Using the Sociology of Associations to Rethink STEM Education

Using three constructs taken from Latour's 2005 book, Reassembling the Social, we consider our work in 2 contexts that were part of a project to support science teachers working with English learners: an 8th-grade physical science class in a summer science enrichment academy, and a 6th-grade Earth science class in a public middle school. We utilize Latour's constructs of (a) group formation, (b) mediators and intermediaries, and (c) traces of intentionality to interpret the interactions that occur in these spaces. We analyze these interactions to make a broader argument about the limitations of improvement science perspectives that are increasingly influential in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education research in the U.S. context.     

Modeling science teaching on science practice? Painting a more accurate picture through an ethnographic lab study

This article reports an ethnographic study of a molecular biology research laboratory, “Sally's Lab.” By studying the daily practices of the lab members, and interpreting these observations through an anthropological lens grounded in practice theory, I portray the social and cultural construction of a scientific community. Findings include an examination of how good science practice was operationalized, status in the lab was constructed, members gained or lost interest in continuing on in careers in research science, and individual members conformed to and resisted localized norms of scientific practice. These issues have direct relevance to our work as science educators, in terms of how we present science practice to our students. For example, when K–16 science students engage in activities based on authentic science practice, upon whose experiences are these simulations based? The current study shows that there is not just one acceptable way to do science, nor one set of experiences that pertain to all members within a given community of science practice. Likewise, there should not be just one way that science is presented in school, nor one set of experiences we expect all our students to take from our classes. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 38: 387–407, 2001     

Loving and Learning with Wemberly and David: Fostering Emotional Development in Early Childhood Education

Children enter the world with simple emotions and gradually add complex feelings to their repertoire of skills. As children grow and develop, they learn to label their emotions and regulate them in socially appropriate ways. Literature is one way early childhood educators can foster healthy emotional development. This article explains how emotions develop during the preschool years (3–5), shares why it is important for early childhood educators to understand the connection between emotional and literacy development, and suggests books and strategies that can be used to enhance young children’s emotional and literate lives.     

Understanding Science and Language Connections: New Approaches to Assessment with Bilingual Learners

Research in Science Education - We report on the use of bilingual constructed response science assessments in the context of a research and development partnership with secondary school science...     

The relationships between elementary students' knowledge-in-use performance and their science achievement

This longitudinal study examines the relationship between students' knowledge-in-use performance and their performance on third-party designed summative tests within a coherent and equitable learning environment. Focusing on third-grade students across three consecutive project-based learning (PBL) units aligned with the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), the study includes 1067 participants from 23 schools in a Great Lakes state. Two-level hierarchical linear modeling estimates the effects of post-unit assessments on end-of-year summative tests. Results indicate that post-unit assessment performances predict NGSS-aligned summative test performance. Students experiencing more PBL units demonstrate greater gains on the summative test, with predictions not favoring students from diverse backgrounds. This study underscores the importance of coherence, equity, and the PBL approach in promoting knowledge-in-use and science achievement. A systematically coherent PBL environment across multiple units facilitates the development of students' knowledge-in-use, highlighting the significance of designing science and engineering practices (SEPs) and crosscutting concepts coherently and progressively, with intentional revisitation of disciplinary core ideas (DCIs). The study also investigates how the PBL approach fosters equitable learning environments for diverse demographic groups, offering equitable opportunities through equity-oriented design. Contributions include a coherent assessment system that tracks and supports learning aligned with NGSS, emphasizing the predictive power of post-unit assessments, continuous monitoring and tracking. The implications of context similarity and optimal performance expectations within units are discussed. Findings inform educators, administrators, and policymakers about the benefits of NGSS-aligned PBL systems and the need for coherent and equitable learning and assessment systems supporting knowledge-in-use development and equitable opportunities for all learners.     

Are the Measurements of Attention Allocation and Perceived Exertion Trustworthy?

