Sense-Making Phenomena-Based Planning: Development of Professional Vision on Ambitious Science Teaching

In the era of the Framework for K-12 Science Education and Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), research on preparing preservice science teachers (PSTs) for NGSS-aligned teaching practices is important. In this study, we explored PSTs' sense-making around planning for Ambitious Science Teaching (AST) during their discussions of teaching in a secondary science teaching methods course. Grounded in sociocultural and situated views of learning, we examine how approximation and decomposition of AST practices support PSTs in making sense of lesson planning in developing meaningful learning and teaching environments. We conducted this case study in a secondary science teaching methods course within a teacher education program at a large mid-Atlantic university. The participants included six PSTs and their instructor. We used video recordings of the course and the lesson plans PSTs developed as data sources. Using both inductive and deductive coding, we applied discourse analysis based on interactional sociolinguistics theory and the framework of professional vision to analyze the data. Findings indicate PSTs engaged in sense-making around two key areas of AST planning: defining phenomena and constructing explanations. PSTs made sense of the characteristics of the chosen phenomenon, including its explicitness and its alignment with the storyline of the unit, as well as what counted as an explanation, focusing on two aspects of scientific explanations: gapless explanations and levels of explanations. Based on these findings, we provided implications for teacher educators designing methods courses that focus on ambitious science instruction.