Teacher Attitudes/Beliefs

Teachers Experiences with Taking an Open-ended Approach in Teaching Labs in High School Physics Classes

Although most teachers recognize the importance of taking investigative, open-ended approaches to students’ learning experiences, implementing them in high school classes can be challenging for teachers.

Author/Presenter

Hamideh Talafian

Morten Lundsgaard

Maggie S. Mahmood

Eric Kuo

Timothy J. Stelzer

Year
2025
Short Description

Although most teachers recognize the importance of taking investigative, open-ended approaches to students’ learning experiences, implementing them in high school classes can be challenging for teachers. In this work, we analyzed data from multiple sources from a teaching Community of Practice (CoP) to investigate (a) barriers to taking an open-ended approach in teaching labs in physics classes, (b) shifts in teachers’ beliefs about taking an open-ended approach during their engagement in a physics teaching CoP in a partnership program, and (c) a case study of one teacher whose shifts in perceptions about taking an open-ended approach in teaching labs led to her successful implementation in her class.

Uncovering the Connections Among Rural Science Teachers: A Social Network Analysis

Using social network analysis, we sought to characterize the professional collaboration and advice networks among rural science teachers. Furthermore, we explored how the characteristics of individual teachers and distance between teachers affected the likelihood of forming connections. Science teachers in publicly funded rural schools were asked whom they collaborate with and seek advice from and the mode and frequency of their communications. Results were analyzed using UCINET to calculate statistical significance of tie formation.

Author/Presenter

Tracy Poulsen

Heather Leary

Alan Daly

Rebecca Sansom

Lead Organization(s)
Year
2024
Short Description

Using social network analysis, we sought to characterize the professional collaboration and advice networks among rural science teachers. Furthermore, we explored how the characteristics of individual teachers and distance between teachers affected the likelihood of forming connections.

Becoming a Responsive Mathematics Teacher: Centering Student Thinking in K–8 Classrooms

This resource presents and describes a model for teaching and learning mathematics responsively in the elementary and middle grades. Developed through the Responsive Math Teaching (RMT) project—a seven-year collaboration between teachers, teacher leaders, school and district administrators, and researchers from a network of K-8 urban schools—this book equips any mathematics educator with the tools to enhance instruction and increase equitable outcomes for students and communities historically underrepresented in mathematics.

Author/Presenter

Caroline B. Ebby

Brittany Hess

Lindsay Goldsmith-Markey

Lizzy Pecora

Jennifer Valerio

Joy Anderson Davis

Lead Organization(s)
Year
2025
Short Description

This resource presents and describes a model for teaching and learning mathematics responsively in the elementary and middle grades. Developed through the Responsive Math Teaching (RMT) project—a seven-year collaboration between teachers, teacher leaders, school and district administrators, and researchers from a network of K-8 urban schools—this book equips any mathematics educator with the tools to enhance instruction and increase equitable outcomes for students and communities historically underrepresented in mathematics.

Attending to Preservice Teachers' Assets: Beliefs and Practices for Supporting Expansive Sensemaking in Elementary Science

Preservice elementary science teachers' beliefs and practices influence the kinds of adaptations they make to curriculum materials and the extent to which they are able to enact justice-oriented science lessons. Through this qualitative study, we explored the beliefs and practices of five focal preservice teachers through an analysis of their lesson plans, recorded enactments, and interviews about their science teaching throughout their student teaching experience.

Author/Presenter

Jessica Bautista

Elizabeth A. Davis

Lead Organization(s)
Year
2025
Short Description

Preservice elementary science teachers' beliefs and practices influence the kinds of adaptations they make to curriculum materials and the extent to which they are able to enact justice-oriented science lessons. Through this qualitative study, we explored the beliefs and practices of five focal preservice teachers through an analysis of their lesson plans, recorded enactments, and interviews about their science teaching throughout their student teaching experience.

Identity and Power in Physics Teachers’ Discourse About Equity

Gutiérrez’s equity framework, derived from mathematics education research, defines equity in terms of four dimensions: access, achievement, identity, and power. Access and achievement yield outcomes that reify the status quo while identity and power transform schooling to redistribute power. We use Gutiérrez’s equity framework to study discourse about equity from 36 high school physics teachers who participated in an equity-focused professional development workshop.

Author/Presenter

Trà Huỳnh

Amy D. Robertson

Lauren C. Bauman

Rachel E. Scherr

Lead Organization(s)
Year
2025
Short Description

Gutiérrez’s equity framework, derived from mathematics education research, defines equity in terms of four dimensions: access, achievement, identity, and power. Access and achievement yield outcomes that reify the status quo while identity and power transform schooling to redistribute power. We use Gutiérrez’s equity framework to study discourse about equity from 36 high school physics teachers who participated in an equity-focused professional development workshop.

