To achieve the goal of cultivating students' scientific modeling competence, it is crucial to improve teachers' epistemic knowledge and skills with respect to modeling-based teaching. Taking into consideration existing studies on enhancing teaching competence and teachers' professional development on modeling, and the importance of classroom…

Recent education reforms including the "Next Generation Science Standards" emphasize integrating engineering into K-12 science instruction. Although prior studies have characterized engineering design (ED) in K-12 settings, no validated protocols attempt to characterize ED integration in secondary science classrooms. The present study…

The purpose of this study is to provide insight into short-term professionalization of teachers regarding teaching socioscientific issues (SSI). The study aimed to capture the development of science teachers' pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) for SSI teaching by enacting specially designed SSI curriculum materials. The study also explores…

This article reports the results of an ethnographic research about the multimodal science discourse in a sixth-grade sheltered classroom involving English Language Learners (ELLs) only. Drawing from the perspective of multimodality, this study examines how science learning is constructed in science lectures through multiple semiotic resources,…

This study explored the nature of the integration of the five components of pedagogical content knowledge (PCK): (a) Orientations toward Teaching Science, (b) Knowledge of Student Understanding, (c) Knowledge of Instructional Strategies and Representations, (d) Knowledge of Science Curriculum, and (e) Knowledge of Assessment of Science Learning.…

When evaluating equity, researchers often look at the "achievement gap." Privileging knowledge and skills as primary outcomes of science education misses other, more subtle, but critical, outcomes indexing inequitable science education. In this comparative ethnography, we examined what it meant to "be scientific" in two fourth-grade classes taught…

While environmental argumentation has recently received much attention from science educators, little consideration has been given to how personal identities and social relationships can either support or constrain student argumentation. This study attends to this issue by examining environmental argumentation as a sociocultural activity (how…

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore what aspects of two first-year elementary teachers' practices were most consistent with an inquiry-based approach, what PCK served as a mechanism for facilitating these practices, and what experiences have mediated the nature and development of these teachers' PCK. For each of the…

This article is situated within a theoretical framework, "instructional congruence," articulating issues of student diversity with the demands of academic disciplines. In the context of a large-scale study targeting elementary school science, the article describes a research instrument that aims to combine the strengths of both quantitative and…

In this research project, we investigated two beginning secondary science teachers' efforts to learn to teach science in ways that build from and celebrate the ethnic, gender, linguistic, and academic diversity of their students. To do so, we followed Troy and Brian from their preservice teacher education experiences through their first year of…

Nine eighth grade classes were examined to identify the nature, distribution and patterning of verbal discourse. Included are a description of the categories used (Smith and Meux), a description of the nature of the verbal interaction in science lessons, and a resulting comparison between Australian, American, and New Zealand teachers. (DS)

Addresses the significance of teacher role in the control of student behavior in laboratory groups. Elementary school science classes were observed and videotaped. Changes in interaction setting (teacher-class, pupil-pupil, and intervention) or "treatments" were noted for each class. Conclusions are made concerning teacher interventions…

Describes a study using two types of macroanalytic analyses of observed teacher behaviors in the classroom. The findings of the study showed one of the macroanalytic techniques to be more effective as it identified broader behavior patterns occurring over longer periods of time. (MLH)