Learning to teach is a culturally situated activity. As teachers learn, it is important to understand not only what teachers learn, but how they learn. This article describes a qualitative case study of a subset of four teachers' learning during a professional development surrounding a plate tectonics curriculum. Using qualitative methods, this…

In this study, we present a conceptual tool for guiding teachers' principled pedagogical actions toward equitable instruction, referred to as the "Transforming Science Learning" (TSL) framework. The TSL framework was developed to address the challenges of enacting an ideological commitment in local contexts--promoting equity and justice…

Evolution is a difficult topic to teach; teachers admit not having enough knowledge of evolution and they face student opposition to learning evolution, especially based on religious grounds. Teachers are therefore motivated to gain knowledge in the field of evolution. We conducted a 30-hour evolution teacher training course, which included…

Elementary students' interest in science and careers in STEM are typically associated with their curiosity along with engagement in science activities and whether they find these activities to be fun, exciting, and enjoyable. Thus, early exposure of elementary students to STEM lessons must be engaging and enjoyable, which in turn increases the…

The issue of science teacher turnover has been examined in many national studies, yet most educational policies related to teacher preparation and student performance are determined at the state level. There has been a lack of research that explores this issue in specific science domains. The present nonexperimental longitudinal study examined…

To meet the demands of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), teachers need to reconsider their current instructional practices, shifting from learning about scientific ideas to making sense of phenomena and solving problems using three-dimensional learning components. Project-Based Learning (PBL) provides a framework for creating…

The study investigated how explicit instruction of argumentation-in the context of socioscientific issues (SSI)- and explicit instruction of NOS, compared with explicit instruction of argumentation only, can develop grade 10 students' argumentation skills and NOS conceptions. Participants were 36 grade 10 students enrolled in two sections that…

The vision of the Framework and NGSS requires important shifts in teaching approaches and instructional materials. We argue that this commitment to engaging learners in meaningful practice and supporting students' epistemic agency entails that we support "coherence from the students' perspective." This coherence arises when students see…

This is a case study of a high school science teacher in an Indigenous public school in Nepal. In this paper, we share the success of the science teacher in antiracist and critical pedagogy in his science class. We focus specifically on how the science teacher was successful in drawing students to interact with historical and cultural…

How science teachers attend to key features of teaching scientific phenomena and the overlap with students' lives is the focus of this study. Our conceptual framework is informed by work on resource pedagogies, which examines how teachers build on students' language and stories of their lived experiences as a meaningful way to build content…

This empirical census study was a quasi-experimental analysis of certification level (primary vs. secondary) and in-field vs. out-of-field certification. The sample included chemistry teachers (n = 2312) and physics teachers (n = 1387) in New York State in 2011-12. Findings indicated that the number of out-of-field teachers was relatively low, but…

From 2012-2015, Advanced Placement (AP) science courses underwent a large-scale curricular reform to include more scientific inquiry and reasoning, reduce emphasis on broad content coverage, and focus on depth of understanding, with corresponding changes in high-stakes AP examinations. In this study, we explored how teachers prepared for and…

Secondary students with learning disabilities are likely to learn science in an inclusive classroom. Their success often depends on teachers' ability to support their literacy needs. In this quasi-experimental study, we examine the effect of teacher' involvement in intensive professional development designed to deepen secondary science teachers'…

This study addressed the pressing need to help adolescent English learning and economically disadvantaged student populations succeed in science and close achievement gaps. It reports the results of a two-year professional development initiative implemented at a high-poverty suburban high school in South Texas. We examined how the combination of…

This study investigated the impact of a summer institute with follow-up coaching (treatment) versus no professional development (control) on middle and high school teacher and student science practice outcomes. Treatment teachers participated in a 2-week summer institute that used evidence-based professional development practices followed by…