The Interplay Between Teacher Professional Development and Noticing: An Analysis of How Noticing Changes and What Teachers Attribute to Changes or Consistencies

Noticing is often studied at one time point or with a focus on how one notices a particular practice. Fewer studies have focused on how noticing shifts from before to after professional development (PD), and researchers have yet to commonly study what participants provide as rationale for changes in noticing. We engaged 18 practicing teachers in one year of PD, including a course, video coaching clubs, and coaching. We asked them to annotate video clips before and after the PD to identify what and how they noticed. We interviewed teachers about their noticing and how it related to the PD.

Author/Presenter

Julie M. Amador

Ryan Gillespie

Lead Organization(s)
Year
2025
Short Description

Noticing is often studied at one time point or with a focus on how one notices a particular practice. Fewer studies have focused on how noticing shifts from before to after professional development (PD), and researchers have yet to commonly study what participants provide as rationale for changes in noticing. We engaged 18 practicing teachers in one year of PD, including a course, video coaching clubs, and coaching.

Mathematics Teachers’ Interpretations of Students’ Perceptions of the Classroom Learning Environment: Opportunities for Inquiry

Research on mathematics teacher professional learning indicates that careful analysis of evidence of students’ reasoning and participation can prompt generative inquiry into instruction. Evidence of students’ own perceptions of instruction is noticeably absent in the literature. This absence is consequential, given the well-documented finding that mathematics teachers’ instructional decisions are shaped by assumptions they make about their students. Guided by an interpretive perspective on teaching and the literature on mathematics teachers’ professional learning, this study explores U.S.

Author/Presenter

Kara Jackson

Hannah J. Nieman

Daniela DiGiacomo

Fabio Campos

Nicholas Kochmanski

Lead Organization(s)
Year
2025
Short Description

Guided by an interpretive perspective on teaching and the literature on mathematics teachers’ professional learning, this study explores U.S. middle-grades mathematics teachers’ interpretations of evidence of students’ perceptions of key aspects of the mathematics classroom environment.

Mathematics Teachers’ Interpretations of Students’ Perceptions of the Classroom Learning Environment: Opportunities for Inquiry

Research on mathematics teacher professional learning indicates that careful analysis of evidence of students’ reasoning and participation can prompt generative inquiry into instruction. Evidence of students’ own perceptions of instruction is noticeably absent in the literature. This absence is consequential, given the well-documented finding that mathematics teachers’ instructional decisions are shaped by assumptions they make about their students. Guided by an interpretive perspective on teaching and the literature on mathematics teachers’ professional learning, this study explores U.S.

Author/Presenter

Kara Jackson

Hannah J. Nieman

Daniela DiGiacomo

Fabio Campos

Nicholas Kochmanski

Lead Organization(s)
Year
2025
Short Description

Guided by an interpretive perspective on teaching and the literature on mathematics teachers’ professional learning, this study explores U.S. middle-grades mathematics teachers’ interpretations of evidence of students’ perceptions of key aspects of the mathematics classroom environment.

Mathematics Teachers’ Interpretations of Students’ Perceptions of the Classroom Learning Environment: Opportunities for Inquiry

Research on mathematics teacher professional learning indicates that careful analysis of evidence of students’ reasoning and participation can prompt generative inquiry into instruction. Evidence of students’ own perceptions of instruction is noticeably absent in the literature. This absence is consequential, given the well-documented finding that mathematics teachers’ instructional decisions are shaped by assumptions they make about their students. Guided by an interpretive perspective on teaching and the literature on mathematics teachers’ professional learning, this study explores U.S.

Author/Presenter

Kara Jackson

Hannah J. Nieman

Daniela DiGiacomo

Fabio Campos

Nicholas Kochmanski

Lead Organization(s)
Year
2025
Short Description

Guided by an interpretive perspective on teaching and the literature on mathematics teachers’ professional learning, this study explores U.S. middle-grades mathematics teachers’ interpretations of evidence of students’ perceptions of key aspects of the mathematics classroom environment.

Mathematics Teachers’ Interpretations of Students’ Perceptions of the Classroom Learning Environment: Opportunities for Inquiry

Research on mathematics teacher professional learning indicates that careful analysis of evidence of students’ reasoning and participation can prompt generative inquiry into instruction. Evidence of students’ own perceptions of instruction is noticeably absent in the literature. This absence is consequential, given the well-documented finding that mathematics teachers’ instructional decisions are shaped by assumptions they make about their students. Guided by an interpretive perspective on teaching and the literature on mathematics teachers’ professional learning, this study explores U.S.

Author/Presenter

Kara Jackson

Hannah J. Nieman

Daniela DiGiacomo

Fabio Campos

Nicholas Kochmanski

Lead Organization(s)
Year
2025
Short Description

Guided by an interpretive perspective on teaching and the literature on mathematics teachers’ professional learning, this study explores U.S. middle-grades mathematics teachers’ interpretations of evidence of students’ perceptions of key aspects of the mathematics classroom environment.