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1. Characterizing facilitation practices of learning assistants: an authoritative-to-dialogic spectrum

   https://doi.org/10.1186/s40594-023-00429-4  

   Carlos, Carina M. L.; Maggiore, Nicolette M.; Dini, Vesal; Caspari-Gnann, Ira (June 2023, International Journal of STEM Education)

   Abstract BackgroundLearning assistants (LAs) increase accessibility to instructor–student interactions in large STEM lecture classes. In this research, we used the Formative Assessment Enactment Model developed for K-12 science teachers to characterize LA facilitation practices. The Formative Assessment Enactment Model describes instructor actions as eliciting or advancing student thinking, guided by their purposes and the perspective they center as well as by what they notice about and how they interpret student thinking. Thus, it describes facilitation practices in a holistic way, capturing the way purposes, perspectives, noticing, interpreting, and actions are intertwined and working together to characterize different LA actions. In terms of how perspectives influence actions, eliciting and advancing moves can be enacted either in authoritative ways, driven by one perspective that has authority, or in dialogic ways, driven by multiple perspectives. Dialogic practices are of particular interest because of their potential to empower students and center student thinking. ResultsOur analysis of video recordings of LA–student interactions and stimulated recall interviews with 37 introductory physical science lectures’ LAs demonstrates that instead of as a dichotomy between authoritative and dialogic, LA actions exist along a spectrum of authoritative to dialogic based on the perspectives centered. Between the very authoritative perspective that centers on canonically correct science and the very dialogic perspective that centers the perspectives of the students involved in the discussion, we find two intermediary categories. The two new categories encompass a moderately authoritative perspective focused on the LA’s perspective without the claim of being correct and a moderately dialogic perspective focused on ideas from outside the current train of thought such as from students in the class that are not part of the current discussion. ConclusionsThis spectrum further adds to theory around authoritative and dialogic practices as it reconsiders what perspectives can drive LA enactment of facilitation other than the perspective of canonically correct science and the perspectives of the students involved in the discussion. This emerging characterization may be used to give LAs and possibly other instructors a tool to intentionally shift between authoritative and dialogic practices. It may also be used to transition towards more student-centered practices. 

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2. Investigating the learning process of students using dialogic instructional videos

   Gruver, J.; Lobato, J.; Foster, M. (January 2022, Proceedings of the PME Conference)

   Fernández, C.; Llinares, S.; Gutiérrez, A.; Planas, N. (Ed.)

   The need for high-quality remote learning experiences has been illustrated by the COVID-19 pandemic. As such, there is a need to explore instructional videos that go beyond expert exposition as the main pedagogical approach. An emerging body of research has begun to investigate instructional videos that feature dialogue. However, this body of research has focused primarily on whether such videos are effective. In contrast, the purpose of our study is to investigate the dialogic learning processes involved as students viewing dialogic videos develop mathematical meaning. We employed a Bakhtinian perspective to analyse the learning of a pair of Grade 9 students who engaged with dialogic instructional videos. The results focus on ventriloquation as a learning process. 

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3. Socioscientific issues: promoting science teachers’ pedagogy on social justice

   https://doi.org/10.1186/s43031-024-00118-4  

   Macalalag, Jr., Augusto_Z; Kaufmann, Alan; Van_Meter, Benjamin; Ricketts, Aden; Liao, Erica; Ialacci, Gabrielle (December 2024, Disciplinary and Interdisciplinary Science Education Research)

