Socioscientific issues (SSI) have been found to improve scientific literacy skills among K-12 students. Existing literature shows, however, that elementary preservice teachers are reluctant to implement SSI due to a lack of confidence with subject matter knowledge and knowledge of instruction concerning SSI. Previous research has focused on…

Research indicates many professional development (PD) programs fail to promote a significant change in science teaching, despite the resources invested in them. While previous research addresses this problem through aspects of policy making, design, and teachers' identity, we suggest a focus on teachers' engagement in learning during PD sessions.…

Knowledge of science content and the ability to translate knowledge into effective teaching is known as teachers' "content knowledge for teaching" (CKT). Teachers with developed CKT are able to more effectively determine instructional and assessment activities that will deepen K-12 students' scientific literacy. However, preservice…

National science reform documents recommend several nature of science (NOS) elements to introduce to children early in the science curriculum. A researcher developed questionnaire was used to gather information from a random, national sample about early elementary teachers' perceptions of the developmental appropriateness of 12 NOS aspects for the…

As professional science becomes increasingly computational, researchers and educators are advocating for the integration of computational thinking (CT) into science education. Researchers and policymakers have argued that CT learning opportunities should begin in elementary school and span across the K-12 grades. While researchers and policymakers…

Research in science education has emphasized the importance of knowledge generation approaches to learning. Creating generative learning environments requires teachers to address the epistemic underpinning of science practices and shift their orientations toward knowledge generation approaches. This study aimed to propose epistemic orientation as…

This study uses portraiture methodology to co-construct and share the story of a nationally recognized rural K-8 science teacher with more than 30 years of teaching experience. Our analysis and synthesis revealed one central theme "Step Outside" and three subthemes: (1) Step Outside of the rural classroom, (2) Step Outside of the K-8…

Children draw on diverse sensemaking repertoires that are inclusive of their cultural and community knowledge to make sense of science in the world around them. However, preservice teachers often do not notice the science embedded in children's explanations of phenomena. Discourses that frame children, particularly those from minoritized…

This study sought to better understand how past science learning experiences affected preservice elementary teachers, both in terms of their own self-efficacy and their perceptions of science teaching and learning at the beginning of their science methods course. Following an explanatory sequential mixed methods design, this study first involved…

Understanding how racially and linguistically just teacher education programs (TEPs) support the identity(ies) and translanguaging stances taken up by bilingual Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) teacher candidates (TCs) in their professional lives is important both for their development as teachers and for teacher preparation more…

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…

Elementary engineering, as an emergent or "contentious" practice, is fertile ground for cultural analysis. Contentious practice (Holland, D., & Lave, J. (2001). "History in person: Enduring struggles, contentious practice, intimate identities." School of American Research Press) highlights how historically enduring…

Phenomena-based approaches have become popular for elementary school teachers to engage children's innate curiosity in the natural world. However, integrating such phenomena-based approaches in existing science courses within teacher education programs present potential challenges for both preservice elementary teachers (PSETs) and for laboratory…

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…

Teachers' instructional practices are critical for guiding students' engagement in scientific practices within the classroom knowledge building community. In this study, we seek to understand how teachers' instructional supports of epistemic aspects involved in scientific modeling may influence students' meaningful engagement in the practice. In…