-moment tasks rather than development of disciplinary talk norms. For this study, we focused on the Ambitious Science Teaching–based teacher talk engaged in by two middle school science teachers to support student sensemaking regarding a phenomenon-based science unit with embedded data visualization and simulation software over the course of a 2-week teaching unit. This descriptive case study identifies how differences in the purpose of questioning impacts the patterns of teacher talk regarding establishing norms in support of the norms of progressive discourse. These cases demonstrate two teachers with aligned philosophies, basic skills, and education in Ambitious teacher talk. However, one uses these talk moves to drive activity level sensemaking while the other utilizes talk moves to develop classroom talk norms that reflect the characteristics of progressive discourse. Being responsive to student talk, and being purposeful in organizing patterns of moves, requires being thoughtful of the purposes of specific talk moves, as well as the overall goal of the conversation. Results indicate that teachers should be supported in developing an understanding of the larger patterns of teacher talk to support progressive discourse norm building.

Wray, K. A. & McDonald, S. (2025). Teacher talk supporting student progressive discourse in science. Science & Education. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11191-025-00633-4

Cadre-Admin Sat, 06/28/2025 - 12:35

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11191-025-00633-4

Variation in the Implementation of Educative Curriculum Materials for Elementary Science Teacher Educators in Two Course Contexts: An Exploratory Case Study

Cadre-Admin — Fri, 11 Apr 2025 03:33:47 +0000

Variation in the Implementation of Educative Curriculum Materials for Elementary Science Teacher Educators in Two Course Contexts: An Exploratory Case Study

Educative curriculum materials (ECM) have been shown to support K-12 teacher learning, but little is known about teacher educators’ use of ECM. In this study, we report on enactments of ECM designed to support the development of preservice elementary teachers’ content knowledge for teaching about matter in two different courses to understand how teacher educators use ECM. Participants were two full professors teaching science content and science methods courses for elementary preservice teachers at a public university in the Pacific Northwest. While both instructors had similar years of experience teaching science education courses and used the same ECM, they implemented them differently. Substituting different activities or resources provided by the ECM or supplementing the ECM with alternate activities are examples of adaptations leveraged by the instructors. Decision-making around implementation was guided primarily by the instructors’ pedagogical approaches, the fit of the ECM with existing course content and goals, and alignment with problems of practice facing their elementary preservice teachers.

Melton, J. C. & Mikeska, J. N. (2025). Variation in the implementation of educative curriculum materials for elementary science teacher educators in two course contexts: An exploratory case study. Journal of Science Teacher Education, 1–22. https://doi.org/10.1080/1046560X.2025.2467469

Cadre-Admin Thu, 04/10/2025 - 23:33

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1046560X.2025.2467469

Variation in the Implementation of Educative Curriculum Materials for Elementary Science Teacher Educators in Two Course Contexts: An Exploratory Case Study

Cadre-Admin — Fri, 11 Apr 2025 03:33:47 +0000

Variation in the Implementation of Educative Curriculum Materials for Elementary Science Teacher Educators in Two Course Contexts: An Exploratory Case Study

Cadre-Admin Thu, 04/10/2025 - 23:33

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1046560X.2025.2467469

Anchoring Phenomena and Summary Writing Working Together to Improve Student Learning

Cadre-Admin — Wed, 24 Apr 2024 01:54:21 +0000

Anchoring Phenomena and Summary Writing Working Together to Improve Student Learning

Abstract concepts, such as gravity, may provide the perfect opportunity to bring phenomena into the classroom. As a knowledge generation strategy, summarizing can foster that opportunity. Using phenomena and summary writing together might help student learning since it requires making connections between their ideas and words to explain the natural phenomena. This article describes how anchoring phenomena and summary writing were integrated into a cohesive unit by using five generative activities that include different language and epistemic practices. Five activities include 1) Asking, 2) Designing, 3) Negotiating, 4) Explaining, and 5) Summarizing. A series of lessons, aligning with the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts and the NGSS, were designed with the Science Writing Heuristic (SWH) approach. After these lessons, students were asked to write a letter to their younger peers about what they learned related to the phenomenon. The teacher mentioned that class discussions and summary writing practice helped her to see connections in students’ ideas and how those connections changed throughout the unit. Many of the students also mentioned that they preferred completing a summary writing rather than a paper-pencil test because they were able to explain themselves in a more comfortable way.

Hart, A., Dursun, J., Suh, J., Hand, B., & Fulmer, G. (2023). Anchoring phenomena and summary writing working together to improve student learning. Science Activities, 60(2). https://doi.org/10.1080/00368121.2023.2168242

Cadre-Admin Tue, 04/23/2024 - 21:54

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00368121.2023.2168242

Developing and Using a Scalable Assessment to Measure Preservice Elementary Teachers' Content Knowledge for Teaching About Matter

Cadre-Admin — Fri, 01 Mar 2024 20:04:30 +0000

Developing and Using a Scalable Assessment to Measure Preservice Elementary Teachers' Content Knowledge for Teaching About Matter

