Ambitious Teachers’ Design and Use of Classrooms as a Place of Science

Abstract

This multicase study examines how three teachers enacting ambitious instruction purposefully designed and used their classroom as a “place of science” in which students participated in disciplinary practices. A place of science is a location that shapes the norms, values, and history of disciplinary practices. Each participant's classroom promoted unique forms of science, yet the participants’ enactment of ambitious instruction produced a common use of classrooms—science became a public practice in which an anchoring phenomenon was puzzled over, modeled, and explained over time. The results of this study have two implications for science educators. First, a teacher's pedagogical preparation and science background shape how they design classrooms as a place of science. Second, though each teacher enacted ambitious instruction, they used classrooms to promote different forms of science.

Characterizing pedagogical decision points in sense‐making conversations motivated by scientific uncertainty

“…To orchestrate students' scientific engagement, teachers often draw on established pedagogical practices or moves to launch tasks, clarify and deepen students' reasoning, highlight important ideas, and introduce new concepts or challenges (Kang et al, 2016; Stein et al, 2008). This work helps shape the trajectories of classroom activity, scaffolding students' meaningful scientific work (Michaels & O'Connor, 2015; Stroupe, 2017). At the same time, teaching, like any social interaction, is dependent on the ideas and actions of others (Lefstein & Snell, 2014; Robertson et al, 2015; Sawyer, 2004).…”

Applying the ambitious science teaching framework in undergraduate biology: Responsive talk moves that support explanatory rigor

“…In accordance with the features of ambitious instruction, Windschitl and his colleagues (Braaten & Sheth, 2017;Stroupe, 2016Stroupe, , 2017Thompson et al, 2013;Windschitl et al, 2012) described a "beginner's repertoire" of four essential teaching practices that include:…”

“…Many teacher preparation programs and professional development opportunities for elementary and secondary teachers have incorporated ideas of ambitious instruction and some research examines how novice middle and high school teachers appropriate and implement moves associated with ambitious instruction (Stroupe, 2016(Stroupe, , 2017Thompson et al, 2013). However, to achieve a vision of undergraduate biology education where robust learning occurs through scientific activity (American Association for the Advancement of Science, 2011), there is a need for research describing how novice instructors orchestrate opportunities for sense-making in undergraduate biology spaces.…”

Core Practices in Teacher Education: A Friendly Critique

“…Created by some of the field's most senior and well-respected scholars -Deborah Ball, Magdalene Lampert, Pamela Grossman, and others -this field sought to connect the growing interest in "ambitious teaching" with a more practice-based approach to teacher education (Ball & Forzani, 2011;Grossman, Hammerness, & Mcdonald, 2010;Lampert et al, 2014). Over the past decade, this work has grown from an initial interest in math and ELA to encompass science, history, and social studies (Grossman, 2018;Stroupe, 2017); it has become central to both practice and scholarship at such leading universities such as Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Washington, it has created a consortium to advance this work, and Deborah Ball's nonprofit, Teaching Works, received a nearly $7 million grant from the Gates foundation to spread this approach to teacher education. This is an active field of research and scholarship and thus there is variation across scholars and institutions.…”