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To support teachers in providing all students with opportunities to engage in engineering learning activities, research must examine the ways that elementary teachers support how diverse learners engage with engineering ideas and practices. This study focuses on two teachers' verbal supports in classroom discussions across two class sections of a four-week, NGSS-aligned unit that challenged students to redesign their school to reduce water runoff. We examine the research question: How and to what extent do upper-elementary teachers verbally support students' engagement with engineering practices across diverse classroom contexts in an NGSS-aligned integrated science unit? Classroom audio data was collected daily and coded to analyze support through different purposes of teacher talk. Results reveal the purpose of teachers’ talk often varied between the class sections depending on the instructional activity and indicate that teachers utilized a variety of supports toward students' engagement in different engineering practices. In one class, with a large percentage of students with individualized educational plans, teachers provided more epistemic talk about the engineering practices to contextualize the particular activities. For the other class, with a large percentage of students in advanced mathematics, teachers provided more opportunities for students to engage in discussion and support for students to do engineering. This difference in supports may decrease the opportunities for some students to rigorously engage in engineering ideas and practices. This study can inform future research on the kinds of educative supports needed to guide teaching of integrated engineering activities for diverse students.
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The Classroom‐Research‐Mentoring Framework: A lens for understanding science practice‐based instruction
Abstract Reformed science curricula provide opportunities for students to engage with authentic science practices. However, teacher implementation of such curricula requires teachers to consider their role in the classroom, including realigning instructional decisions with the epistemic aims of science. Guiding newcomers in science can take place in settings ranging from the classroom to the undergraduate research laboratory. We suggest thinking about the potential intersections of guiding students across these contexts is important. We describe the Classroom‐Research‐Mentoring (CRM) Framework as a novel lens for examining science practice‐based instruction. We present a comparative case study of two teachers as they instruct undergraduate students in a model‐based inquiry laboratory. We analyzed stimulated‐recall episodes uncovering how these teachers interacted with their students and the rationale behind their instructional choices. Through the application of the CRM Framework, we revealed ways teachers can have instructional goals that align with those of a research mentor. For example, our teachers had the goals of “creating an inclusive environment open to student ideas,” “acknowledging students as scientists,” and “focusing students on skills and ideas needed to solve biological problems.” We suggest three functions of research mentoring that translate across the classroom and research laboratory settings: (1) build a shared understanding of epistemic aims, (2) support learners in the productive use of science practices, and (3) motivate learner engagement in science practices.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2020788
- PAR ID:
- 10465397
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Science Education
- ISSN:
- 0036-8326
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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Scholars have suggested that one way to promote informed decision making about pressing socioscientific issues is to incorporate epistemic practices in science curricula. However, a key factor in teaching with such curricula is whether and how teachers can adapt instruction from their routine teaching approaches. Through an adaptive expertise lens, in this study, we examine how two teachers, teaching with agent-based computational complex systems models, varied in their implementations of epistemic practices and how consequently students' performance on epistemic practices was impacted. Through qualitative analyses of two teachers’ implementation recordings, this study examines teachers’ adaptive expertise in curricular implementations that aim at promoting student epistemic practices and provides examples of high and low levels of adaptive expertise that result in distinct student classroom experiences. This study carries implications for future teacher professional development geared towards improving students' epistemic practices.more » « less
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null (Ed.)ABSTRACT It is widely acknowledged that having experience conducting research is invaluable for undergraduate science students. Most undergraduate research is undertaken by students in a mentor's laboratory, but this limits the number of opportunities for students, as each laboratory can only take on a certain number of undergraduate researchers each semester. Additionally, it is also widely acknowledged that it is difficult for teachers to meet research goals while providing the best possible coursework for undergraduate students. Both of these bottlenecks can be circumvented via Classroom Undergraduate Research Experiences (CUREs), which integrate research into the curricula of structured undergraduate classes. Students enrolled in classes that include CUREs conduct research to address open-ended questions as part of their coursework. In this commentary, I describe the many ways in which CUREs are helpful for students and teachers, as well as considerations for designing successful CUREs. I provide several examples of CUREs from Microbial Physiology laboratory classes and Genomics classes that I have taught. Results from these CUREs have been successfully integrated into many peer-reviewed publications in which the students are co-authors, which has been a boon both to students’ post-baccalaureate opportunities, as well as my research agenda.more » « less
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Elementary school is the first opportunity most students have to learn about STEM; however, elementary teachers are sometimes the least confident and prepared to teach STEM concepts and practices. Research Experience for Teachers (RET) programs are an established form of K-12 teacher professional development in which teachers are invited to work as members of a laboratory research team to increase their enthusiasm, knowledge and experience in STEM fields. The Engineering for Biology: Multidisciplinary Research Experiences for Teachers (MRET) of Elementary Grades was a 7-week summer program in which teachers were embedded as contributing members of engineering laboratory research teams and was established with the goals of (1) increasing teacher knowledge of STEM concepts and practices, (2) fostering mentoring relationships among researchers and teachers in each laboratory, and (3) guiding the translation of the teachers’ laboratory experience into the classroom through the development of STEM learning units. This exploratory study focuses on the second goal, and involves the use of developmental network theory to discriminate mentoring among participants within the summer 2017 and 2018 cycles of MRET. Using data collected in daily observations as well as daily activity and conversation logs submitted by all participants during the lab experience, post participation surveys, and post program semi structured interviews, we have characterized a network of mentoring that existed within the lab portion of MRET as being multidirectional and potentially beneficial to all members, including researchers as well as teachers. This finding challenges the currently accepted assumption that teachers are the primary beneficiaries of mentoring within RET programs. If demonstrated to be appropriate and transferrable to the RET context, such a perspective could enhance our understanding of the experience and be used for maximizing the outcomes for all participants.more » « less
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Incorporating the goals of a comprehensive epistemic education into K12 curricula is increasingly critical. In this study, we worked with high school biology students and teachers to evaluate how to enact strategies to counter confirmation bias while engaging in scientific modeling. We used a video-cued method in interviews with participants and then applied the AIR model to analyze responses. Findings show that most could identify biased epistemic processes. Additionally, teachers listened to some of their students’ evaluations and were surprised by what they heard. This suggests noticing students’ epistemic cognition in the classroom is difficult and engaging students in video-cued discussions about reliable scientific practices around a familiar activity may allow for learners’ thinking to become more visible.more » « less
- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.1002/sce.21835
