Teacher Practice

Weaving computer science into the fabric of social studies, rather than teaching it as an isolated skill, makes both subjects more relevant, engaging, and beneficial to students.

Berson, M. J., Berson, I. R., Franklin, K. L., Fawley, V. N., Shank, P. S., Dovi, R. E., Gasca, S., Hochberg, E. D., Berstein, D. (2024). Thinking critically, coding creatively: Elevating social studies through inquiry-based learning and computer science integration. Social Education, 98-103.

This self-reflective case study describes our project team’s efforts to promote equity in science professional learning (PL) by centering the voices of educators in the PL design process and within the course itself. We believe that educators’ experiences, priorities, and expertise are essential to developing professional learning that meets the needs of teachers and their students. We have a particular interest in amplifying the voices of those in historically underrepresented communities.

This study aimed to assess the effectiveness of a professional development program rooted in knowledge generation theory. Specifically, it sought to examine the changes in teachers' three orientations following the completion of the first-year workshop, and how these changes impacted their classroom implementation. This investigation takes the form of a multiple-case study of twelve K-5 teachers. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and classroom observations.

National standards that centre on the underpinning epistemic practices of the discipline has emphasised the need for teachers to focus much more on knowledge generation approaches to learning. Adopting a complexity perspective, we attempt to understand how teachers shift over time by examining their epistemic orientation to knowledge generation and their understanding of the nature of the epistemic tools of language, dialogue and argument that underpin these environments.

With an ultimate goal of characterizing teachers' movement toward understanding the epistemic complexity of generative learning environments, this study refers to adaptive teaching expertise (AdTex) as a developmental teaching capacity observable through a teacher's ability to utilize various resources to address the epistemic complexity of knowledge generation practices. The analysis and discussions centered on how teachers develop and utilize epistemic orientation and understandings of epistemic tools for adaptive teaching, making this study distinct from previous research on AdTex.

Abstract concepts, such as gravity, may provide the perfect opportunity to bring phenomena into the classroom. As a knowledge generation strategy, summarizing can foster that opportunity. Using phenomena and summary writing together might help student learning since it requires making connections between their ideas and words to explain the natural phenomena. This article describes how anchoring phenomena and summary writing were integrated into a cohesive unit by using five generative activities that include different language and epistemic practices.

We find ourselves at a time when the need for transformation in science education is aligning with opportunity. Significant science education resources, namely the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and the Ambitious Science Teaching (AST) framework, need an intentional aim of centering social justice for minoritized communities and youth as well as practices to enact it. While NGSS and AST provide concrete guidelines to support deep learning, revisions are needed to explicitly promote social justice.

This chapter describes an ongoing research-practice partnership with in-service teachers in communities across Oregon focused on broadening participation in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. Broadening participation is essential for creating more justice-centered STEM in our society and cannot occur without families and communities working in partnership with educators to ensure that community resources, needs, and multi-generational perspectives are centered in this work.

Teachers are increasingly participating in RPPs with the goal of improving their schools and districts. This context provides teachers with unique learning opportunities as they directly take part in district-level instructional improvement work. However, we know little about what teachers learn from their involvement in RPPs. This study explores teacher learning over the course of the first year of a multiyear RPP which involves a group of elementary teachers and a team of researchers from a local university.

In this report section, we discuss the importance of aligning classroom assessments with learning goals and instructional practices to both shape and evaluate students’ learning opportunities. We describe a plausible solution for improving alignment by integrating theories of learning in the design of classroom assessments. We discuss ways in which the specification of theories of learning as learning progressions can improve alignment between classroom assessments and instruction by focusing on the content, task design, and data generated from classroom assessments.