Reconceptualizing Literacy for Science: How Experienced Elementary Teachers Frame Literacy Practices to Shape Classroom Epistemic Classroom Cultures
Open Access
- Author:
- Hooper, Lee Anna
- Graduate Program:
- Curriculum and Instruction
- Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy
- Document Type:
- Dissertation
- Date of Defense:
- May 24, 2021
- Committee Members:
- Rachel Wolkenhauer, Major Field Member
Anne Whitney, Major Field Member
Susan Strauss, Outside Unit & Field Member
Greg Kelly, Chair & Dissertation Advisor
Kimberly Anne Powell, Program Head/Chair - Keywords:
- Elementary Science
Sensemaking
Literacy practices
Epistemic practices - Abstract:
- Over the decades, sweeping reforms in education have resulted in science education researchers and practitioners grappling with what counts as literacy in science. Despite a growing body of evidence of the role that language and literacy play in students learning science, elementary teachers do not often enact science teaching practices that highlight the discipline-specific connections between science and literacy. Confounding factors such as very little time allotted to teaching science (Anderson, 2010; Pearson et al., 2010), the impact of No Child Left Behind and test-centered curricula (Marx & Harris, 2006), and lack of professional development in implementing literacy and science for elementary teachers (NRC, 2014), all contribute to the disconnect between literacy and science in elementary classrooms. We have yet to clearly define in policy documents what it means to read and write for elementary science and outline resources and professional development to support teachers in embedding literacy practices that promote sensemaking for science. In this study, I take a sociocultural perspective to examine two experienced elementary teachers' approaches to literacy for science. I drew from the fields of elementary science education, literacy education, and anthropology to examine (a) the nature of literacy practices embedded in elementary science learning communities, (b) the role the literacy practices play in shaping student sensemaking and the epistemic culture, and (c) the discursive and pedagogical moves experienced elementary teachers make when integrating elementary science and literacy. I used the tools of narrative inquiry and discourse analysis to share the three findings that emerged from the study: (a) teachers elicit ideas for what and how to collectively document scientific observations and explanations, (b) teachers implicitly and explicitly model the literacy and epistemic work that individuals within the collective and the collective (Lima, 1995) do when generating ideas, collecting and recording data, analyzing and discussing data, and constructing explanations, and (c) teachers foster epistemic agency with a repertoire of discursive and pedagogical moves. The narrated examples and findings of this study have implications for elementary science teacher education and supporting in-service and pre-service teachers with understanding what counts as literacy for science, as well as the discursive and pedagogical teacher moves that support students engagement in literacy and epistemic practices.