UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Andres Acher, an associate professor at the Institut für Schulpädagogik und Grundschuldidaktik, University of Halle, Germany, will deliver the annual Waterbury Lecture and panel discussion in the College of Education from 3 to 5 p.m. Feb. 9 in the Krause Learning Space on the second floor of Chambers Building. Acher will speak on "Transformation Boxes (TBs): A system-based guidance to support elementary student teachers to teach and learn scientific modeling. An example through Biological Core Ideas."
Recent science education reforms emphasize the importance of offering connecting-platforms that blend knowledge and practices through the interconnections between the Next Generation Science Standards' three dimensions (3D) of learning: crosscutting concepts, disciplinary core ideas and scientific practices. Acher will present a construct that offers teachers epistemic guidance to bring articulations of 3D learning to their classrooms, in particular: system-based reasoning, biological core ideas and scientific modeling practices. He will share initial evidence of elementary student teachers learning to use the TBs construct. He then will open up discussions regarding TBs' value to integrate children's epistemic agency and channel coherence from the perspective of teachers and children while sustaining generative dynamics of learning in elementary science classrooms.
Acher's research focuses on different aspects of teaching and learning scientific modeling in the classroom. As a science education researcher, Acher has been a member of one U.S. and four European research groups, including Kings' College London in the UK and Northwestern University in the United States. He participated in a range of national and international school-based projects involving students and teachers from pre-K to middle school classrooms. His research has been funded by the European Union, National Science Foundation (United States), the Bundesministerium fuer Bildung Forschung (BMBF- Germany), The Argentinean Ministry of Education and The Italian Ministry of Culture.