Situating difference as a valuable resource in education research

in Scantlebury, K. (Ed.) Moving science education into the 21st century: A festschrift in honor of Kenneth Tobin (in press)

Inquiry-based pedagogies as an inclusive practice: Approaches for in-service teacher education

in Andersen, Katja Natalie; Ferreira da Silva, Brigida Ticiane; Silva de Moraes Novais, Valéria (Eds.) Educação, Cultura e Inclusão: Contextos internacionais e locais (2022)

What Tendency for "Inquiry" and "Language": Examining Key Journals in Science Education

Scientific Conference (2021, November 10)

Conducting a review of the literature can provide a foundation for understanding research trajectories in a given field, and this proposed presentation will explore one literature review mapping that has ... [more ▼]

Conducting a review of the literature can provide a foundation for understanding research trajectories in a given field, and this proposed presentation will explore one literature review mapping that has been conducted to guide a PhD research project relating primary science education and multilingual learning contexts. A first generic search with the terms “teacher education”, “primary education”, “science education”, “inquiry” and “language” led to an overwhelmingly high number of publications to be gathered and analyzed. So, the path of searching articles in the main scope of the research (science education) was chosen, towards the elaboration of an analytic review map. This mapping consists of a database that was built with articles retrieved from six key journals’ official website (identified through JCR/Scimago ranking), funneling the scope to “teacher education” in primary level (and elementary, for the USA context), and focusing on how the words “inquiry” and “language” emerge in these publications starting from 2008 (after the Rocard report, from 2007). This type of data is presented by the frequency of occurrences and analyzed by theme cluster for tendency construct, using content analysis. The first set of data extracted from one journal (CSSE) shows that “language” and “inquiry” appear in 35 documents, but the number of appearances in titles decreases to three occurrences, narrowed to two titles (one title overlaps both terms); serving as an example of an area to be potentially explored. In order to tackle how the implications and overlaps between language learning and science education (focusing on the inquiry-based method) are presented in published articles, the qualitative analysis exposes two set of results: 1. Occurrence and thematic mapping from a social-cultural perspective; 2. A set of meanings and its relevance to the topics as relations between the use of the words “inquiry” and “language” are drawn. [less ▲]

Working towards responsive science education pedagogies during a time of crisis: centering community, diversity and access

Scientific Conference (2021, January 30)

Children, teachers, and families internationally are navigating new terrains of remote learning and teaching during the COVID-19 crisis, and this extends to the University of Luxembourg's SciTeach Center ... [more ▼]

Children, teachers, and families internationally are navigating new terrains of remote learning and teaching during the COVID-19 crisis, and this extends to the University of Luxembourg's SciTeach Center team, a multidisciplinary group of educators and researchers dedicated to supporting primary and pre-primary science education. Luxembourg’s schools closed mid-March 2020, with rapid implementation of online/distance schooling. By mid-May, the national scenario started changing with deconfinement stages, and schools adopted blended in-person/distance structure of rotating “A” and “B” weeks of instruction, ending the year with two weeks of “back to normal”. What are we wondering about? The SciTeach team responded to changing circumstances with several initiatives to support science education within new structures. The team’s interactions in response to the pandemic and resulting outcomes are the focus of a case study utilizing ethnographic methods and discourse analysis. We are examining planning discussions and development of remote science education resources for in-service teachers, children, and caregivers, with a purpose of identifying essential steps in the process, and the resulting impacts of changes. Why is this wondering important? This wondering will elaborate an adaptation process as we transitioned to online modes of interacting, reflecting on the applicability of responsive pedagogies during crisis. This crisis has exposed issues of equity and access, in particular with the high percentage of students who do not speak the languages of instruction at home (more than half) and has given rise to questions about what structural changes will/can remain ahead. As our main goal is to support children’s engagement in science, we discuss benefits and challenges associated with these responses as they were developed not with the intent to only respond, but to offer teachers a sustainable approach to support students in engaging in science moving forward. What approaches frame our thinking? Grounded in sociocultural theoretical perspectives (Sewell, 1999), we understand the teaching-learning processes as cultural enactment, and we draw on translanguaging perspectives (García, 2009) and multimodal approaches (Kress, 2004). Our theoretical and methodological approach is grounded as bricolage (Kincheloe, 2001), and we hope to honor the diversity and complexity of engaging in research with participants. We seek to trouble the existing policy-based notions of science "proficiency" as we consider diverse ways teachers, students, and families engage in science education, with a particular focus on examining issues of equity and access during crisis. Why is our wondering important to equity, diversity and / or social justice in science education? The overarching purpose of this work is identifying the adaptation process and reflecting upon the resulting impacts of changes. Issues of access and equity are multiple, for teachers, children, and caregivers, and our wondering focuses on three questions: • How can we work towards resource-rich approaches for working with students – to build on what they know and wonder – and make openings for engaging in science inquiry? • How can we support equitable student access to science, given the range of languages and technology access? • How can we keep and nurture community during times of rapid unplanned changes, and shifting interaction structures? [less ▲]

