Learning to Wrestle With Uncertainty in a Research Experience for Teachers

• In Event: AERA Poster Session 11
  In Poster Session: Science Teaching and Learning: Preservice and In-Service Science Teacher Learning

Abstract

Current science education efforts increasingly focus on the importance of providing students with opportunities to wrestle with uncertainty in learning science. It is essential, then, that teachers also be provided experiences with navigating uncertainty in science so that they may be better equipped to create similar experiences for their students. As such, this study examines teachers’ experiences of uncertainty within the context of a six-week research experience at a national science laboratory. We focus in particular on one elementary teacher and how she describes her encounters with uncertainty. Our findings shed light on the resources that may support science teachers to normalize uncertainty in science develop of stance of perseverance in the face of uncertainty.

Authors

• Shannon Gooden Davidson, Florida State University

• Sherry A. Southerland, Florida State University

• Lama Ziad Jaber, Florida State University