Ambitious Science Teaching - Softcover

Mark Windschitl (author)|Jessica Thompson (author)|Melissa Braaten (author)

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1682531627 ISBN 13: 9781682531624

Publisher: Harvard Education Press, 2018

Synopsis

Ambitious Science Teaching outlines a powerful framework for science teaching to ensure that instruction is rigorous and equitable for students from all backgrounds. The practices presented in the book are being used in schools and districts that seek to improve science teaching at scale, and a wide range of science subjects and grade levels are represented.

The book is organized around four sets of core teaching practices: planning for engagement with big ideas; eliciting student thinking; supporting changes in students’ thinking; and drawing together evidence-based explanations. Discussion of each practice includes tools and routines that teachers can use to support students’ participation, transcripts of actual studentteacher dialogue and descriptions of teachers’ thinking as it unfolds, and examples of student work. The book also provides explicit guidance for “opportunity to learn” strategies that can help scaffold the participation of diverse students.

Since the success of these practices depends so heavily on discourse among students, Ambitious Science Teaching includes chapters on productive classroom talk. Science-specific skills such as modeling and scientific argument are also covered.

Drawing on the emerging research on core teaching practices and their extensive work with preservice and in-service teachers, Ambitious Science Teaching presents a coherent and aligned set of resources for educators striving to meet the considerable challenges that have been set for them.

About this title

About the Author

Mark Windschitl is a professor of science teaching and learning at the University of Washington and a former secondary science teacher.

Jessica Thompson is an associate professor in teaching, learning, and curriculum at the University of Washington and a former secondary science teacher.

Melissa Braaten is an assistant professor of science education at the University of Colorado Boulder and a former elementary, middle, and high school science teacher.

From the Back Cover

Ambitious Science Teaching outlines a powerful framework for science teaching to ensure that instruction is rigorous and equitable for students from all backgrounds. Drawing on the emerging research on core teaching practices and their extensive work with preservice and in-service teachers, the authors present a coherent and aligned set of resources for educators striving to meet the considerable challenges that have been set for them. The practices presented in the book are being used in schools and districts that seek to improve science teaching at scale, and a wide range of science subjects and grade levels are represented.

"Ambitious Science Teaching offers teachers a toolbox of strategies to embed in our twenty-first-century classrooms to welcome all students' ideas, help them engage in well-constructed storylines, and build and revise their models with adequate time for sense making through discourse, all in the service of a strong scientific explanation. Windschitl, Thompson, and Braaten have made a welcome and important contribution to science teaching with equitable access to science learning for all students."
--MaryMargaret Welch, PK-12 science program manager, Seattle Public Schools

"Ambitious Science Teaching empowers science teachers to meet the rigorous demands of the Next Generation Science Standards. By implementing a toolkit of teaching routines, science educators can engage all students in challenging science practices. The teaching strategies outlined by the authors will transform your classroom into a place where students explain, argue, and model like real scientists and engineers."
--Tanya Katovich, vice president, Northern Illinois Science Educators, and chemistry teacher, Hoffman Estates High School

"Ambitious Science Teaching provides four sets of practices for teachers to engage in to promote three-dimensional teaching and learning in their classrooms. Each chapter offers excellent guidance on how teachers implementing new standards can help their students succeed."
--Ted Willard, editor, The NSTA Quick-Reference Guide to the NGSS

Mark Windschitl is a professor of teaching, learning, and curriculum at the University of Washington and a former secondary science teacher. Jessica Thompson is an associate professor in teaching, learning, and curriculum at the University of Washington and a former secondary science teacher. Melissa Braaten is an assistant professor of science education at the University of Colorado Boulder and a former elementary, middle, and high school science teacher.

Edition details

• Publisher: Harvard Education Press
• Publication date: 2018
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1682531627
• ISBN 13: 9781682531624
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 320