Exploring teachers' learning: a teacher's experiences integrating scientific modeling in the science classroom
type: CreativeWork
description: This study, a narrative inquiry into the teaching of models and modeling in an elementary science classroom, explores a teacher’s growth in pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) as she implemented a novel curriculum adapted from the MoDeLS (Modeling Designs for the Learning of Science) project. The purpose of the study was to explore, from the teacher’s point of view, the pedagogical and conceptual changes she underwent while implementing a model-based approach in her classroom. The study summarizes the teacher’s experiences, her decisions about teaching, her understanding of how her choices and practices influenced her content knowledge (CK), her PCK, and her motivations for changing her teaching. The following research questions and issues were addressed: 1) How did an elementary teacher develop and reconstruct her PCK and CK as she engaged in modeling practices? a) What aspects of models were incorporated into the teacher’s practices? b) What aspects of the teacher’s practices were changed? c) What modeling practices suggested by the project were developed? 2) What modeling practices were perceived as challenging for the teacher? 3) What factors influenced the teacher’s development of PCK? Three lines of work informed this research: first, work centering on the literature linked to educational reform as an area of research, and, more specifically, the work related to the inclusion of modeling as a new understanding within current curricula; second, work related to models and methodologies for portraying PCK; and, third, research centered on the frameworks associated with narrative as a research methodology. During the three years of the project I collected data from four science units (Astronomy, Animal Science, Electricity, and Light). Each of the units were observed and videotaped and Ms. Delaney (pseudonym), the classroom teacher, audio-recorded her practices every day. I observed and analyzed classroom videotapes in order to explore how Ms. Delaney’s modeling p…
abstract: This study, a narrative inquiry into the teaching of models and modeling in an elementary science classroom, explores a teacher’s growth in pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) as she implemented a novel curriculum adapted from the MoDeLS (Modeling Designs for the Learning of Science) project. The purpose of the study was to explore, from the teacher’s point of view, the pedagogical and conceptual changes she underwent while implementing a model-based approach in her classroom. The study summarizes the teacher’s experiences, her decisions about teaching, her understanding of how her choices and practices influenced her content knowledge (CK), her PCK, and her motivations for changing her teaching. The following research questions and issues were addressed: 1) How did an elementary teacher develop and reconstruct her PCK and CK as she engaged in modeling practices? a) What aspects of models were incorporated into the teacher’s practices? b) What aspects of the teacher’s practices were changed? c) What modeling practices suggested by the project were developed? 2) What modeling practices were perceived as challenging for the teacher? 3) What factors influenced the teacher’s development of PCK? Three lines of work informed this research: first, work centering on the literature linked to educational reform as an area of research, and, more specifically, the work related to the inclusion of modeling as a new understanding within current curricula; second, work related to models and methodologies for portraying PCK; and, third, research centered on the frameworks associated with narrative as a research methodology. During the three years of the project I collected data from four science units (Astronomy, Animal Science, Electricity, and Light). Each of the units were observed and videotaped and Ms. Delaney (pseudonym), the classroom teacher, audio-recorded her practices every day. I observed and analyzed classroom videotapes in order to explore how Ms. Delaney’s modeling p…
author: Gonzalez Maza, Mirta
language: en
keywords: Science Education, Pedagogical Content Knowledge, Elementary Education, Models, Modeling, Curriculum and Instruction
date published: 2014-09-16T17:24:30Z
date modified: 2026-07-22T22:25:40Z
provider: University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

PropertyValue
property ID: Handle
value: http://hdl.handle.net/2142/50626