Science Classroom Norms for the Treatment of Evidence From Authority

• In Event: Roundtable Session 18
  In Roundtable Session: Student/Parent/Teacher Positionality in Science

Abstract

In the classical view of education teachers are an authority in authority. In other words, they are seen as an authority with the knowledge students need to acquire and in authority with the ability to direct classroom activities. In elementary school science, the tension between these forms of authority and knowledge re/production can confuse efforts to teach epistemic practices like argumentation. This paper examines the practices of sanctioning interrogations of knowledge claims in an elementary school classroom context. It argues that these practices are part and parcel of a classroom’s epistemic culture and have implications for assessments of authority. This contention is illustrated with a study of teacher-student interactions in third and fourth grade classes using an epistemologically motivated curriculum.

Author

• Susan A. Kirch, New York University