Collaborative research: exploring teacher tolerance for ambiguity: implications for science instruction

BSCS Science Learning received a $419,963 Project Grant from the National Science Foundation's Division of Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings under the STEM Education program (CFDA 47.076), awarded August 1, 2025, with a completion date of July 31, 2028. The organization will develop and deliver a professional learning intervention program designed to increase high school science teachers' tolerance for ambiguity (T4A)—their comfort level with uncertainty and open-ended instructional situations. The project will produce research-based tools and professional development materials that enable teachers to more effectively implement model-based science instruction while helping students engage in deeper scientific reasoning and sensemaking.

The deliverables include a co-designed professional learning program; an observational study with classroom documentation across ten participating teachers; teacher interview data and analysis distinguishing instructional moves related to T4A; and evidence-based findings on how teachers' comfort with ambiguity affects the implementation of high-quality science instructional materials and student learning outcomes. The research builds on prior NSF-funded work demonstrating that teachers with higher T4A were more successful in supporting student achievement in model-based science education. Findings from this collaborative research effort will inform broader science education initiatives focused on improving instructional quality and student outcomes in rigorous, ambitious scientific reasoning.

Abstract

This research project explores how high school teachers' comfort with ambiguity in instructional situations – called tolerance for ambiguity (T4A)--affects science teaching and learning. Building on previous work showing that open-ended, model-based lessons help students better understand science, the researchers found that teachers who were more comfortable with uncertain or open-ended situations were most successful in supporting student learning. The new study will examine how classroom activities unfold differently across different teachers' T4A, CO-develop a professional learning program to help teachers become more comfortable with ambiguity, and test the impact of this program on teachers' instruction and student learning. Ultimately, the goal is to create more effective science classroom learning experiences by helping teachers embrace and make productive use of scientific uncertainty in ways that support deeper learning and sensemaking. The findings from this work will help improve how teachers implement high-quality science instructional materials. Findings also will directly inform efforts in science education more generally that involve engaging students in rigorous and ambitious scientific reasoning. This project builds on an NSF-funded project that examined the efficacy of the model-based educational resource (mber), which develops scientific understanding by engaging high school students in modeling. This study demonstrated a significant positive effect of the program on students' abilities to reason with scientific models, and that teachers' T4A was a significant moderator on student achievement. The present study includes CO-design of a professional learning intervention to increase teachers T4A; an observational study and teacher interviews with 10 teachers to document results and distinguish instructional moves related to T4A; a subsequent study of 60 teachers to further refine the observational coding scheme; and measure development for T4A and teacher confidence implementing open-ended tasks. The findings will contribute to both theory and practice by advancing understanding of how teacher dispositions influence science instruction and by developing practical strategies to help teachers manage ambiguity in support of deeper and more effective sensemaking. The research is foundational to instructional materials development, professional learning design, and pre-service science teacher education. This study is funded by the ECR program, which supports fundamental research in service of stem education. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.- subawards are not planned for this award.