Opportunities for Scaffolding Elementary Students' Engagement in Scientific Practices

• In Event: 75.019 - Scaffolding Students' Learning in Formal and Informal Contexts

Abstract

Goals & Theoretical Framework
The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS Lead States, 2013) put an increased emphasis on the scientific practices. Yet this does not often occur in U.S. classrooms (Banilower et al., 2013), and both teachers and students are likely uncomfortable or inexperienced with this work. This gap can be addressed, in part, by supporting teachers’ development of knowledge and teaching practice for supporting scientific practices. We draw on Remillard's (2005) framing of teachers' use of curriculum materials as a participatory relationship, and see curriculum materials as cognitive tools to support teacher learning. In this study (IRB approved), we provided scaffolding for teachers through educative curriculum materials (Davis & Krajcik, 2005), in hopes that the teachers would in turn scaffold students' engagement in scientific practices. We ask: (1) When did opportunities for scaffolding the scientific practices take place, and how did these align with the educative features provided for teachers in the curriculum materials? (2) In what ways might these opportunities have supported students within their ZPDs? In the full paper's discussion of implications, we explore how these opportunities for scaffolding could be improved.

Data Sources & Methods
This study uses a qualitative case study approach (Stake, 2000) to identify instances of scaffolding in three 4th grade classrooms during the enactment of units on Electric Circuits and Ecosystems. The teachers used curriculum materials that we had enhanced with educative features intended, in part, to help teachers scaffold students' engagement in scientific practices. Data sources include videorecords and field notes from the enactment, teacher interviews, teacher logs, student work, and pre/post assessments.

Videorecords were coded for how and when teachers and students engaged in or discussed scientific practices. These segments were then analyzed to determine the type of scaffolding, if any, being used (e.g., sentence stems, rubrics). Student work was coded for evidence of the teacher's scaffolds. Pre/post assessments were coded to determine how students engaged in the scientific practices without teachers’ support.

Findings
Teachers helped students manage the process (Quintana, 2002) of engaging in the scientific practices of observation and prediction. In supporting these practices, teachers also highlighted critical task features and simplified the task (Wood, Bruner, & Ross, 1976), using rubrics and sentence stems. Finally, through their use of reading guides to support the scientific practice of communicating information, teachers provided dialogic and interactive support (Puntambekar & Hubscher, 2005). They did not often, however, calibrate their scaffolding to address the multiple ZPDs present in the classroom, and they were idiosyncratic in their fading of their scaffolding.

Significance
This study provides insight into ways that elementary students are being supported by teachers to engage in scientific practices—and into the ways that elementary teachers can be supported by curriculum materials. In the full paper, we present these findings more fully and explore ways that science instruction can improve to meet the needs of multiple ZPDs in one science classroom.

References Available

Authors

• John-Carlos Marino, University of Michigan

• Anna Maria Arias, Illinois State University

• Elizabeth A. Davis, University of Michigan

• Annemarie S. Palincsar, University of Michigan