Supporting Preservice Elementary Teachers’ Epistemology for Simulation Practices (Poster 23)

• In Event: Saturday Poster Sessions 7:45 am
  In Poster Session: Contemporary Approaches to Science Education

Abstract

Learners’ use of digital simulations in sensemaking is a key aspect of scientific modeling. However, prior studies have shown that teachers may misconstrue the epistemic affordances of simulation (Bo et al., 2018; Schwarz et al., 2007). To address this gap, this qualitative exploratory study examines preservice teachers' (PSTs) reflections on simulations during an introductory engineering course for educators. Drawing on scholarship concerning learners’ epistemic agency and scientists’ participation in a “mangle” (Pickering, 1995) of agency between themselves and the scientific tools they use, we demonstrate that PSTs (1) recognize key sensemaking affordances of simulation and begin to critique simulations' limitations in terms of (2) limited material resistances that lead to deeper sensemaking, and (3) learners’ control of their scientific investigations.

Authors

• Gözde McLaughlin, Kent State University

• Amy Voss Farris, Pennsylvania State University