Research and national surveys show that deficiencies in elementary science teaching preparation are frustratingly persistent. Understanding positive and negative emotions as they relate to planning and teaching science is relevant for both the well-being of teachers and the quality of their teaching. There needs to be more empirical evidence on…

This study aimed to examine the integration of four elementary science teachers' technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK) components during emergency remote teaching. Data sources included teaching video recordings and stimulated interviews conducted after analyzing the teachers' teaching videos. The data were analyzed by identifying…

The Next Generation Science Standards lay out a model of energy that locates energy within objects and fields, and tracks energy as it transfers between these objects and transforms between forms of energy while always being conserved. This model of energy pervades much of modern science and represents a foundational, cross-cutting concept for…

This dissertation examines students' social-emotional experience with knowledge building pedagogy from the lenses of grit and growth mindset. The goal of this dissertation is to understand how interest, perseverance of effort and growth mindset oriented feedback engage students social emotionally in knowledge building to sustain and deepen their…

This research investigated the impact of a professional development program on enhancing fifth-grade environmental science teacher efficacy through place-based education (PBE) practices--the Meaningful Watershed Educational Experiences (MWEE) Professional Development Training aimed to promote teacher engagement and increase pedagogical content…

There is a considerable amount of research on the nature and effectiveness of modeling as applied to student learning in science. However, few studies have examined the role of students' epistemic uncertainty in modeling and how teachers collaborate with students to recognize and utilize it as a pedagogical resource to support productive struggle…

The latest content standards in U.S. K-12 education are academically rigorous for all students, including a fast-growing population of English learners (ELs). Because these standards are different from previous standards in terms of not only their rigor but also their theoretical underpinnings, enacting instruction aligned to the standards will…

Using the practices in three-dimensional learning means that a classroom community of students working alongside the teacher identifies questions and debates how to make progress. Students should see each step of their work as addressing goals they have set. This article explores a strategy developed by researchers and teachers for supporting…

"Science Education Through Multiple Literacies" explores how the use of project-based learning in elementary science education fosters a lifelong scientific mindset in students. The book provides educators with the teaching practices to help students develop an overall science literacy that aligns with Next Generation Science Standards.…

The work of teaching includes many in-the-moment decisions for teachers to make. In this study, we focused on the decisions prospective teachers made within the elementary context specific to shared teaching practice in mathematics and science instruction -- elicit and use evidence of student thinking. Within a qualitative multisite case study, we…

Traditional science instruction typically follows an initiation- response-evaluation format and privileges curriculum reflective of Western, male, white, middle-class values, and knowledge which sometimes tends to exclude Black and Latinx students. This qualitative instrumental case study explored how a White male seventh-grade science teacher in…

Background: This study explored science teachers' participation in a professional development partnership with informal science institutions (ISIs) designed for urban middle school science teachers, known as the "Urban Advantage Science Initiative." The teacher training involved a whole school focused approach, providing teaching…

We investigated pre-service elementary teachers' engagement in science and English language arts (ELA) instruction integrated in the context of a children's book. Teachers developed models and conducted a compare-and-contrast analysis after exposure to different accounts of the butterfly life cycle: a popular children's book, "The Very Hungry…

Philosophy is concerned with fundamental questions about knowledge, truth, reality, experience, justice and what is right and wrong. In this article, the authors discuss how philosophy and science can be taught together in the primary classroom.

Are you interested in helping your elementary students learn the practices of science, including constructing explanations and engaging in argument from evidence? "Argument-Driven Inquiry in Fifth-Grade Science" will provide you with both the information and instructional materials you need to get started right away. The book is a…