Investigating the Interplay of Teacher Orientations, Epistemic Tool Use, and Instructional Moves in Shaping Adaptive Teaching Expertise in Science Classrooms

This study examines how adaptive teaching expertise (AdTex) is shaped through the interplay among teachers' philosophical orientations toward knowledge generation, their use of epistemic tools, and their moment-to-moment instructional moves in elementary science classrooms. Grounded in complexity theory, AdTex is conceptualized as a dynamic, interconnected system comprising three interrelated layers: (1) teachers' epistemological, ontological, and axiological orientations toward learning; (2) their strategic use of epistemic tools—language, dialogue, and argumentation; and (3) their fluid instructional moves during classroom interactions. The study examines how these layers interact to support knowledge generation across diverse instructional settings, including those mediated by technology.This qualitative study used an instrumental, single-case design. Data were drawn from a three-year professional development program focused on knowledge generation pedagogy and included classroom videos, semi-structured interviews, reflections, vignettes, and instructional artifacts. Using a layered analytic framework grounded in complexity theory, the study traced the interplay among an expert teacher's philosophical orientations, use of epistemic tools (language, dialogue, and argumentation), and instructional moves across 63 critical classroom episodes.Findings revealed that the teacher's orientations—viewing knowledge as evolving, learning as socially constructed, and students as epistemic agents, along with her valuing of language, dialogue, and argument as learning tools—informed her principles for engaging students with epistemic tools. These orientations and principles were made visible through her moment-to-moment instructional moves. This was evident in her facilitation of student argumentation, support of dialogue to promote collaborative meaning-making, and valuing student language as a bridge between every day and academic discourse. In technology-mediated lessons, these foundational orientations, principles, and most instructional moves remained consistent with those in non-technology-mediated contexts. However, a small set of context-responsive moves emerged in response to the affordances of digital tools. These included co-participation in coding, scaffolding technical decision-making, and leveraging multimodal student representations—moves that extended the teacher's commitment to collaborative, student-driven inquiry.By tracing the interplays among teacher orientations, epistemic tool use, and instructional moves, this study advances the understanding of AdTex as a dynamic, interconnected system. It offers a framework for teacher educators aiming to support generative, student-centered instruction across diverse instructional settings, including those mediated by technology.

Grantor dc:publisher

University of Alabama Libraries

Year dc:date.issued

2025

Author dc:creator

• Ercan Dursun, Jale

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Suh, Jee Kyung

Contributors dc:contributor

• Shemwell, Jonathan T.
• Coleman, Julianne M.
• Benson, Angela D.
• Lawson, Michael A.

Statement dc:rights

• All rights reserved by the author unless otherwise indicated.

Language dc:language.iso

en_US, English

Dc Identifier Other

1175939

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:ir.ua.edu:123456789/17055