Productive Uncertainty in Science Education

Science is driven by the need to manage uncertainty—uncertainty about how to explain the world, but also how to represent the world in an investigation, what to measure, and how to convince peers to see what the scientist wants them to see. For children, uncertainty supports engagement with materials, more purposeful science practice, and deeper conceptual understanding, yet classroom investigations typically reflect little of the uncertainty that scientists grapple with. How can we move past cookbook science investigations and provide the support that teachers and students need for this more complex work?

This book introduces a framework describing specific forms of science activity, shares stories of children engaging with uncertainty, and provides practical supports to help K–12 teachers deepen their science teaching practice. The text includes tools for building classroom norms, planning and adapting investigations, leading discussions, and designing student sheets and other forms of support. The framework, tools, and examples are drawn from research conducted in partnership with elementary teachers and instructional leaders and have been applied in secondary science classrooms as well.

Book Features:

• A new way of building engagement and supporting science practice through centering uncertainty, an essential human and scientific experience.
• Inspiring examples of students engaging in science practices, developed with teacher collaborators.
• A suite of tools to support the design, adaptation, and implementation of rich investigations for the science classroom.
• Sample classroom dialogue showing how teachers can facilitate student discussions that foster and build from uncertainty.
• A companion website with additional investigations, real classroom case studies, and helpful resources and tools (investigationsproject.org).
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