In the current debate on pedagogical content knowledge (PCK), the term is used to refer to the context-specific knowledge that teachers activate when reflecting on practice. Against the background of this debate, we conducted an empirical study and sought to answer the question of which knowledge experts and novices activated in assessing a…

The shift in science education toward deeper, more integrated learning of domain content and scientific practices requires that teachers steer clear of strategies that promote the steady accumulation of more superficial knowledge and capabilities. Instead, teachers must invest in a continuous and gradual process of long-term growth in students'…

New reform documents underscore the importance of learning both the practices and content of science. This integration of practices and content requires sophisticated teaching that does not often happen in elementary classrooms. Educative curriculum materials--materials explicitly designed to support teacher and student learning--have been posited…

Research experience is increasingly considered an important component of science education at the secondary school and undergraduate levels. This paper presents a case study of students learning in a unique apprenticeship model in which students are engaged in long-term (18 month) open-ended research projects in physics that are done at the…

Few research studies in science education have looked at how stories, proverbs, and anecdotes can be used as scaffolds for learning. Stories, proverbs, and anecdotes are cultural tools used in indigenous communities to teach children about their environment. The study draws on Bruner's work and the theory of border crossing to argue that stories,…

Understanding the energy changes that occur as atoms and molecules interact forms the foundation for understanding the macroscopic energy changes that accompany chemical processes. In order to identify ways to scaffold students' understanding of the connections between atomic-molecular and macroscopic energy perspectives, we conducted a…

Many new science teachers are assigned to teach subjects in which they have not been prepared, a practice referred to as out-of-field (OOF) teaching. Teaching OOF has been shown to negatively influence instruction and constrain teachers' development. In this study, we explored the extent to which new secondary science teachers were assigned OOF…

Understanding how geologists conduct fieldwork through analysis of problem solving has significant potential impact on field instruction methods within geology and other science fields. Recent work has highlighted many aspects of fieldwork, but the problem solving behaviors displayed by geologists during fieldwork and the associated cognitive…

The fields of science education and science communication share the overarching goal of helping non-experts and non-members of the professional science community develop knowledge of the content and processes of scientific research. However, the specific audiences, methods, and aims employed in the two fields have evolved quite differently and as…

This study explores how science education could contribute to the amelioration of violent behaviors towards humans and non-human species, specifically in a Colombian school with a population of socio-economically disadvantaged students who demonstrate high levels of violence. Until now science education has not sought to change attitudes or to…

This article reports the results of an ethnographic research about the multimodal science discourse in a sixth-grade sheltered classroom involving English Language Learners (ELLs) only. Drawing from the perspective of multimodality, this study examines how science learning is constructed in science lectures through multiple semiotic resources,…

We used a "knowledge in pieces" perspective on teacher learning to document undergraduates' pedagogical resources in a model-based physics course for potential teachers. We defined pedagogical resources as small, discrete ideas about teaching science that are applied appropriately or inappropriately in specific contexts. Neither…

The connection between the molecular-level structure of a substance and its macroscopic properties is a fundamental concept in chemistry. Students in college-level general and organic chemistry courses were interviewed to investigate how they used structure-property relationships to predict properties such as melting and boiling points. Although…

Grounded in sociocultural theory, this study explores how the figured world of science is reworked through a series of multi-media activities that were introduced into a girls-only conversation club in an after school program for Teens. The study is part of a multi-sited ethnography in which we explored youths' engagement with science within…

In the process of reforming physics education over the last several decades, a tension has developed between engaging students with the content in more conceptually challenging ways and helping them identify with physics so they are personally motivated in their learning. Through comparative case studies of four high school physics teachers, we…