There is strong agreement in science teacher education of the importance of teachers' content knowledge for teaching (CKT), which includes their subject matter knowledge and their pedagogical content knowledge. However, there are limited instruments that can be easily administered and scored on a large scale to assess and study elementary science teachers' CKT. Such measures would support strategic monitoring of large groups of science teachers' CKT and the investigation of comparative questions about science teachers' CKT longitudinally across the professional continuum or across teacher education or professional development sites. To address this gap, this study focused on designing an automatically scorable summative assessment that can be used to measure preservice elementary teachers' (PSETs') CKT in one high-leverage science content area: matter and its interactions. We conducted a field test of this CKT instrument with 822 PSETs from across the United States and used the response data to examine how this instrument functions as a potential tool for measuring PSETs' CKT in this science content area. Results suggest this instrument is reliable and can be used on large scale to support valid inferences about PSETs' CKT in this content area. In addition, the dimensionality analysis showed that all items measure a single construct of CKT about matter and its interactions, as participants did not show any differential performance by content topic or work of teaching science instructional tool categories. Implications for progressing the field's understanding of the nature of CKT and approaches to developing summative instruments to assess science teachers' CKT are discussed.

Castellano, K. E., & Mikeska, J. N. (2023). Developing and using a scalable assessment to measure preservice elementary teachers’ content knowledge for teaching about matter. Journal of Research in Science Teaching. https://doi.org/10.1002/tea.21894

Cadre-Admin Fri, 03/01/2024 - 15:04

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/tea.21894

Designing Educative Curriculum Materials for Teacher Educators: Supporting Preservice Elementary Teachers’ Content Knowledge for Teaching About Matter and Its Interactions

Cadre-Admin — Fri, 01 Mar 2024 19:44:36 +0000

Designing Educative Curriculum Materials for Teacher Educators: Supporting Preservice Elementary Teachers’ Content Knowledge for Teaching About Matter and Its Interactions

Research on teacher educators’ professional learning has gained increasing interest within science education. Curriculum materials have been suggested as a means of supporting teacher learning for several decades but have not yet been examined as a potential tool for supporting the learning of teacher educators. In this paper, we conceptualize a set of design heuristics to guide the development of educative curriculum materials for teacher educators. We illustrate how these heuristics guided the identification of specific educative features, which we included when developing prototype educative curriculum materials for elementary science teacher educators in content and/or method courses to support the development of preservice teachers’ content knowledge for teaching about matter and its interactions.

Hanuscin, D., Borda, E., Melton, J., & Mikeska, J. N. (2024). Designing educative curriculum materials for teacher educators: Supporting preservice elementary teachers’ content knowledge for teaching about matter and its interactions. International Journal of Science and Mathematics Education. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10763-024-10453-7

Cadre-Admin Fri, 03/01/2024 - 14:44

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10763-024-10453-7

Designing Educative Curriculum Materials for Teacher Educators: Supporting Preservice Elementary Teachers’ Content Knowledge for Teaching About Matter and Its Interactions

Cadre-Admin — Fri, 01 Mar 2024 19:44:36 +0000

Designing Educative Curriculum Materials for Teacher Educators: Supporting Preservice Elementary Teachers’ Content Knowledge for Teaching About Matter and Its Interactions

Cadre-Admin Fri, 03/01/2024 - 14:44

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10763-024-10453-7

Online Teacher Professional Learning: An Approach to Foster Personalized Pathways

Cadre-Admin — Thu, 29 Feb 2024 02:07:04 +0000

Online Teacher Professional Learning: An Approach to Foster Personalized Pathways

Teachers tend to be lifelong learners, motivated to pursue professional learning that is meaningful to their particular needs. In 2013, Marrongelle et. al., noted “it is incumbent on the field to capitalize on emerging technologies in the design and delivery of effective professional development.” (p. 208). While the past decade has seen an increase in development of opportunities for personalized learning for mathematics teachers online (e.g., Silverman & Hoyos, 2018), more work is needed to provide additional research-based opportunities. Our work will contribute to the much needed body of literature on the instructional design and underlying psychological mechanisms of effective online teacher learning (e.g., Dede et al., 2009). More broadly, the work will contribute to how teachers and other learners can be properly supported in self-directed online educational environments (Terras & Ramsay, 2015; Wiebe et. al., 2015).

The InSTEP professional learning platform aims to support grades 6-12 teachers’ professional learning in teaching statistics and data science through a personalized online learning platform. While statistics and data analysis are included in standards for both mathematics and science (Common Core State Standards for Mathematics, 2010; Next Generation Science Standards, 2013), there are also many states across the country envisioning high school course pathways that include a heavier emphasis on statistics and even stand alone courses on data science (Drozda, 2022). In this brief research report, we aim to share how we have designed supports for teachers to personalize their professional learning and results from a collective case study of 37 participants engaged in a field test of the platform in Fall 2022.

Lee, H.S.,Thrasher, E., Grossman, M., Mojica,G.F., Graham, B., & Kuhlman, A. (2023). Online teacher professional learning: An approach to foster personalized pathways. Research report presented at the Annual Research Conference of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, October, Washington, DC.

Cadre-Admin Wed, 02/28/2024 - 21:07

https://www.k12dive.com/news/from-public-health-to-personal-finance-statistical…