   Abstract Socioscientific issues (SSI) are problems involving the deliberate use of scientific topics that require students to engage in dialogue, discussion, and debate. The purpose of this project is to utilize issues that are personally meaningful and engaging to students, require the use of evidence-based reasoning, and provide a context for scientific information. Social justice is the pursuit of equity and fairness in society by ensuring that all individuals have opportunities to challenge and address inequalities and injustices to create a more just and equitable society for all (Killen et al. Human Development 65:257–269, 2021). By connecting science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) concepts to personally meaningful contexts, SSI can empower students to consider how STEM-based issues reflect moral principles and elements of virtue in their own lives and the world around them (Zeidler et al. Science Education 89:357–377, 2005). We employed a qualitative research design to answer the following questions: (1) In what ways, if any, did teachers help students grow their knowledge and practices on social justice through socioscientific issues? (2) In teachers’ perceptions, what components of SSI did students learn and what are their challenges? (3) In teachers’ perceptions, what are students’ stances on social justice? After completing the first year and second-year professional development programs, grades 6–12 STEM teachers were asked to complete a reflection on classroom artifacts. Teachers were asked to select student artifacts (e.g. assignments, projects, essays, videos, etc.) that they thought exemplified the students’ learning of SSI and stance on social justice. Based on 21 teacher-submitted examples of exemplar student work, we saw the following example pedagogies to engage their students on social justice: (a) making connections to real-world experiences, (b) developing a community project, (c) examining social injustice, and (d) developing an agency to influence/make changes. According to teachers, the most challenging SSI for students was elucidating their own position/solution, closely followed by employing reflective scientific skepticism. Moreover, the students exemplified reflexivity, metacognition, authentic activity, and dialogic conversation. Using SSI in classrooms allows students to tackle real-world problems, blending science and societal concerns. This approach boosts understanding of scientific concepts and their relevance to society. Identifying methods like real-world connections and examining social injustice helps integrate social justice themes into science education through SSI. Overall, SSI promotes interdisciplinary learning, critical thinking, and informed decision-making, enriching science education socially. This study highlights the value of integrating SSI in science education to engage students with social justice. 

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4. Using imagery support strategies to develop powerful imagistic models.

   Price, N; Stephens, A; Clement, J; Nunez-Oviedo, M (December 2017, Science scope)

   A central question for teachers is how to engage students in active reasoning while still aiming for substantial content goals. Asking students to generate and evaluate imagistic models can support both content learning and scientific thinking goals. Recent research indicates that imagery is a central component of scientific modeling (Schwartz and Heiser 2009). When discussing scientific models, teachers and students often lean heavily on words alone and overlook how modeling uses mental pictures and “mental movies.” Metaphorically, modeling processes can be thought of as occurring on a “sketch pad or video screen” of mental imagery in the student’s head. The set of strategies described here are intended to help teachers promote the kind of imagery that is used in scientific models. 

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5. Students’ conceptions of substitution

   Sencindiver, B.; Wladis, C.; Offenholley, K. (July 2021, Proceedings of the 44th Conference of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education)

   Inprasitha, Maitree; Changsri, Narumon; Boonsena, Nisakorn (Ed.)

   Substitution is a key idea that is woven throughout the mathematics curriculum. In secondary school, substitution is described as an interchangeability of equal numbers, and then as a method for finding solutions of systems of equations. In university, substitution is used as a means to recognize familiar structures in Integral Calculus. Despite its prevalence in mathematics, there is little research on substitution, especially on students’ understanding of substitution. This work aims to investigate students’ meanings for substitution, and how they use it. We draw on Tall and Vinner’s (1981) ideas of concept definition and concept image to explore students’ meanings of substitution through their personal definitions of substitution, what they identify as substitution, and how they perform substitution. In this presentation, we report on elementary algebra students’ responses to questions about substitution. Data comes includes written responses to multiple-choice and open-ended questions and transcripts from clinical interviews across multiple semesters at a community college. Through a combination of thematic and conceptual analysis, we categorized students’ thinking about substitution and what features appeared to impact how they enact it. We found that students often identify substitution as a process of replacement of one mathematical object for another but differ in the generality of the mathematical objects that they consider (e.g., strictly as the replacement of a number for a variable versus replacement of any expression for another expression). Students further differed in whether or not they thought that substitution entailed equivalence of the objects being replaced. When performing substitution (e.g., substituting x+1 for y in 2y^2), we found that students’ activity was heavily based on their understanding of the structure of the expression where the substitution is taking place (the unified ‘pieces’ of 2y^2). In addition to other findings, we elaborate on the mental processes that students engage in when performing substitution and synthesize our findings with the notion of substitution equivalence (Wladis et al., 2020). 

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