Teachers' initial response to a representational focus

In focusing on the role of representation in learning science, our early studies (2004- 2007) sought to identify primary and junior secondary science teachers' beliefs and practices around this aspect of science teaching and learning. We knew that teachers routinely incorporated different representational modes in science topics to motivate students and also expected students to describe, measure, and report findings from inquiries using appropriate scientific language or discourse. However, we were unsure about teachers' understandings, rationales and perceptions of the effectiveness of these practices, as well as their receptiveness to a more intensive representational focus. In this chapter we report on (a) research guiding our early studies in this area, (b) an initial survey of 20 teachers' beliefs and practices around the role of different representations in learning science, (c) four individual case studies of teacher responses to classroom programs that entailed a more explicit focus on the role of representations in learning science, and (d) a framework generated from these studies to guide practice.