Ambitious Science Teaching

Transform your science classroom with research-proven teaching practices that engage every student and drive deep learning.

Winner of Choice's 2018 Outstanding Academic Title, Ambitious Science Teaching delivers a comprehensive framework that empowers K-12 science educators to create rigorous, equitable instruction for students from all backgrounds. This practical guide bridges the gap between educational research and classroom reality, offering proven strategies currently transforming science education in schools nationwide. Whether you're a new teacher seeking foundational practices or a veteran educator looking to revitalize your approach, this book provides the concrete tools and techniques needed to elevate student engagement, thinking, and achievement across all science subjects and grade levels.

Key Features and Benefits:

• Four Core Teaching Practices Framework – Master planning for big ideas, eliciting student thinking, supporting conceptual change, and building evidence-based explanations with step-by-step guidance and real classroom examples
• Equity-Focused "Opportunity to Learn" Strategies – Implement research-backed scaffolding techniques that ensure all students, regardless of background, can access and succeed in rigorous science content
• Real Classroom Transcripts & Student Work Samples – Learn from actual teacher-student dialogues and see how expert educators think through complex instructional decisions in the moment
• Productive Classroom Discourse Techniques – Build students' scientific argumentation and modeling skills through structured talk protocols that deepen understanding and engagement
• Practical Tools & Routines – Access ready-to-use resources and teaching routines developed through extensive work with both preservice and experienced teachers
   

Ready to revolutionize your science teaching and unlock every student's potential? Add Ambitious Science Teaching to your professional library today and start implementing these game-changing practices in your classroom tomorrow.

Mark Windschitl is a professor of Teaching, Learning & Curriculum at the University of Washington. He taught secondary science for thirteen years in the Midwest before receiving his doctorate and moving to Seattle. His research focuses on how teachers take up new practices and the tools they use to engage students in authentic disciplinary activity. Dr. Windschitl is the lead author of “Rigor and Equity by Design: Seeking a Core of Practices for the Science Education Community,” a chapter in the newest edition of the Handbook of Research on Teaching (American Education Research Association). He is a past recipient of the AERA Presidential Award for Best Review of Research, and a member of the National Research Council Committee on Strengthening and Sustaining Teachers.

Jessica Thompson is an associate professor in Teaching, Learning & Curriculum at the University of Washington. Her research focuses on building Local Improvement Networks that support ambitious and equitable teaching practice with novice and experienced science teachers, science and English learner (EL) coaches, principals, and district leadership. She has expertise in facilitating and studying teacher learning of Ambitious Science Teaching practices at the elementary and secondary level, as well as in the methods of improvement science. Central to her work is partnering with culturally and linguistically diverse student populations in formal and informal settings. She also runs and studies afterschool programs that learn from and support ethnic minority girls’ engagement in scientific inquiry. Dr. Thompson has a background in biology and chemistry. She taught grades 6–12 science as well as in a dropout prevention program for eight years in North Carolina and Washington State. At the University of Washington, she teaches secondary and elementary science teaching methods courses, Teacher Learning and School Change, and Culturally Responsive Math and Science Teaching.

Melissa Braaten is an assistant professor of Science Education at the University of Colorado in Boulder. She taught upper elementary, middle, and high school science for thirteen years in Texas and in South Seattle before receiving her doctorate. Her research focuses on the complexities of teaching science in culturally sustaining and responsive ways that disrupt injustices and advocate for justice. In research partnerships with teachers, she drew upon teachers’ expertise and insights to refine professional learning experiences across their career trajectory and build stronger explanations of how teachers learn. She is interested in how teaching is shaped by—and how teachers could shape—the political and institutional contexts of schools, educational reforms, and education policy. In 2011, she received the Outstanding Doctoral Research Award from the National Association for Research on Science Teaching.