How Teacher Scaffolding Explanation Moderates the Relationship Between Students' Independent Science Practices and Science Achievement

• In Event: Science Teaching and Learning: Pedagogy

Abstract

One challenge of US science education is the achievement gap between students of different ethnicities. Using PISA 2015 US data and latent moderated structural equations, this study examined whether students’ independent science practices and teacher’s scaffolding explanation activity favor some ethnical groups and how teachers’ scaffolding explanation activity moderates the relationship between students’ science practices and science achievement across four racial groups. The results showed that teacher scaffolding explanation activity significantly and positively predicted student science achievement, while student independent science practices negatively predicted it. Significant interactions were found between teacher explanation activity and student science practices. The negative relationship between student science practices and achievement was significantly reduced in minority groups with high teacher explanation activity.

Authors

• Su Gao, University of Central Florida

• Haiying Long, The University of Kansas