Preservice teachers' framing and noticing of elementary students' ways of communicating scientific ideas

Abstract

Children draw on diverse sensemaking repertoires that are inclusive of their cultural and community knowledge to make sense of science in the world around them. However, preservice teachers often do not notice the science embedded in children's explanations of phenomena. Discourses that frame children, particularly those from minoritized communities, through deficit-based lenses contribute to this deficit-based noticing, perpetuating inequitable science teaching practices. This exploratory case study draws on a noticing framework that uses framing, attending, interpreting, and responding to examine how preservice teachers' anti-deficit noticing can be supported. Specifically, the study focuses on what 44 preservice teachers, enrolled in teacher preparation classes taught by the authors, notice in children's scientific explanations and how they interpret that noticing in relation to their own framing. Noticing profiles were constructed for preservice teachers using (a) data collected from written explanations of what constitutes a “good” scientific explanation and (b) written reflections of five noticing sessions during which preservice teachers viewed videos featuring elementary students providing explanations of a scientific phenomenon. Findings discuss three key patterns reflected across preservice teacher's noticing profiles: responses that reflected conventional noticing with more anti-deficit noticing in later sessions, responses that reflected potential for anti-deficit attending but were interpreted in deficit-based ways, and responses that shifted across noticing sessions in a non-linear trajectory toward more anti-deficit noticing. Implications for science teacher education explore practices that facilitate shifts toward more anti-deficit, equitable noticing with considerations for the dialogic nature between framing and noticing.