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1. STUDENTS’ REORGANIZATIONS OF VARIATIONAL, COVARIATIONAL, AND MULTIVARIATIONAL REASONING

   York, T. Germia (January 2021, Proceedings of the forty-third annual meeting of the North American Chapter of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education.)

   Olanoff, D.; Johnson, K.; Spitzer, S. (Ed.)

   In this paper we examine sixth grade students’ constructions and reorganizations of variational, covariational, and multivariational reasoning as they engaged in dynamic digital tasks exploring the science phenomenon of weather. We present case studies of two students from a larger whole-class design experiment to illustrate students’ forms of reasoning and the type of design that supported those constructions and reorganizations. We argue that students constructed multivariational relationships by bridging, transforming, and reforming their reasoning and that the nature of the multivariational relationship being constructed affected this process. 

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2. Fostering Students’ Epistemic Agency For Rigorous Science Instruction

   Akcil-Okan, O.; Tekkumru-Kisa, M. (January 2022, Annual meeting program American Educational Research Association)

   Reform-based rigorous instruction which fosters all students’ thinking and sensemaking is possible; however, it is not yet prevalent in science classrooms. This study explored promoting rigorous instruction by enhancing students’ intellectual work through cognitively demanding tasks. We examined instruction during the five lessons in a science classroom. We found variations in students’ intellectual work across the lessons. Our analysis revealed that the instructional practices associated with promoting students’ engagement in rigorous thinking were consequential for promoting students’ epistemic agency. Thus, we argue that maintaining and enhancing demand on students’ intellectual engagement in cognitively demanding tasks requires the work of providing opportunities for students to learn science-as-practice by acting as epistemic agents. These findings can inform professional efforts regarding rigorous instruction. 

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3. Beyond performance, competence, and recognition: forging a science researcher identity in the context of research training

   https://doi.org/10.1186/s40594-024-00479-2  

   Pfeifer, Mariel A.; Zajic, C. J.; Isaacs, Jared M.; Erickson, Olivia A.; Dolan, Erin L. (March 2024, International Journal of STEM Education)

   Abstract BackgroundStudying science identity has been useful for understanding students’ continuation in science-related education and career paths. Yet knowledge and theory related to science identity among students on the path to becoming a professional science researcher, such as students engaged in research at the undergraduate, postbaccalaureate, and graduate level, is still developing. It is not yet clear from existing science identity theory how particular science contexts, such as research training experiences, influence students’ science identities. Here we leverage existing science identity and professional identity theories to investigate how research training shapes science identity. We conducted a qualitative investigation of 30 early career researchers—undergraduates, postbaccalaureates, and doctoral students in a variety of natural science fields—to characterize how they recognized themselves as science researchers. ResultsEarly career researchers (ECRs) recognized themselves as either science students or science researchers, which they distinguished from being a career researcher. ECRs made judgments, which we refer to as “science identity assessments”, in the context of interconnected work-learning and identity-learning cycles. Work-learning cycles referred to ECRs’ conceptions of the work they did in their research training experience. ECRs weighed the extent to which they perceived the work they did in their research training to show authenticity, offer room for autonomy, and afford opportunities for epistemic involvement. Identity-learning cycles encompassed ECRs’ conceptions of science researchers. ECRs considered the roles they fill in their research training experiences and if these roles aligned with their perceptions of the tasks and traits of perceived researchers. ECRs’ identity-learning cycles were further shaped by recognition from others. ECRs spoke of how recognition from others embedded within their research training experiences and from others removed from their research training experiences influenced how they see themselves as science researchers. ConclusionsWe synthesized our findings to form a revised conceptual model of science researcher identity, which offers enhanced theoretical precision to study science identity in the future. We hypothesize relationships among constructs related to science identity and professional identity development that can be tested in further research. Our results also offer practical implications to foster the science researcher identity of ECRs. 

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4. Promoting Uncertainty in Science Classrooms through Cognitively Demanding Tasks

   Vande Zande, D.; Ozlem Akcil-Okan, O.; & Tekkumru-Kisa, M. (January 2021, Annual meeting program American Educational Research Association)

   null (Ed.)

   The reform vision brought forth by the Framework for K-12 Science Education emphasizes the integration of scientific knowledge with scientific practices as students try to figure out a phenomenon. During this process of making sense of phenomenon, students experience moments of uncertainty which is important because scientific activity is driven by this need to manage uncertainty. Using cognitively demanding tasks in science classrooms presents a means to integrate uncertainty into students’ experiences. Our analysis of video records of science lessons during the implementation of chemistry tasks at different cognitive demand levels revealed how types of uncertainty that students experienced differed in these lessons and the ways in which uncertainty was evoked during the implementation of cognitively demanding science tasks. 

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5. Uncertainty and Cognitive Demand on Students’ Thinking in Science Classrooms.

   Vande Zande, D.; Akcil-Okan, O.; & Tekkumru-Kisa, M. (January 2021, 2020 Marvalene Hughes Research in Education Conference)

   null (Ed.)

   The reform vision brought forth by the Framework for K-12 Science Education emphasizes the integration of scientific knowledge with scientific practices as students try to figure out a phenomenon. During this process of making sense of phenomenon, students experience moments of uncertainty which is important because scientific activity is driven by this need to manage uncertainty. Using cognitively demanding tasks in science classrooms presents a means to integrate uncertainty into students’ experiences. Our analysis of video records of science lessons during the implementation of chemistry tasks at different cognitive demand levels revealed how types of uncertainty that students experienced differed in these lessons and the ways in which uncertainty was evoked during the implementation of cognitively demanding science tasks. 

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