The importance of models and modeling in science education is well-recognized, yet there exists significant polysemy among these terms within the literature. This ambiguity often leads to confusion, particularly regarding whether modeling represents an expected student performance, an instructional strategy to promote such performance, or both.…

Although previous research provides insights into how gestures function as a pedagogical tool, relatively little is known about how gesture is related to language, together creating a key meaning-making teaching resource. Drawing on the system of logico-semantic relations in Systemic Functional Linguistic theory and McNeill's description of…

How science is traditionally taught and presented in westernized classrooms, Western Modern Science often does not offer creative and culturally sustaining pathways for students with diverse multicultural backgrounds to view science as a beneficial resource for their worldview, values, and funds of knowledge. This conceptual position paper…

Informal science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) learning (ISL) can remain inequitable when discourse and practices in ISL spaces position youth as temporary guests by implicitly or explicitly sidelining youths' experiences, community wisdom, cultures, and histories. The framework of "rightful presence" problematizes…

This paper investigates how the coherent integration of three different tools for reflection during a science methods course can contribute to student teachers' planning and enactment of science teaching, that is, their development of pedagogical content knowledge (PCK). The Refined Consensus Model (RCM) is used as a theoretical lens for…

Current science education reform efforts have identified sensemaking as an important goal of science education, and science education researchers have studied what constitutes the sensemaking process in the science classroom. Because the studies of sensemaking are loosely linked to those of scientific reasoning, however, they have provided little…

Taking the "practice turn" in K-12 science classrooms requires students to engage in processes of knowledge building, constructing explanatory accounts of natural phenomena. To support students in these sensemaking opportunities, a significant departure is needed from how science is typically taught in many classrooms. Teachers will need…

Energy is one important concept in physics, but science education research has repeatedly shown that students struggle to develop a full understanding of energy. Especially challenging for students is the notion of potential energy. Overwhelmed by the sheer number of potential energy forms, students struggle to make connections between them.…

Grappling with uncertainty is an essential element of students' science learning and sense-making processes, yet literature is limited regarding how teachers can facilitate and use student scientific uncertainty as a pedagogical resource in their classrooms. Furthermore, progress on pedagogical practice depends on both the ability to notice one's…

Explicitly attending to justice in science teaching and learning is long overdue. Here, we examined the professional teacher identity development of 13 science teachers as they collaborated in networked professional learning communities (PLCs) to implement and revise a culture-setting unit focused on the science of COVID and engaging in…

Increasing access to computational ideas and practices is one important reason to integrate computational thinking (CT) in science classrooms. While integrating CT into science classrooms broadens exposure to computing, it may not be enough to ensure equitable participation in the science classroom. Equitable participation is crucial because…

Recently, there has been a surge of literature on the implementation of translanguaging pedagogy and practices in science education settings. By activating and validating learners' full communicative repertoire, translanguaging holds promise to build an inclusive science learning community where multilingual learners' ways of knowing are not only…

Research on translanguaging in science and engineering education has grown rapidly. Studies carried out across diverse contexts converge in their commitment to fostering equity in science and engineering learning for linguistically marginalized learners. However, the rapid growth of this research area has exposed different approaches to…

Higher education institutions commonly provide faculty professional development (PD) in teaching and learning, with the goal of enhancing student outcomes by improving instructional quality. Yet few existing studies link PD participation with student outcome measures. Empirical evidence on the impact of PD on student performance in higher…

Promoting argumentation based on evidence allows students to give meaning to the phenomena observed, enabling the construction of knowledge. Children's argumentative discourse can be activated by appropriate instruction, but there is little information on argumentation at early ages and there is a need for the teacher to understand how to foster…