Innovating Language and Vocabulary Instruction for Science Classrooms: The Power of Pedagogical Content Knowledge

• In Event: Complicating Content: Moving Beyond Traditional Approaches to Teaching Children

Abstract

The Common Core (2010) and Next Generation Science Standards (2011) place renewed emphasis on vocabulary learning and language use across contexts. These highly discursive new standards require innovative teaching for vocabulary and language learning in science content. This case study focuses on one 7th grade science teacher and the ways she innovates her instructional practices to meet challenging new standards by blending vocabulary learning into science content. We investigate her PCK through analysis of personal reflections and conversations about classroom practice, in particular, how she evaluates student work, what she identifies as indicators of learning, and how she uses this knowledge to inform her subsequent instruction of science vocabulary.

Authors

• H. Emily Hayden, University of Nebraska Omaha

• Michelle Eades Baird, University at Buffalo - SUNY