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Abstract
The purpose of this study was to examine county science specialists’ understandings of the distinctions between historical and experimental science methods, how they saw historical and experimental science methods as compatible with the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) science practices, and what their intended strategies are for helping teachers incorporate historical and experimental science methods into their pedagogy. Qualitative case study included sixteen semi-structured interviews from eight participants. All participants were science curriculum specialists working at the county level in an NGSS early adopter state. Though both forms of inquiry are important in science and therefore in science education, participants initially were less familiar with historical sciences than experimental sciences and initially held more misconceptions of historical science. After gaining a stronger understanding of the distinction between historical and experimental sciences, participants were favorable towards using the NGSS science practices with students as a way to explore the distinctions between historical and experimental science methods. Though there are variations in each practice when used in a historical or experimental context, participants saw four of the practices as more compatible with teaching the distinction between historical and experimental sciences. Participants also had some misconceptions such incorrectly aligning modeling as being more applicable to historical sciences. In regard to how to bring the framework of historical and experimental sciences into schools, county science specialists saw their roles as multifaceted. They advocated top-down reforms such as providing professional development to teachers, using teacher-leaders as a liaison between them and teachers to help bring the reform to schools, and providing teachers with high quality curriculum material to help teach the distinctions between historical and experimental sciences in K-12 schools. However, since county science specialists had little prior knowledge of historical sciences, it was important to provide them with curricular resources and ways to learn about the distinctions between historical and experimental sciences before they could bring this framework to their counties.