Part of the work of teaching elementary science involves evaluating elementary students' work. Depending on the nature of the student work, this task can be straightforward. However, evaluating elementary students' representations of their science learning in the form of scientific models can pose significant challenges for elementary teachers. To…

Curriculum materials are crucial tools with which teachers engage students in science as inquiry. In order to use curriculum materials effectively, however, teachers must develop a robust capacity for pedagogical design, or the ability to mobilize a variety of personal and curricular resources to promote student learning. The purpose of this study…

Preservice elementary teachers face challenges in learning to teach science. Educative curriculum materials, designed to promote teacher learning, can provide support for overcoming these challenges. The educative curriculum materials used in this study provide narrative vignettes describing a teacher's decision making with regard to lesson plans.…