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Unanticipated Opportunities for Student Sense-Making When Beginning Teachers Stall for Time in Elementary Science Discussions

Tue, April 12, 10:35am to 12:05pm, Convention Center, Floor: Level One, Room 102 A

Abstract

Calls to reform science education for all students emphasize scientific sense-making. Despite the importance of sense-making, we have few models for how to help beginning teachers learn to notice and respond productively to student sense-making in elementary science. In this paper, we investigate “stuck moments” interns experience as they facilitate classroom discussions. Our findings suggest that when teachers slow down or stall class discussions in these stuck moments, for instance by asking students to expand or clarify their ideas, opportunities for student sense-making and epistemic authority open up. However, interns do not often recognize these opportunities as such. These findings suggest that beginning teachers may benefit from tools to help them notice, interpret and respond to student sense-making in discussions.

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