Complex Pictures Behind the Scene: How Identities and Affects Shape Epistemic Practices in Science Teaching

• In Event: Who's Teaching the Teachers? Teacher Educator Identity and Experiences

Abstract

This study explores the roles identity and affect play in shaping epistemic practices in teaching. The focal case is an in-class debate between two science teachers on what count as evidence. While the conflict appears to be straightforwardly epistemological, our analysis shows the more complex picture behind the scene. By associating the teachers’ epistemic practices with the rationales and reflections they provided through interviews and other sources, we identified the identity and affective elements at work, demonstrating how their interactions with epistemological understandings give rise to the teachers’ epistemic practices. We also traced the teachers’ lived experiences to understand the potential origins of these elements. Implications for personal epistemology research and teacher education are discussed at the end.

Authors

• Xiaowei Tang, University of Macau

• Daniel M. Levin, University of Maryland

• Andy Elby, University of Maryland