To provide insight into the strengths and limitations of using groupwork to promote excellence and equity in science education, the researcher investigated how students using the Complex Instruction model of groupwork constructed scientific knowledge. Eighty sixth-grade students and one life science teacher at an urban middle school participated in this study. Qualitative analysis of videotapes and interviews makes clear that group discussions rarely moved beyond observational or procedural matters, that students of high status (perceived academic ability and popularity) had greater access to their groups' materials and discourse, and that students made few connections among the contexts of school, science, and everyday life. Quantitative analyses of participation during groupwork and performance on unit tests show that high-status students had significantly higher rates of on-task talk than their middle-or low-status counterparts, and that those students who talked more learned more as well. Thus, although groupwork should not be summarily dismissed as an instructional strategy, group tasks and implementation must be further refined to adequately address the dual goals of excellence and equity: Students need greater guidance in how to talk and do science, and teachers, greater assistance in eliminating differences in student participation and achievement.

In this research project, we investigated two beginning secondary science teachers' efforts to learn to teach science in ways that build from and celebrate the ethnic, gender, linguistic, and academic diversity of their students. To do so, we followed Troy and Brian from their preservice teacher education experiences through their first year of teaching 8th grade physical science at local junior high schools. We also conducted a follow‐up observation and interview with each participant after he had moved past the beginning stage of survival in the teaching profession—once in his fourth year of public school science teaching. Through qualitative analysis of interviews, classroom observations, and teachers' written work, we identified patterns and explored commonalities and differences in Troy and Brian's views and practices tied to equity over time. In particular, we examined successes and challenges they encountered in learning to teach science for all (a) from their students, (b) from inquiry into practice, and (c) from participation in professional communities. In our implications, we suggest ways teacher educators and induction professionals can better support beginning teachers in learning to teach science to all students. In particular, we highlight the central roles both individual colleagues and collective school cultures play in aiding or impeding beginning teachers' efforts to learn from students, from practice, and from professional communities. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 44: 586–612, 2007.

The teacher as researcher, Colburn, and the researcher, Bianchini, investigated Colburn's use of inquiry to teach the nature of science to prospective elementary teachers; we attempted to identify those aspects of the nature of science addressed through inquiry instruction and the varied contexts in which such insights arose. We began by videotaping small group inquiries and whole class deliberations during three units of Colburn's inquiry-oriented general science course. We then conducted separate qualitative analyses of the resulting 20 h of videotaped data. Colburn, the teacher and informant, adopted an emic perspective and employed examples of explicit and implicit deliberations and demonstrations of the nature of science to construct his case. Bianchini also used an emic perspective, but examined only what teacher and students explicitly identified as examples of and insights into the nature of science. Taken together, our analyses highlight the difficulties in presenting a cogent and comprehensive picture of the nature of science to students, the teacher's pivotal role in initiating discussions of what science is and how scientists work, and the strengths and limitations of using classroom-based research to investigate nature of science instruction.

ABSTRACT:We investigated how an induction program supported and constrained beginning teachers' efforts to teach science or mathematics in equitable and effective ways. We focused our investigation on the teaching and learning of equitable instructional practices; we conceived of such practices as attention to students' experiences, instruction for English learners, differentiation, and reform-minded science or mathematics strategies. During the

This study examined the perceptions and self-reported practices of 18 scientists participating in a yearlong seminar series designed to explore issues of gender and ethnicity in science. Scientists and seminar were part of the Promoting Women and Scientific Literacy project, a curriculum transformation and professional development initiative undertaken by science, science education, and women's studies faculty at their university. Researchers treated participating scientists as critical friends able to bring clarity to and raise questions about conceptions of inclusion in science education. Through questionnaires and semistructured interviews, we explored their (a) rationales for differential student success in undergraduate science education; (b) self-reports of ways they structure, teach, and assess courses to promote inclusion; and (c) views of androcentric and ethnocentric bias in science. Statistical analysis of questionnaires yielded few differences in scientists' views and reported practices by sex or across time. Qualitative analysis of interviews offered insight into how scientists can help address the problem of women and ethnic minorities in science education; constraints encountered in attempts to implement pedagogical and curricular innovations; and areas of consensus and debate across scientists and science studies scholars' descriptions of science. From our findings, we provided recommendations for other professional developers working with scientists to promote excellence and equity in undergraduate science education.