This study explores science teachers' questions encouraging students to see and speak about natural phenomena in novel ways. In particular, the teachers' challenging questions that may be instrumental in persuading students to see and talk about everyday events differently were qualitatively examined. The participants were 22 science teachers.…

Since the "Next Generation Science Standards" (NGSS) were released, K-12 science teachers have been figuring out how to extend related learning opportunities to all students, including multilingual learners (MLLs) who are new to speaking English. Elementary schools often prioritize math and English language arts, the subjects that are…

A number of scholars have shown the prevalence of multiple metaphors in biological conceptions of the living cell. However, there is little research into unpacking these metaphors to understand their ideological implications for scientific knowledge and science education. In this paper, I perform a critical discourse analysis of the representation…

In education, space exists for a tool that valorizes generic student course evaluation formats by organizing and recapitulating students' views on the pedagogical practices to which they are exposed. Often, student opinions about a course are gathered using a general comment section that does not solicit feedback concerning specific course…

The increasing attention in science education reform documents to language and literacy, coupled with the growing linguistic diversity of United States classrooms, means that science teacher educators and researchers are facing an important task of preparing secondary science preservice teachers (PSTs) to teach a language- and literacy-integrated…

As a science teacher and youth minister from a predominantly white evangelical community in rural Appalachia, I have had many opportunities to teach the science of global warming to climate change deniers. In this manuscript, I share some of the lessons I have learned to make my presentations less contentious and help those I teach be more…

This article draws greater attention to the use of language as a pedagogical tool in science teaching and learning. Evidence shows that Alexander's (2020) 'dialogic teaching' approach is significant in promoting learning in science when used interchangeably with authoritative patterns of talk. This article explores dialogic teaching, drawing on…

Language, and thus scientific language, is essential for chemistry teaching and learning. To be able to successfully teach the scientific language of chemistry, the Chemish, (prospective) chemistry teachers need to possess pedagogical scientific language knowledge (PSLK).Thus, teacher preparation needs to focus explicitly on Chemish and its…

Multilingual youth, from nondominant communities, are often denied critical opportunities for engagement in robust sensemaking due to deficit-based perspectives and linguistic hierarchies. To advance equity, it is important to recognize all youth as epistemic agents and facilitate opportunities to take on intellectual positions. Drawing on…

National standards that centre on the underpinning epistemic practices of the discipline has emphasised the need for teachers to focus much more on knowledge generation approaches to learning. Adopting a complexity perspective, we attempt to understand how teachers shift over time by examining their epistemic orientation to knowledge generation…

Background: Seminal reports, based on recommendations by educators, scientists, and in collaboration with students, have called for undergraduate curricula to engage students in some of the same practices as scientists--one of which is communicating science with a general, non-scientific audience (SciComm). Unfortunately, very little research has…

Humans are continuously making sense of the world. One way we do this is with intuitive frameworks, which are ad-hoc, informal patterns of thinking about natural and social phenomena. However, there is mixed evidence about the utility of intuitive frameworks in formal learning settings, especially in science education. Some research has shown that…

Comics, which attract attention with their adaptation to changing conditions in the historical process, are increasing their popularity both in current life and in the field of education. They can be used as a powerful supplementary teaching tool concretizing abstract concepts, especially in lessons such as Science. They can also be used to convey…

Although visual aids are widely considered a valuable source of scaffolding, the nature and active utilization of these aids in current science classrooms are not well understood. This qualitative study explores interaction in the teaching of concepts related to evolution, with a specific focus on a teacher's use of different visual support…

This paper illustrates the role of metalanguage in an explicit literacy instruction to talk about the forms and functions of scientific genres, particularly the genre of explanation. In the context of science, metalanguage refers to the technical terms for talking "about" scientific language using words like law, hypothesis, and…