Teaching With Representations: Elementary Teachers’ Perceptions

• In Event: Friday Roundtable Session 11:25 am
  In Roundtable Session: Cultivating Computational and Scientific Thinking Through Research-Practice Partnerships, Cross-Cultural Adaptations, and Equity-Oriented Co-Design for Educators (Table 11)

Abstract

Representations are essential to science education (Coleman., McTigue, & Smolkin, 2011). However, few studies explore teacher understanding of their implementation of representation. To support teachers in using representations in the elementary science classroom, we designed the longitudinal [Project], which includes various professional development activities. This paper explores teachers’ perceptions of science representations that influence the way they incorporate representations in their science teaching. We analyzed eight participants’ interviews and classroom recordings across the 2021-2023 academic year. The results revealed after engaging with the [PROJECT], teachers start to try various representations in their science classrooms. Another major change is the teachers would like to have students be the “owner” of the representation rather than the audience.

Authors

• Xintian Tu-Shea, University at Buffalo - SUNY

• Joshua Adam Danish, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

• Zachary D. Ryan, Indiana University

• Morgan A. Vickery, Indiana University

• Cindy E. Hmelo-Silver, Indiana University

• Meredith A. Park Rogers, Indiana University