Classroom Practice

Justice-Centered Ambitious Science Teaching Framework

Framework to organize foothold practices for centering justice in science education.

Author/Presenter

COVID Connects Us Project Team

Lead Organization(s)
Year
2023
Short Description

Framework to organize foothold practices for centering justice in science education.

The Role of Whole-Class Conversations in Supporting Early Elementary Students’ Engineering Design Sense-Making

We consider how intentionally planned and facilitated whole-class conversations can “make space” for students’ sense-making about engineering problems and solutions and position them with epistemic authority to contribute to collective thinking. We conducted a case study on a first-grade engineering lesson that included whole-class Idea Generation and Design Synthesis Talks. We found students sense-making as they refined their design proposals and analyses in light of classmates’ contributions to the whole-class conversations.

Author/Presenter

Kristen Wendell

Chelsea Andrews

Jessica Watkins

Molly Malinowski

Year
2023
Short Description

We consider how intentionally planned and facilitated whole-class conversations can “make space” for students’ sense-making about engineering problems and solutions and position them with epistemic authority to contribute to collective thinking.

The Role of Whole-Class Conversations in Supporting Early Elementary Students’ Engineering Design Sense-Making

We consider how intentionally planned and facilitated whole-class conversations can “make space” for students’ sense-making about engineering problems and solutions and position them with epistemic authority to contribute to collective thinking. We conducted a case study on a first-grade engineering lesson that included whole-class Idea Generation and Design Synthesis Talks. We found students sense-making as they refined their design proposals and analyses in light of classmates’ contributions to the whole-class conversations.

Author/Presenter

Kristen Wendell

Chelsea Andrews

Jessica Watkins

Molly Malinowski

Year
2023
Short Description

We consider how intentionally planned and facilitated whole-class conversations can “make space” for students’ sense-making about engineering problems and solutions and position them with epistemic authority to contribute to collective thinking.

Design Talks: Fostering Whole-Class Conversations During Engineering Design Units

Teacher-facilitated whole-class conversations can help elementary students apply the full power of the NGSS science and engineering practices to an engineering design process. In this article we describe and provide examples for five kinds of Design Talks. Each type of Design Talk centers on a different framing question and is facilitated by specific prompts that help students voice their ideas and make connections to others' ideas.

Author/Presenter
Kristen Wendell

Jessica Watkins

Chelsea Andrews

Tyrine Pangan

Natalie De Lucca

Vera Gor

Molly Malinowski

Naina Sood Fox

Rae Woodcock

Year
2024
Short Description

Teacher-facilitated whole-class conversations can help elementary students apply the full power of the NGSS science and engineering practices to an engineering design process. In this article we describe and provide examples for five kinds of Design Talks. Each type of Design Talk centers on a different framing question and is facilitated by specific prompts that help students voice their ideas and make connections to others' ideas.

Design Talks: Fostering Whole-Class Conversations During Engineering Design Units

Teacher-facilitated whole-class conversations can help elementary students apply the full power of the NGSS science and engineering practices to an engineering design process. In this article we describe and provide examples for five kinds of Design Talks. Each type of Design Talk centers on a different framing question and is facilitated by specific prompts that help students voice their ideas and make connections to others' ideas.

Author/Presenter
Kristen Wendell

Jessica Watkins

Chelsea Andrews

Tyrine Pangan

Natalie De Lucca

Vera Gor

Molly Malinowski

Naina Sood Fox

Rae Woodcock

Year
2024
Short Description

Teacher-facilitated whole-class conversations can help elementary students apply the full power of the NGSS science and engineering practices to an engineering design process. In this article we describe and provide examples for five kinds of Design Talks. Each type of Design Talk centers on a different framing question and is facilitated by specific prompts that help students voice their ideas and make connections to others' ideas.

Connecting Classroom Assessment with Learning Goals and Instruction Through Theories of Learning

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.

Author/Presenter

Leanne R. Ketterlin-Geller

Christopher J. Harris

Year
2023
Short Description

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.

How It All Happened: Cause and Effect as a Lens and Thinking Tool to Observe and Make Sense of Two Puzzling Phenomena

Mohan, L., Harris, E., & Guy-Gaytan, C. (2023). How it all happened: Cause and effect as a lens and thinking tool to observe and make sense of two puzzling phenomena. Science and Children, 60(7).

Author/Presenter

Lindsey Mohan

Emily Harris

Candice Guy-Gaytán

Year
2023
Short Description

This article uses cause and effect as a lens and thinking tool to observe and make sense of phenomena in elementary science.

Secondary Mathematics Teachers’ Anticipations of Student Responses to Cognitively Demanding Tasks

This study examines secondary mathematics teachers’ anticipations of student responses related to a series of cognitively demanding mathematics tasks from multiple mathematical domains presented in the context of voluntary and asynchronous online professional development modules. We analyze 283 anticipations made by 127 teachers to 17 mathematics tasks and present four distinct foci of teachers’ anticipations.

Author/Presenter

P. Holt Wilson

Allison McCulloch

F. Paul Wonsavage

Emily Hare

Lauren N. Baucom

Year
2024
Short Description

This study examines secondary mathematics teachers’ anticipations of student responses related to a series of cognitively demanding mathematics tasks from multiple mathematical domains presented in the context of voluntary and asynchronous online professional development modules.

Embodied, Dramatizing Performances in Science Class: Multimodal Spaces and Places of Knowledge and Identity Construction

We explored the semiotic choices children in grades 1–6 made that nurtured embodied, dramatizing performances in science classes at urban public schools, serving predominantly students of color in a large US city. We studied how such choices in school and home settings (when instruction was remote during the COVID-19 pandemic) were implicated in the children’s knowledge and identity construction and related to available resources and positionings.

Author/Presenter

Maria Varelas

Amanda R. Diaz

Rebecca Kotler

Rebecca Woodard

Ronan Rock

Zachary Sabitt

Nathan Phillips

Rachelle Tsachor

Marcie Gutierrez

Hannah Natividad

Derek Threewitt

Jaegen Ellison

Year
2024
Short Description

We explored the semiotic choices children in grades 1–6 made that nurtured embodied, dramatizing performances in science classes at urban public schools, serving predominantly students of color in a large US city. We studied how such choices in school and home settings (when instruction was remote during the COVID-19 pandemic) were implicated in the children’s knowledge and identity construction and related to available resources and positionings.

Elementary Teachers’ Knowledge of Using Language as an Epistemic Tool in Science Classrooms: A Case Study

Language is a fundamental tool for learning science. This study highlights the importance of teacher knowledge in utilising language as a tool for knowledge generation in the classrooms. This case study examines elementary teachers’ development of declarative, procedural, and epistemic knowledge related to using language, particularly focusing on how a three-year professional development programme centred around the Science Writing Heuristic (SWH) approach influences the development of these knowledge bases.

Author/Presenter

Qi Si

Jee K. Suh

Jale Ercan-Dursun

Brian Hand

Gavin W. Fulmer

Year
2024
Short Description

Language is a fundamental tool for learning science. This study highlights the importance of teacher knowledge in utilising language as a tool for knowledge generation in the classrooms. This case study examines elementary teachers’ development of declarative, procedural, and epistemic knowledge related to using language, particularly focusing on how a three-year professional development programme centred around the Science Writing Heuristic (SWH) approach influences the development of these knowledge bases.