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29 October 2024 Using Student Uncertainty as a Pedagogical Resource (SUPeR) Approach to Support Students' Productive Struggle in the Biology Classroom
Ying-Chih Chen, Jongchan Park, Jamie G. Rapkiewcz
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Abstract

Productive struggle is a process in which students expend effort to grapple with perplexing problems and make sense of something that is not immediately apparent and beyond their current level of understanding and capacity. The experience encourages students to reflect on and restructure their existing knowledge toward a new understanding of scientific concepts and practice. Scientific uncertainty is common in scientific sensemaking practice and is one of the major factors provoking student struggle. A teaching approach called Student Uncertainty as a Pedagogical Resource (SUPeR) is introduced to encourage teachers to engage students in the practice of productive struggle. The SUPeR approach is composed of four phases: (1) problematize a phenomenon, (2) engage in material practice, (3) participate in argumentative practice, and (4) engage in reflection, transformation, and application. An example from an eighth-grade biology class unit on Mendel's Law of Segregation is used to demonstrate how the SUPeR approach can be implemented in the classroom.

Ying-Chih Chen, Jongchan Park, and Jamie G. Rapkiewcz "Using Student Uncertainty as a Pedagogical Resource (SUPeR) Approach to Support Students' Productive Struggle in the Biology Classroom," The American Biology Teacher 86(8), 485-495, (29 October 2024). https://doi.org/10.1525/abt.2024.86.8.485
Published: 29 October 2024
JOURNAL ARTICLE
11 PAGES

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KEYWORDS
authentic science
Inquiry
Productive struggle
scientific uncertainty
Teaching approach
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