Play, Code, Science, and Podcasts: Integrating Disciplinary and Personal Epistemologies in Preservice Science Teacher Education

• In Event: 63.025 - Supporting Modeling Epistemologies in the Science Classroom

Abstract

Objectives. In this paper, we investigate the following research question: What kind of epistemologies of science and technology can pre-service teachers begin to develop through modeling both their personal journeys in STEM and disciplinarily authentic, epistemic and representational practices?

Theoretical Framing. This paper seeks to bring together two bodies of research - integrating computational modeling in science classrooms (Authors, 2015; Wilensky, Brady & Horn, 2014) and students’ and pre-service teachers’ personal epistemologies, identities and positioning in science (Elby, 2009; Rahm, 2007) - in the context of pre-service science teacher education. We present a pedagogical approach in which secondary science pre-service teachers positioned themselves in the figured worlds of science and technology through two kinds of modeling projects: 1) creating a 3-minute podcast focused on their autobiographical journeys in STEM, and 2) designing computer simulations to model kinematics and ecological interdependence. Such a multi-dimensional approach can in turn help shape pre-service teachers’ epistemologies of science in a manner that the development of disciplinary expertise becomes intertwined with ones’ sense of belonging in the discipline.

Methods/Data. We conducted our study in a Secondary Science Education Methods course. The whole class (n = 27) participated in two intensive sessions on computational modeling, and 8 students opted to participate in the podcast creation activity. We collected three forms of data: a) students’ written memos on their experiences relevant to the course, b) media and computational artifacts designed by students, c) video and audio recordings of classroom conversations and interviews with selected students. We conducted thematic analysis using check coding method (Miles & Huberman, 1994) to analyze and code the interview data, classroom conversations, and student artifacts . We also compared the emergent themes across both groups of students, i.e., students who engaged in both forms of modeling (Group 1) and students who only engaged in computational modeling (Group 2).

Results and Scholarly Significance. Overall, our analyses suggest that the two forms of modeling experiences supported pre-service teachers’ epistemological growth in the following two ways:
1. Learning to see science and coding as play, modeling and discourse: As students engaged with computational modeling in small groups, all students (both in Groups 1 and 2) began to realize that exploring different representational possibilities by altering the underlying code made it possible for them to make explicit their own conceptual uncertainties in a playful manner. They also began to realize the importance of discourse (“coding talk” and “science talk”) in resolving dilemmas and uncertainties about coding, but also help learners articulate and better explain relevant scientific concepts.
2. Seeing science as socially engaged: Several students in Group 1 also started connecting their personal journeys and interests in science with socio-politically significant events in which scientific and technological failures played a major role (e.g., BP Oil spill in Alaska). They also began to see the importance of creating opportunities for their students to talking about their own positionalities in science and technology as relevant to teaching and learning science.

Authors

• Pratim Sengupta, University of Calgary

• Beaumie Kim, University of Calgary

• Marie-Claire Shanahan, University of Calgary