Elementary Teachers' Understanding and Use of Scientific Models from a Resource Perspective: Analyzing the Overlapping Structure of ERM and PRT

Abstract

This study investigates how elementary teachers’ understanding of scientific models(Epistemic Resources for Modeling; ERM) and their instructional practices (PedagogicalResources for Teaching; PRT) are enacted from a resource-based perspective. Lessonvideos and interviews from five teachers were analyzed using Rodriguez’s framework ofresource grain size. The findings indicate that ERM and PRT often appeared in overlappingstructures—ERM elements (distributed or conceptual) were embedded within frame-levelPRT. These resources were selectively activated depending on instructional goals suchas concept clarification, inducing cognitive conflict, presenting alternative models, andexpanding ideas. The grain size and combination of resources varied with the teacher’spurpose and lesson flow. This suggests that teachers’ model-related knowledge is not fixedbut dynamically constructed from epistemic resources. The study provides a new lens toanalyze teacher thinking in modeling instruction and informs directions for science teachereducation.