Blurring the Boundaries of Science: A Beginning Teacher and Her Students Examine an Ignored Phenomenon

• In Event: 63.036 - Young People Shaping Science Practice in and out of Classrooms: Implications for Teaching and Learning

Abstract

Objectives
K-12 classrooms are overlooked as places where science happens; however, the science activity that occurs in classrooms exerts considerable influence on students’ developing identities as science learners (Warren et al., 2001). Therefore a teacher, who is positioned with pedagogical and scientific authority, plays an important role in providing students with science learning opportunities (Minstrell & Kraus, 2005).
In this study, I describe the case of one beginning teacher – Karen – who blurred the lines between her students’ place of science (a classroom and the surrounding community) and her students’ roles as scientists (positioning students as epistemic agents rather than recipients of information). Subsequently, the students worked to solve a puzzling phenomenon in their local community – the uncontrolled growth of an invasive plant species – that government scientists dismissed as a low priority.

Theoretical framework
I used situative theory to frame the analysis of how the beginning teacher positioned students as epistemic agents. Situative theory frames individuals’ cognition through their participation in activities that occur in particular contexts through interactions with actors, tools, and cultural scripts (Greeno, 2006).

Methods
In this qualitative case study, findings were drawn from two main data sources: twelve observations of the participant’s classroom and one semi-structured interview.

Data Sources
I video recorded each observation, wrote questions and notes as the class unfolded, informally debriefed with the participant after each lesson, and collected teacher and students-created documents related to planning, instruction, and science activity for each lesson observed. I also conducted one semi-structured interview with the participant at the end of the school year.

Results
The following assertions arose from data analysis:
• Karen decided to recast her unit to let students take up the role of lead investigators, telling them that she did not know the “correct” answer but that they would all work together as a community to figure out why English ivy was so successful as an invasive species. The unit progressed as students moved back and forth between their classroom and community. Karen and her students used the places to plan, test, and analyze results of activities that aimed to help the classroom community explain the English Ivy’s success.
• By dissolving the typical boundary of classroom science to include the community, Karen created a novel hybrid space in which she and students merged traditionally marginalized funds of knowledge and Discourses with academic knowledge and Discourses, thus destabilizing and expand the boundaries of “official” school activities (Barton & Tan, 2009; Moje et al., 2004).

Significance
As science practice-based reform efforts such as the Next Generation Science Standards begin to unfold in schools, the field must be prepared to understand how and why classroom contexts shape opportunities for students to learn science. As evidenced in in this study, opportunities for students to engage in NGSS science practices were only possible if the teacher designed and used classrooms to support such work. Therefore, more studies are needed to better understand how to help beginning teachers design and use classrooms as sites of science with students.

Author

• David Stroupe, Michigan State University