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Resource | Designing Educative Tools for Scientific Argumentation: A Case Study of DBR Before and During the Pandemic
Design-based research is uniquely positioned to adapt instructional resources quickly to meet the needs of teachers and students. This chapter explores how researchers adapted and improved two educative tools over the course of two academic years. The educative tools were designed to support scientific argumentation through supporting students to develop task models of NGSS storyline routines.…
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Resource | Scientific Communities of Practice: K–12 Outreach Model Around Organism Responses to Repeated Hurricane Disturbances
Collaboration between ecologists and learning scientists can give rise to powerful models for scientific outreach within ecology. This paper presents a process by which learning scientists and ecologists codesigned a science curriculum that invites students to join an ecological community of practice. In the Journey to El Yunque middle school science curriculum, students engage with simulation…
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Resource | Chat-based Role-Play for Preservice Teachers to Practice Eliciting Students’ Arguments
In this article, we describe our implementation of an innovative approximation of practice in teacher education: chat-based role-play. In so doing, we share our collective experiences as teacher educators about how the preservice teachers (PSTs) across our four methods courses—two elementary science courses, one elementary mathematics course, and one middle school mathematics course—practiced…
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Resource | National Science Foundation-Funded Research Facilitates STEM Teaching
TU professor studies avatar-based classroom simulations in three-year, $3 million NSF grant. Kirkman, R. (2022, January 11). National Science Foundation-funded research facilitates STEM teaching. Towson University.
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Resource | Preservice Teachers Noticing and Positioning Students as “Knowers” in Equitable Scientific Argumentation-based Discussions
This study investigated how preservice elementary teachers' (PSTs) noticed the discourse practices they used to position students and their scientific thinking as they engaged a group of student avatars in argumentation-based simulated discussions. Using qualitative methods, 82 teaching reflections from 28 PSTs were analyzed. Findings indicate that in most reflections (66%), the PSTs were able to…
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Resource | Elementary Preservice Teachers' Responsiveness While Eliciting Students' Initial Arguments and Encouraging Critique in Online Simulated Argumentation Discussions
Engaging children in argumentation-focused discussions is essential to helping them collaboratively make sense of scientific phenomena. To support this effort, teachers must listen and be responsive to students' ideas to move the discussion forward with the goal of reaching consensus. Given the complexity of this ambitious science teaching practice, in lieu of traditional field experiences,…
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Resource | Why Is Engineering Design Important for All Learners?
Engineering design systematically identifies needs, wants, and problems and then devises solutions to address them. A central component of our work is guiding students in the engineered design of solutions to local environmental problems. Songer, N. B. (2023). Why is engineering design important for all learners?. Open Access Government April 2023, pp.300-301. https://doi.org/10.56367/OAG-038-…
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Resource | Inspiring STEM Education Focused on Solutions
Nancy Butler Songer, from the University of Utah, makes a call for collective action to create a new curriculum focused on the design of solutions. Songer, N. B. (2023). Inspiring STEM education focused on solutions. Open Access Government July 2023, pp.322-323. https://doi.org/10.56367/OAG-039-10836
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Resource | How Do We Design Curricula to Foster Innovation, Motivation and Interest in STEM Learning?
Purpose The authors designed a science and engineering curricular program that includes design features that promote student interest and motivation and examined teachers' and students' views on meaningfulness, motivation and interest. Design/methodology/approach The research approach consisted of mixed methods, including content analyses and descriptive statistics. Findings The curricular…
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Resource | Youth as Essential Problem-Solvers of Our Futures
Nancy Butler Songer, Associate Provost of STEM Education at the University of Utah, discusses the importance of supporting and including young people as part of environmental decision-making teams and key problem-solvers of our futures. Songer, N. B. (2023). Youth as essential problem-solvers of our futures. Open Access Government October 2023, pp. 312-313. https://doi.org/10.56367/OAG-040-10836
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Resource | Youths’ Solutions to Local Invasive Species
Educating students about real-world, issues such as local invasive species aims to encourage wider engagement with STEM. Calabrese, J. E. & Songer, N. B. (2024). Youths’ solutions to local invasive species. Open Access Government January 2024.
