Preservice elementary teachers need to be able to engage young students in science practices but may not have extensive experiences with those practices. They also may have contrasting beliefs about them, which inform their teaching practice. To understand preservice teachers' beliefs related to science practices, we focus on the connections they…

New reforms in science education emphasize facilitating all students' sense making of the big ideas and crosscutting concepts in science along with engagement in science practices. Supporting this learning requires complex, ambitious teaching that is uncommon in U.S. classrooms. Thus, novice teachers will need considerable support in learning how…

The purpose of this study was to describe how teachers used and adapted a set of curriculum materials that included opportunities for students to engage in scientific practices. Two-fourth-grade teachers in the same school were observed and interviewed. Findings revealed that teachers enacted almost every type of scientific practice in the…