Full Description
Responding to recent reform efforts, such as the Next Generation Science Standards, which call for students to learn science practices, this book proposes a conceptual reframing of the roles of teachers and students in formal and informal science learning settings. Inviting the field to examine the state of "science practice," it provides concrete examples of how students, supported by the actions of educators, take on new roles, shifting from passive recipients of information to active participants in conceptual, social, epistemic, and material features of science work.
Each chapter provides an examination of how and why science practice evolves in learning communities in which students and teachers negotiate disciplinary work; an analysis of how specific pedagogical and social actions taken by someone with authority (a teacher or other educator) provides opportunities for students to shape science practices; a set of concrete recommendations for working with young students in formal and informal learning settings; and a set of suggestions and questions to catalyze future research about and the evolving relationships between educators, students, and science practices in the field of science education. Showing how and why the conceptual ideas presented are important, and providing specific, actionable suggestions for teachers and other educators for their daily work, this book includes both elementary and secondary learning sites.
Contents
Introduction
Thematic Strand I: Formal Secondary Settings
1 Blurring the Boundaries of Science: A Beginning Teacher and her Students Examine an Ignored Phenomenon David Stroupe
2 Extending and Enriching Science Practices: Shared Engagement in Field-Based Environmental Sciences Heather Toomey Zimmerman and Jennifer L. Weible
Thematic Strand II: Formal Elementary Settings
3 Kindergarten Girls as Epistemic Agents During Science Time Alicia M. McDyre
4 How Teachers Mediate Elementary Students' Participation in Productive Science Discussions Carolyn Colley
5 Supporting Evidence Construction Practices in Elementary Classrooms Eve Manz and Carrie Allen
Thematic Strand III: Informal Settings
6 Faith's FANcy Hat: Engineering WITH Community Christina Restrepo Nazar, Angela Calabrese Barton, and Annescia Rollins
7 "Scientists Do What We Do": Empowering Youth of Color as Learners and Doers of Community-Based Scientific Research Tammie Visintainer
8 Stakeholder Roles in an Action-Oriented Science Space Sara Hagenah
9 Designing for Families' Social and Epistemic Practices Across Settings Suzanne Perin
10 Conclusion: Themes Across Chapters and Lingering Questions
