TESSA Research Questions

1. What constitutes specialized knowledge and pedagogy for giving priority to evidence and explanation? What does it mean for beginning elementary teachers to adopt an “argumentation stance” toward science teaching? [Framework]

2. In what ways do beginning elementary teachers’ understandings of argumentation in science change over time within the context of science content and methods courses that emphasize epistemological commitments associated with giving priority to evidence and explanation in science learning?  [Syntactic Knowledge]

3. In what ways do beginning elementary teachers’ specialized knowledge and pedagogy for teaching science as argument develop within the context of teacher preparation experiences that emphasize this perspective? [PCK]

4. What is the relationship between beginning teachers’ understandings of argumentation practices in science and their understanding of teaching school science as argument?

5. In what ways do teacher preparation experiences (e.g., TESSA case-based resources, science content courses, long-term science investigations, science methods experiences, clinical teaching experiences) mediate learning to teach science as argument?

6. What aspects of beginning teachers’ developing knowledge and pedagogy for teaching science as argument are sustained, and possibly further developed, during the first years of teaching?