In this paper, I offer a critique of "A Framework for K-12 Science Education: Practices, Crosscutting Concepts, and Core Ideas" (NRC, 2012) and of the "Next Generation Science Standards" (Achieve, 2013). While the new version of the science education standards and the arguments put forward to support them are an improvement…

Reform-based science instruction is guided by teachers' normative beliefs. Discursive claims are how teachers say they teach science. Previous research has studied the change in teachers' beliefs and how beliefs influence intended practice and action in the classroom. Few studies have connected what teachers believe, how they say they teach, and…

Argues that the National Science Education Standards uses a discourse of invisibility to lay out its reform for science education and does not directly address ethnic, socioeconomic, gender, and theoretical issues. Proposes that the standards ought to provide arguments and evidence in support of the reasons why equity should be a guiding principle…

In this study, we seek a better understanding of how individuals and their daily interactions shape and reshape social structures that constitute a classroom community. Moreover, we provide insight into how discourse and classroom interactions shape the nature of a learning community, as well as which aspects of the classroom culture may be…