Opening up curricula to redistribute epistemic agency: A framework for supporting science teaching

Abstract

This study proposes a strategic framework to guide teachers' curriculum adaptation, planning, and enactment as a lever for redistributing epistemic agency. This framework intends to position teachers as strategic decision-makers around when and how to open up aspects of their curriculum. We argue that seeing the aspects of Next Generation Science Standardsaligned curricula-the methods of investigation, the anchoring phenomena, and the explanatory models students construct-as entry points for redistributing epistemic agency may help teachers make inroads to shifting their classroom practice towards more responsive instruction. Importantly, our tool acknowledges that there are different "levels" at which teachers might strategically decide to open up space for student decisionmaking. These decisions may have a differential impact on students' subsequent participation in science practices. In this paper, we will use three cases to highlight the specific and incremental ways that teachers can open up aspects of the curriculum and how those openings redistributed epistemic agency in their classroom. We argue that this framework may be used as a tool for engaging teachers in conversation about how they can begin to position students as partners in the epistemic decisions that drive classroom activity.

Truth, success, and faith: Novice teachers’ perceptions of what's at risk in responsive teaching in science

“…Classrooms that center on the pursuit of students’ own ideas also provide opportunities for authentic engagement in disciplinary practices and sense‐making (Ball, 1993; Colley & Windschitl, 2016; Engle & Conant, 2002; Hammer, 1997; Schwarz, Passmore, & Reiser, 2017). Some authors highlight that this kind of pursuit recognizes students’ agency in the construction of ideas (Duckworth, 2001; Ko & Krist, 2019; Sikorski, 2016). Finally, responsive instruction—and particularly its framing of students’ ideas as generative beginnings for their learning—shifts away from a “dichotomous view” (Warren, Ballenger, Ogonowski, Rosebery, & Hudicourt‐Barnes, 2001, p. 531) of student thinking, which focuses on the compatibility (or incompatibility) of students’ everyday ways of knowing and those of scientists.…”

O Ensino de Ciências por Investigação em Construção: Possibilidades de Articulações entre os Domínios Conceitual, Epistêmico e Social do Conhecimento Científico em Sala de Aula

“…Sendo mobilizados para o Levou à construção de et al, 2019). Concordamos com autores que têm indicado a necessidade de posicionar os estudantes como agentes epistêmicos, ao invés de simplesmente demonstrarem uma aprendizagem declarativa de processos científicos ou a reprodução de habilidades relacionadas ao chamado "método científico" (Kelly & Licona, 2018, Ko & Krist, 2019, Stroupe et al, 2019.…”

“…Por um lado, pesquisadores têm indicado que explicar como funcionam os processos da ciência, ensinando cada passo da metodologia científica ou desenvolvendo atividades experimentais para que os alunos confirmem o conhecimento conceitual não significa, necessariamente, introduzi-los no legado epistêmico da ciência (Stroupe, 2015;Manz, Lehrer & Schauble, 2020;Ko & Krist, 2019). Seria necessário gerar oportunidades para que estudantes vivenciassem a construção do conhecimento, se apropriando daquilo que estão fazendo a partir de critérios utilizados pela ciência e tomando decisões coletivamente (Carvalho, 2018;Ko & Krist, 2019).…”

Inquiry-Based Science Teaching under Construction: Possibilities of Articulations Between Conceptual, Epistemic and Social Domains Within Scientific Knowledge in the Classroom

“…On the one hand, researchers have shown that explanation of how scientific processes work, teaching each step of scientific methodology or developing experimental activities so that the students may confirm conceptual knowledge, does not necessarily mean their introduction into the epistemic legacy of science (Stroupe, 2015;Manz et al, 2020;Ko & Krist, 2019). It would be necessary to create new opportunities so that the students could experience the construction of knowledge, appropriating whatever they are doing based on criteria used by science and collectively taking decisions (Carvalho, 2018;Ko & Krist, 2019).…”

“…In spite of these recommendations, as Ko and Krist (2019) emphasize, Science curricula are still largely based on a central axis of well-defined conceptual goals. With the teacher's work carried out around this axis, there is still a lingering tension with regard to how the concepts are taught.…”