Innovativer naturwissenschaftlicher Unterricht mit mehrsprachigen Kindern: Was lernen wir von den luxemburgischen Grundschulklassen? Nationaler Bildungsbericht

Report (2021)

Working toward equitable research practices: the value of highlighting complexity and respecting context

in Cultural Studies of Science Education (2020)

In this response paper, we reflect upon the contributions of Gallard Martínez, Pitts, Brkich, and Ramos de Robles (this issue) in their manuscript “How does one recognize contextual mitigating factors ... [more ▼]

In this response paper, we reflect upon the contributions of Gallard Martínez, Pitts, Brkich, and Ramos de Robles (this issue) in their manuscript “How does one recognize contextual mitigating factors (CMFs) as a basis to understand and arrive at better approaches to research designs” and elaborate the ways in which we work toward highlighting the contextual complexities within our own research. Our research focuses on working toward equitable practices for culturally and linguistically diverse children in science education, in order to draw on the many cultural and communicative resources they bring to primary school science investigations. We draw upon our previous and current research projects in this forum contribution to tease-apart CMFs related to issues of equity in teaching science with culturally and linguistically diverse primary school children in our national context in Luxembourg. We conclude with a consideration of how the process of unpacking a diverse array of CMFs relative to our work with students helps us select and employ theoretical lenses and research methodologies that position us to gather rich understandings of the complexities within our research contexts and in our work with children and teachers [less ▲]

Scaffolding children’s production of representations along the three years of ECE: a longitudinal study.

in Research in Science Education (2020)

Critical voices in science education research: Narratives of academic journeys

Book published by Sense / Brill (2019)

The role of critical reflexivity in the professional development of professional developers: A co-autoethnographic exploration

in Interfaces Científicas (2018), 7(1), 13-24

This manuscript shares findings from a collaborative autoethnography project during which two classroom teachers worked together with university researchers to develop and facilitate science education ... [more ▼]

This manuscript shares findings from a collaborative autoethnography project during which two classroom teachers worked together with university researchers to develop and facilitate science education professional development workshops for elementary teachers in Luxembourg. Grounded in critical theoretical perspectives, we undertook a process of collaborative autoethnography grounded in dialogue and reflection, to examine our own professional development in the process of facilitating the professional development of our colleagues. First, we elaborate the cultural and historical importance of this project in the context of teacher professional development in Luxembourg, an education system that operates from a national primary school curriculum, but in which instructional decisions are made by teachers. Next, we describe how critical methodologies allowed us to examine working within this system from each of our unique perspectives, while critically analyzing the process of engaging in professional development with teachers. We then elaborate the two main claims that emerged from our collective processes of reflection, dialogue, and action, namely that undergoing this critical process in parallel with supporting teacher professional development facilitated changes in our perspectives and our positions towards the national curricula, and that our multiple roles coupled with the process of reflection-dialogue-action mediated taking agency and the adaptation of primary science curricula. [less ▲]

Interaction rituals and inquiry-based science instruction: Analysis of student participation in small-group investigations in a multilingual classroom

in Science Education (2018)

Language learners participating in inquiry‐based science instruction are often faced with the challenge of interacting in a language they have not yet mastered. With this challenge at the fore, this study ... [more ▼]

Language learners participating in inquiry‐based science instruction are often faced with the challenge of interacting in a language they have not yet mastered. With this challenge at the fore, this study uses interaction ritual theory to examine a plurilingual student's participation in inquiry‐based science. Interaction ritual analysis of the focal student's interactions with peers during small‐group science investigations at the microlevel (tenths of a second) and in real‐time revealed that positive interaction rituals failed to form at first. Over a period of 6 months, his persistent use of nonverbal and verbal participation strategies, and opportunities to engage diverse communicative resources, resulted in higher levels of synchrony with his classmates and successful interactions in the language of instruction. The findings present novel information about the nuances of the silent, embodied participation of language learners in inquiry‐oriented instruction. Further, the findings elaborate the claim that inquiry‐based science pedagogies created space for students to form successful interaction rituals that, in turn, supported the focal student's science engagement and language development. [less ▲]