Huma Hussain-Abidi

As the prevalence of science denialism and the dissemination of misinformation continue to rise (Cooke, 2018), there is a widespread rejection of well-established scientific consensus on topics such as COVID-19, vaccination safety, and climate change. The existing science education system has proven insufficient to meet the challenges presented by this "post-truth" era (Chinn et al., 2021). Consequently, there is an urgent need for teachers to devise and implement instructional strategies that empower students to critically evaluate scientific information accurately (Barzilai & Chinn, 2018; Chinn et al., 2020; Duncan et al., 2018). Addressing these concerns involves developing science instruction to foster apt epistemic performance, extending beyond the school setting (Chinn et al., 2020; Gorman & Gorman, 2021; Hussain-Abidi, et al., 2022). Apt epistemic performance entails successfully navigating epistemic tasks, such as developing a comprehensive understanding of climate change, through competently appraising scientific expert consensus and considering a multitude of supporting evidence (Barzilai & Chinn, 2018). This concept is further elaborated through the Apt-AIR framework's two dimensions. The first dimension outlines three components of epistemic thinking: (a) Aims, focusing on goals like reaching an accurate conclusion; (b) Ideals, encompassing standards for evaluating goal achievement, such as fitting with relevant evidence and expert consensus; and (c) Reliable processes (RPs), involving methods used to achieve aims with a high likelihood of success, such as evaluating multiple sources and assessing scientific consensus. Unfortunately, current science education often neglects to explicitly address all these components (Chinn et al., 2021), emphasizing the need to support students in developing and employing appropriate aims, ideals, and reliable processes in evaluating scientific information. The second dimension of apt epistemic performance comprises five aspects: cognitive, metacognitive, social, caring, and adaptive. These aspects involve engaging with aims, ideals, and processes in various ways, such as using reliable cognitive processes, demonstrating metacognitive skills, collaborating effectively, maintaining positive attitudes, and adapting to diverse contexts. The intersection of the three components and five aspects results in a 3x5 table with 15 cells, representing the need for coordinated adept engagement across all elements to achieve apt epistemic performance. My research interests are guided by this framework as I seek to understand the development of apt epistemic performance for students in science classrooms. For effective science instruction to promote students' apt epistemic performance, science education must encourage adept engagement in all 15 cells. Thus my research agenda entails: 1)Use the Apt-AIR framework as a tool to evaluate and redesign curriculum. Curriculum design is essential for the development of apt epistemic performance in students. Students need to be exposed to a curriculum targeted at each cell of the 15 cell framework for them to successfully develop apt epistemic performances that they can transfer to ‘real world’ socio-scientific reasoning. Although all 15 cells cannot but covered in a single unit, I propose that we can evaluate curricular materials based on how we design student engagement with certain cells that we aim to cover in a particular unit. I seek to evaluate the epidemic unit and show the process of redesigning the curriculum based on the results we found in the 15-cell table. 2) Use the Apt-AIR framework as a tool to evaluate teacher discourse moves. Teacher epistemic moves in classroom discourse, defined as discourse-based actions aiming to support apt epistemic performance in students, play a crucial role in developing student epistemic performance. I am interested in investigating the frequency and nature of these moves, examining how often teachers address each aspect and component of apt epistemic performance, the types of moves employed, and the specific aims, ideals, and processes addressed. This work is a continuation of our preliminary analysis (c.f., Hussain-Abidi et al., 2023), conducted with three high school science teachers, which sought to identify best practices and areas for improvement, ensuring students develop the necessary skills to engage with all elements of apt epistemic performance. 3) Use the Apt-AIR framework as a guide to understand students' metacognitive knowledge and application of epistemic practices. I seek to analyze focus group data to identify which practices students can apply and recall and compare them with student assessment data to see if they are able to transfer the their metacognitive knowledge about epistemic practices in an assessment where they are evaluating articles.

• B.A. in Psychology from Rutgers University-New Brunswick
• Masters in Education (M.Ed) from Rutgers Graduate School of Education- Rutgers Univerity-New Brunswick

Learning Sciences.

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