Teacher Candidates’ Epistemic Reflexivity about Elementary Science Instruction

Abstract

Knowledge of science and engineering practices remain a priority in the U.S. (NASEM, 2021) and internationally (Allen et al., 2021). Moreover, scientific thinking is recognized as necessary for a healthy and equitable society (NASEM, 2021). This positions educators to prepare students with a scientific skill set via complex methods (NSTA, 2020), yet research documents elementary teachers lack confidence in their training and knowledge necessary to teach science (Nowikowski, 2017). Therefore, pre-service training is an ideal context to introduce a practical heuristic for thinking critically about science instruction. Epistemic education recently established new directions to support teachers to engage in critical evaluation of knowledge that results in action. The construct of epistemic reflexivity offers a pathway to improving views of knowledge and interactions with knowing (Lunn Brownlee, Feucht, & Schraw, 2017). The extant record has not yet explored preservice teachers use of this conceptual frame for critical thinking. This paper reports the results of a pilot study where teacher candidates in a baccalaureate level teacher induction program engaged in epistemic reflexivity to consider the relationship between how knowledge is developed in science by experts and how these ideas may influence how children are taught. This was done through written prompts based on constructs from the (3R-EC) framework for epistemic reflexivity developed by Lunn Brownlee et al. (2019).