Planning

The first of the AST core sets of practices are planning practices for designing a unit of instruction. Rather than focusing science units on “things” or abstract ideas, teachers can explicitly engage students in studying ideas and solving problems that support social transformation. In addition to developing a deeper understanding of science, working toward justice in science education means interrogating the past and present injustices while envisioning a more just future. To this end, teachers anchor instruction in complex and puzzling problems that are meaningful and relevant to learners. Science units can be designed to center justice and joy. Units help students ask why something is working (or not) by connecting to social, political, or community-based impacts and integrating diverse questions, voices, approaches, and resources from Black, Brown, Indigenous, and People of the Global Majority.

Suggested starting places include:

Toward Justice-Centered Phenomenon

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Tips for Designing Model Scaffolds

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Planning for Engagement with Important Science Ideas

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Ambitious Teaching—An overview

In this video we illustrate what Ambitious Teaching looks like in classrooms ranging from high school to kindergarten. The practices were developed through collaborations between teachers and researchers, and they are continually evolving as we learn more about how they work with young learners. There are several themes that you’ll see in all examples, such as a focus on puzzling and complex phenomena, opportunities to make sense through talk, making thinking visible, attending to who is participating, using various forms of scaffolding and tools, and much more.

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“I’m really glad that you didn’t give me three steps because that would be a lie. It’s not that easy. And so instead, you gave me a complex idea about how to do this in my classroom, and you gave me examples that don’t erase the complexity.”

– K-12 Teacher

This site is primarily funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) through Award #1907471 and #1315995