I begin with a review of our research on meditation, mindfulness, expressed emotions, and physiological variability while teaching. Then, through the theoretical lenses of polyvagal theory, I examine an event from our ongoing research in which a teacher had very low levels of blood oxygenation. Apparently, her body switched from parasympathetic to…

Building on the key ideas from Dana Zeidler's paper I expand the conversation from the standpoint that the challenges facing humanity and the capacity of Earth to support life suggest that changes in human lifestyles are a priority. Accordingly, there is an urgent need to educate all humans about some of the science-related grand challenges, such…

This study examined emotional climate in relation to the teaching and learning of grade 7 science. A multi-method and multi-theoretic approach used sociocultural frameworks as a foundation for interpretive research, conversation analysis, prosody analysis, and studies of nonverbal conduct. Emotional climate varied continuously throughout a lesson.…

Teachers often have difficulty implementing inquiry-based activities, leading to the arousal of negative emotions. In this multicase study of beginning physics teachers in Australia, we were interested in the extent to which their expectations were realized and how their classroom experiences while implementing extended experimental investigations…

Reviews research on the relationships between teacher metaphors and the teaching and learning of science. Portrays metaphors as a way in which knowledge about science teaching can be represented and as potential foci for discussions about enacted science curricula and powerful tools for generating new ways of thinking about the teaching and…

Presents a model of collective teaching and learning as a way to build deep learning of science concepts while learning about alternative ways to teach the same subject matter. Articulates coteaching/cogenerative dialoguing in terms of activity theory and the associated first-person research methodology that has been developed as a method for…

A teacher describes his first year teaching science in an urban school and the process of co-teaching with other teachers and student "consultants" that helped him relearn to teach and deal with the subculture he encountered. (SK)

Teachers rarely get to see good teaching in the classes of others, usually because they are too busy in their own classrooms. The teaching practices of mathematics and science teachers recognized as good teachers in Western Australia were studied in the hope that other teachers might learn from these findings. Exemplary teachers (n=22) and a…

This book seeks to improve the way science is taught in the elementary school. It suggests that there are three main contradictions that make it difficult for teachers and students to engage in meaningful activities from which understandings result. The central issues in this book are framed in terms of three dichotomies that lead to tensions…

Used the experiences of three preservice teachers and the experiences of the researchers to characterize the gap between theory and prescriptions for teaching and every day practice. Illustrates how P. Bourdieu's notion of "habitus," a set of dispositions, accounts for appropriate actions in situations where there is no time for…

Observes an eighth grade science class in two overlapping perspectives: an action orientation and a discourse orientation. Reports that the teacher's actions encouraged univocal discourse between students and their reproductive understanding of scientific concepts. Concludes that before a class can become more like a scientific discourse…

In coteaching, two or more teachers take collective responsibility for enacting a curriculum together with their students. Past research provided some indication that in the course of coteaching, not only the teaching practices of the partners become increasingly alike but also do unconsciously produced ways of moving about the classroom, hand…

Explanations are provided for the use of metaphor to make sense of teachers' roles, how belief sets are associated with specific roles and metaphors, and how new metaphors can be constructed to help teachers reconceptualize teaching roles and change instructional practices. (JD)

Describes a middle school teacher's efforts to alter his teaching style from that of an objectivist to a constructivist approach. (ZWH)

Investigates factors associated with endeavors to improve science teaching. Two coaching models used by science educators and by peer teachers were used over a period of six months. Neither program was successful. Five assertions emerged from interviews and observation data. Major impediments were beliefs about teaching and poor science knowledge.…