Two studies examined the trustworthiness of commonly used measurement scales for ratings of perceived exertion (RPE) and state attentional focus (SAF) during exercise. In Study 1, participants (N = 24, 14 female) performed a treadmill graded-exercise test. The order of scale presentation during the task was manipulated (i.e., RPE followed by SAF or vice versa). In Study 2 the same order manipulation was used while participants (N = 70, 36 female) performed a stepping task for three consecutive trials. Additionally, time intervals between scale presentations were manipulated (i.e., 30 sec, 60 sec, or 90 sec) and counterbalanced between trials. Non-significant order effects of RPE and SAF emerged in both studies; however, a more frequent presentation of the two scales (30 sec and 60 sec) yielded higher RPE scores and increased associative attentional focus than a less frequent presentation (90 sec). The authors recommend minimizing measurement interruptions during the measurement process.     

The Relationships Between Teacher Nonverbal Immediacy and Student Course Workload and Teacher Availability Expectations

The purpose of this study is to identify student expectations for course workload and teacher availability and to assess whether teacher nonverbal immediacy influences these student expectations. Based on a sample of 198 students at a large public university enrolled in a required general education hybrid communication course, students were willing to complete more work than the current course requires, which is comparable to other general education hybrid communication courses in the USA. Additionally, students have moderate to high expectations for teacher availability. Student perceptions of teacher nonverbal immediacy were positively correlated with students’ willingness to engage in their learning (reading, writing, speaking), teacher availability expectations, and tolerance for teacher unavailability.     

Balancing Teacher and Student Roles in Elementary Classrooms: Preservice elementary teachers’ learning about the inquiry continuum

Using the National Research Council's inquiry continuum framework, we use a multiple-case study research design to investigate the teacher- and student-directedness of elementary preservice teachers’ planned and enacted science lessons and their pedagogical reasoning about science instruction during a semester-long science methods course. Our specific research questions were (1) What ideas do elementary preservice teachers bring to a science teaching methods course about the inquiry continuum? and (2) How do their ideas about the inquiry continuum change over the course of the semester through engaging in planning, enactment, and reflection upon science instruction? Participants’ course artifacts (journals, reflective teaching assignments, and lesson plan rationales), interviews, and field observations of their enacted science lessons served as data for this study. Findings show that although the preservice teachers began the semester defining inquiry as highly student-directed, their ideas and definitions broadened over the course of the semester to include and embrace more teacher-directed forms of inquiry. Their early science lessons were more student-directed but, as they encountered challenges engaging in inquiry-based instruction and increasingly emphasized students’ learning needs, they began to plan and enact lessons that were more teacher-directed. Teacher education programs need to explicitly emphasize these variations of inquiry as a core component of supporting preservice teachers’ learning to teach science as inquiry.     

Exploring Third-Grade Student Model-Based Explanations about Plant Relationships within an Ecosystem

Elementary students should have opportunities to develop scientific models to reason and build understanding about how and why plants depend on relationships within an ecosystem for growth and survival. However, scientific modeling practices are rarely included within elementary science learning environments and disciplinary content is often treated as discrete pieces separate from scientific practice. Elementary students have few, if any, opportunities to reason about how individual organisms, such as plants, hold critical relationships with their surrounding environment. The purpose of this design-based research study is to build a learning performance to identify and explore the third-grade students’ baseline understanding of and their reasoning about plant–ecosystem relationships when engaged in the practices of modeling. The developed learning performance integrated scientific content and core scientific activity to identify and measure how students build knowledge about the role of plants in ecosystems through the practices of modeling. Our findings indicate that the third-grade students’ ideas about plant growth include abiotic and biotic relationships. Further, they used their models to reason about how and why these relationships were necessary to maintain plant stasis. However, while the majority of the third-grade students were able to identify and reason about plant–abiotic relationships, a much smaller group reasoned about plant–abiotic–animal relationships. Implications from the study suggest that modeling serves as a tool to support elementary students in reasoning about system relationships, but they require greater curricular and instructional support in conceptualizing how and why ecosystem relationships are necessary for plant growth and development.