Journal of Research in Science Teaching最新文献

The modern information landscape offers an abundance of options to learn about science topics, but it is also ripe for the spread of mis- and disinformation and science denial. Science education can play a pivotal role in mitigating harm from untruthful information, strengthening trust in science, and fostering a more informed and critically engaged public. Across the articles in this special issue, 10 pedagogical strategies to address mis- and disinformation in the classroom were synthesized. These strategies include: acknowledging the social nature of knowledge and building epistemic networks, addressing mis- and disinformation directly, building Nature of Science (NOS) knowledge, ensuring topics are socially relevant and meaningful, modeling critical evaluation of how power and privilege influence information, offering multiple sources of information, offering opportunities for students to reflect, providing explicit instruction on how to evaluate information, supporting the development of scientific reasoning skills, and supporting student perspective-taking. In addition, areas for future research were identified. In particular, more foundational research is needed to understand the complex interactions between social identities and information processing. From this knowledge base, more applied research is needed to create effective educational interventions to address mis- and disinformation.

There have been several attempts to conceptualize and operationalize pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) in the context of teachers' professional competencies. A recent and popular model is the Refined Consensus Model (RCM), which proposes a framework of dispositional competencies (personal PCK—pPCK) that influence more action-related competencies (enacted PCK—ePCK) and vice versa. However, descriptions of the internal structure of pPCK and possible knowledge domains that might develop independently are still limited, being either primarily theoretically motivated or strictly hierarchical and therefore of limited use, for example, for formative feedback and further development of the RCM. Meanwhile, a non-hierarchical differentiation for the ePCK regarding the plan-teach-reflect cycle has emerged. In this study, we present an exploratory computational approach to investigate pre-service teachers' pPCK for a similar non-hierarchical structure using a large dataset of responses to a pPCK questionnaire ($��N�=�846�$). We drew on theoretical foundations and previous empirical findings to achieve interpretability by integrating this external knowledge into our analyses using the Computational Grounded Theory (CGT) framework. The results of a cluster analysis of the pPCK scores indicate the emergence of prototypical groups, which we refer to as competency profiles: (1) a group with low performance, (2) a group with relatively advanced competency in using pPCK to create instructional elements, (3) a group with relatively advanced competency in using pPCK to assess and analyze described instructional elements, and (4) a group with high performance. These groups show tendencies for certain language usage, which we analyze using a structural topic model in a CGT-inspired pattern refinement step. We verify these patterns by demonstrating the ability of a machine learning model to predict the competency profile assignments. Finally, we discuss some implications of the results for the further development of the RCM and their potential usability for an automated formative assessment.

Scientific modeling is a core practice of scientific inquiry. Students' engagement in modeling can be enhanced by attending to epistemic criteria, which in science are standards used to evaluate the validity and accuracy of scientific models. While prior research has focused on students' development and use of epistemic criteria in scientific inquiry environments, less is known about students' metacognitive knowledge about why epistemic criteria matter—their metacognitive epistemic justifications. Investigating students' metacognitive knowledge of criteria can reveal their understandings of the criteria guiding scientific practice (such as modeling), their relative value, and their relationship to epistemic products. We present findings from clinical interviews of student dyads conducted at the end of the implementation of a fifth-grade model-based inquiry unit in which the class developed and used epistemic criteria for scientific models. Students' justifications of epistemic criteria revealed their metacognitive knowledge about why criteria, such as evidentiary fit, are important in modeling practice. We also identified themes in students' justifications for the relative importance of different epistemic criteria and the role such justifications played in resolving disagreements about epistemic matters. Our findings illustrate the potential value of engaging students in discourse about metacognitive justifications for epistemic criteria.

Resiliency has been unearthed as a phenomenon to explore strategies that influence successful STEM-CS matriculation and/or persistence among minoritized populations—particularly Black undergraduate students. We argue that understanding and solidifying a definition for resilience in STEM-CS can aid in identifying key characteristics that reveal systemic structures and improve academic achievement. In this commentary, we use critical race theory (CRT) to unpack how resiliency can be adjusted and revamped to focus more on systemic issues, rather than on individual or small groups of students to showcase “grit” and immense inner strength in STEM-CS environments. Three noteworthy assertions are generated to help us trouble resilience relative to Black STEM-CS students and teachers in higher education.

Inclusivity in education is one of the fundamental objectives of the Swedish national curriculum for compulsory schooling. The accessibility of STEM education to students of different genders is essential in achieving this objective. This paper studies the images Swedish and Finnish upper secondary schools used to promote their university preparatory educational orientations, applying discourse analysis to the body of images. As the discourses imbue the orientations, certain positions are enabled for pupils. These positions prescribe who and what is seen as natural in the orientations. We find substantial differences in how the discourses are represented in the orientations. In the STEM orientations, pupils are constructed as less social than the other orientations. In the images from the technology programme, female pupils have a higher representation than actual enrolment, but in these images, they are less active than their male peers. Moreover, the female technology pupil is positioned as engaged with more creative technology subfields while their male peers engage with electronic experiments. This positioning of the female technology pupil is rather conditioning her presence than creating an attractive educational trajectory for her to assume.

Higher education institutions commonly provide faculty professional development (PD) in teaching and learning, with the goal of enhancing student outcomes by improving instructional quality. Yet few existing studies link PD participation with student outcome measures. Empirical evidence on the impact of PD on student performance in higher education, particularly in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) education is limited. Using institutional data from a large state university in California, we address this gap by estimating the impact of two online PD programs on student performance: an asynchronous program about developing online courses, open to faculty from all disciplines; and a synchronous program designed exclusively for STEM faculty, concentrating on STEM-specific challenges and active learning strategies in online instruction. Using a difference-in-difference approach, our results indicate that both PD programs improved student grades, while only the STEM-specific PD improved DFW rates and addressed equity gaps. To explain the difference in results between the two PD programs, we invoke a theoretical model positing that to improve student outcomes, faculty PD must teach strategies known to improve student performance, it must teach that content in ways known to improve faculty learning, and it must support faculty as they implement new strategies.

Interest in science is critical for science learning. The family plays a major role in supporting the development of children's interest in science by eliciting and fostering interest and engagement with science content and practice. This study characterizes triggers for interest in science in everyday family life and measures the duration of resulting engagement manifesting situational interest. In an insider researcher-ethnography of one family, we collected video and audio recordings of science-related interactions using fixed 24/7 audio and video cameras in the house and Go-Pro cameras outdoors. We identified 397 science interest-triggering events and classified them along three dimensions: (1) the connection between the stimulus and the object of interest (direct, indirect, or unidentified); (2) the design of the stimulus (designed or undesigned); (3) the attention to the stimulus (self-noticed or mediated). We found most triggers were direct (87%) and undesigned (82%), and they were equally mediated and self-noticed (50%–50%). Moreover, although designed triggers were relatively rare, they elicited longer situational interest than undesigned triggers. Interaction analysis of two illustrative events showed that this difference was related not only to features of the trigger design but also to the way participants co-constructed the interaction around it. The study's findings underscore the significance of developing targeted triggers for science learning in family contexts and providing parents with practical strategies to leverage undesigned triggers.