The purpose of this paper is to describe how the environment and environmental issues are conceptualized and positioned in the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) to examine underlying assumptions about the environment. The NGSS are a recent set of science standards in the USA, organized and led by Achieve Inc., that propose science education…

This review presents theoretical underpinnings supporting microethnographic-discourse analytic (ME/DA) approaches to studying educational phenomena. The review is presented in two parts. Part 1 provides an analytic review of two seminal reviews of literature that frame theoretical and methodological developments of microethnography and functions…

This methodological paper presents an approach for examining emotional expressions through discourse analysis and ethnographic methods. Drawing on trends in the current literature in science education, we briefly explain the importance of emotions in science education and examine the current research methodologies used in interactional emotion…

Engineering design challenges offer important opportunities for students to learn science and engineering knowledge and practices. This study examines how students' engineering notebooks across four units of the curriculum "Engineering is Elementary" (EiE) support student work during design challenges. Through educational ethnography and…

In this paper, we present and apply a multi-level method for discourse analysis in science classrooms. This method is based on the structure of human activity (activity, actions, and operations) and it was applied to study a pre-service physics teacher methods course. We argue that such an approach, based on a cultural psychological perspective,…

In "Hybrid discourse practice and science learning" Kamberelis and Wehunt present a theoretically rich argument about the potential of hybrid discourses for science learning. These discourses draw from different forms of "talk, social practice, and material practices" to create interactions that are "intertextually complex" and "interactionally…

The conception of Global Learning Communities (GLCs) was researched to discover potential benefits of the use of online technologies that facilitated communication and scientific data sharing outside of the normal classroom setting. 1,419 students in 635 student groups began the instructional unit. Students represented the classrooms of 33…

This article reports on the construction process of inclusion/exclusion for high school chemistry students in two schools in Belo Horizonte, the capital of Minas Gerais State, Brazil. We examined the interactional accomplishment of inclusion/exclusion of four students, two from a private school and two from a public school. The aim of this article…

Draws from studies in the sociology of scientific knowledge to create a new perspective for understanding school science. Merges ethnography and discourse analysis to study science-in-the-making in a physics classroom. Investigates local conceptual ecologies. Contains 55 references. (DDR)

Analyzes student discourse in 4 grade-12 lab groups working on microcomputer-based laboratories. Analysis reveals the role the computer plays in the group context and the ways that this context is shaped by the computer. Contains 22 references. (Author/JRH)

In this paper we propose the construct of discursive identity as a way to examine student discourse. We drew from the work of Gee (2001, Review of Research in Education, 25, 99-125) and Nasir and Saxe (2003, Educational Researcher, 32(5), 14-18) to consider the multiple contexts and developmental timescales of student discursive identity…

Describes how oral and written-discourse processes in a high school physics class are related to sociocultural practices in scientific communities. Finds that students' appropriation of scientific discourse was related to the framing activities of the teachers and the social practices established over time in the classroom. Contains 74 references.…

Presents a set of methodological procedures to analyze student arguments. Uses discourse analysis based on perspectives from the philosophy of science and sociolinguistics. Explores conditions leading to warranted arguments. Contains 60 references. (DDR)

The purpose of this article is to report findings from an ethnographic study that focused on the co-development of science literacy and academic identity formulation within a third-grade classroom. Our theoretical framework draws from sociocultural theory and studies of scientific literacy. Through analysis of classroom discourse, we identified…

The purpose of this paper is to examine how the epistemology of a discipline is interactionally accomplished, acknowledged, and appropriated in a university oceanography course. Drawing from sociological and anthropological studies of scientific communities, this study uses an ethnographic perspective to explore how teachers and students came to…