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Resource | Developing and Using a Scalable Assessment to Measure Preservice Elementary Teachers' Content Knowledge for Teaching About Matter
There is strong agreement in science teacher education of the importance of teachers' content knowledge for teaching (CKT), which includes their subject matter knowledge and their pedagogical content knowledge. However, there are limited instruments that can be easily administered and scored on a large scale to assess and study elementary science teachers' CKT. Such measures would support…
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Resource | Designing Educative Curriculum Materials for Teacher Educators: Supporting Preservice Elementary Teachers’ Content Knowledge for Teaching About Matter and Its Interactions
Research on teacher educators’ professional learning has gained increasing interest within science education. Curriculum materials have been suggested as a means of supporting teacher learning for several decades but have not yet been examined as a potential tool for supporting the learning of teacher educators. In this paper, we conceptualize a set of design heuristics to guide the development…
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Resource | Designing Educative Curriculum Materials for Teacher Educators: Supporting Preservice Elementary Teachers’ Content Knowledge for Teaching About Matter and Its Interactions
Research on teacher educators’ professional learning has gained increasing interest within science education. Curriculum materials have been suggested as a means of supporting teacher learning for several decades but have not yet been examined as a potential tool for supporting the learning of teacher educators. In this paper, we conceptualize a set of design heuristics to guide the development…
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Resource | Engineering Connections in Culturally-Responsive Mathematical Modeling Problems
This poster presents findings from design and early implementation work of the NSF DRK-12 project which positions 6th and 7th grade students as decision makers in their own learning, integrating culturally responsive mathematical modeling problems into their regular curriculum. We take a sociocritical perspective on modeling, supporting students in using mathematics to understand their life…
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Resource | Socioscientific Modeling as an Approach Towards Justice-Centred Science Pedagogy
Justice-centred science pedagogy has been suggested as an effective framework for supporting teachers in bringing in culturally relevant pedagogy to their science classrooms; however, limited instructional tools exist that introduce social dimensions of science in ways teachers feel confident navigating. In this article, we add to the justice-centred science pedagogy framework by offering tools…
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Resource | Exploring System Dynamics of Complex Societal Issues Through Socio-scientific Models
Research on socio-scientific issues (SSI) has revealed that it is critical for learners to develop a systematic understanding of the underlying issue. In this paper, we explore how modeling can facilitate students’ systems thinking in the context of SSI. Building on evidence from prior research in promoting systems thinking skills through modeling in scientific contexts, we hypothesize that a…
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Resource | Hearing All Voices to Promote Learning Orientation and Effective Collaboration
Liu, P., Taylor, S. Colwell-Johnson, A., Lee, A. A., McKinney, D., Harris, C. J., Linnenbrink-Garcia, L., Marchand, G. C., & Schmidt, J. A. (2023). Hearing all voices to promote learning orientation and effective collaboration. Science Scope, 46(7). https://doi.org/10.1080/08872376.2023.12315901
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Resource | Hearing All Voices to Promote Learning Orientation and Effective Collaboration
Liu, P., Taylor, S. Colwell-Johnson, A., Lee, A. A., McKinney, D., Harris, C. J., Linnenbrink-Garcia, L., Marchand, G. C., & Schmidt, J. A. (2023). Hearing all voices to promote learning orientation and effective collaboration. Science Scope, 46(7). https://doi.org/10.1080/08872376.2023.12315901
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Resource | Hearing All Voices to Promote Learning Orientation and Effective Collaboration
Liu, P., Taylor, S. Colwell-Johnson, A., Lee, A. A., McKinney, D., Harris, C. J., Linnenbrink-Garcia, L., Marchand, G. C., & Schmidt, J. A. (2023). Hearing all voices to promote learning orientation and effective collaboration. Science Scope, 46(7). https://doi.org/10.1080/08872376.2023.12315901
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Resource | Moving Beyond Equity-as-Access: Expanding What Counts as Science in the Elementary Classroom
Making science accessible is an important and worthy goal, but for many students, science is inaccessible because what counts as science in the classroom is narrowly defined as what is known as western science, rooted in Europe in the 1600s and often privileging white, male-centric perspectives. In this article, we describe five examples of expanding what counts as science to help remove barriers…
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Resource | Online Teacher Professional Learning: An Approach to Foster Personalized Pathways
Teachers tend to be lifelong learners, motivated to pursue professional learning that is meaningful to their particular needs. In 2013, Marrongelle et. al., noted “it is incumbent on the field to capitalize on emerging technologies in the design and delivery of effective professional development.” (p. 208). While the past decade has seen an increase in development of opportunities for…
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Resource | Engagement in the InSTEP Professional Learning Platform: Developing Expertise to Teach Data and Statistics
In this study, 82 middle and high school teachers engaged with the InSTEP online professional learning platform to develop their expertise in teaching data science and statistics. We investigated teachers’ engagement within the platform, aspects of the platform that were most and least effective in building teachers’ expertise, and the extent to which teachers’ self-efficacy changed. Using mixed…
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Resource | STEP UP: Supporting Teachers in Having Difficult Conversations
While the field of physics has become more diverse over the last few decades, it does not reflect the demographics of the population of the United States by any metric. Founded in 2017, the STEP UP program began as a partnership between the American Physical Society (APS), the American Association of Physics Teachers, Florida International University, and Texas A&M University-Commerce. The…
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Resource | STEP UP: Supporting Teachers in Having Difficult Conversations
While the field of physics has become more diverse over the last few decades, it does not reflect the demographics of the population of the United States by any metric. Founded in 2017, the STEP UP program began as a partnership between the American Physical Society (APS), the American Association of Physics Teachers, Florida International University, and Texas A&M University-Commerce. The…
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Resource | STEP UP: Supporting Teachers in Having Difficult Conversations
While the field of physics has become more diverse over the last few decades, it does not reflect the demographics of the population of the United States by any metric. Founded in 2017, the STEP UP program began as a partnership between the American Physical Society (APS), the American Association of Physics Teachers, Florida International University, and Texas A&M University-Commerce. The…
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Resource | STEP UP: Supporting Teachers in Having Difficult Conversations
While the field of physics has become more diverse over the last few decades, it does not reflect the demographics of the population of the United States by any metric. Founded in 2017, the STEP UP program began as a partnership between the American Physical Society (APS), the American Association of Physics Teachers, Florida International University, and Texas A&M University-Commerce. The…
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Event | Uncovering the Hidden Curriculum of DRK-12 Awards: Tips and Tools for Writing Successful NSF Grant Proposals
This NARST preconference workshop will comprise relevant information for writing and refining an NSF DRK-12 grant proposal. The participants will the chance to engage various resources and materials created by the leaders of CADRE (Community for the Advancement of Discovery Research in Education). These resources include but are not limited to how to craft a strong project narrative, identify a…
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Resource | Examining the Effect of Counternarratives About Physics on Women’s Physics Career Intentions
Women and many people of color continue to be minoritized in STEM and notably in physics. We conducted two studies demonstrating that exposure to counternarratives about who does physics and why one does physics significantly increases high school students—especially women’s—physics-related career intentions. These counternarratives facilitate making connections with students’ career plans and…
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Resource | Examining the Effect of Counternarratives About Physics on Women’s Physics Career Intentions
Women and many people of color continue to be minoritized in STEM and notably in physics. We conducted two studies demonstrating that exposure to counternarratives about who does physics and why one does physics significantly increases high school students—especially women’s—physics-related career intentions. These counternarratives facilitate making connections with students’ career plans and…
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