Uncertainties are inherent in education as learners encounter gaps in their awareness of topics, receive new information that potentially conflicts with prior understandings, and grapple with known unknowns in order to construct new knowledge. While researchers have shown that students productively struggling with problematized and uncertain elements within math and science contexts can lead to greater conceptual awareness, literature is scarce regarding how teachers intentionally use student uncertainty to facilitate learning, let alone how their own perceptions of uncertainty impacts their practice. However, being aware of one’s own uncertainties as well as the productive potential of using student uncertainty as a pedagogical tool can help to enhance instructional practice and initiate change. To that end, I aim to identify strategies and resources to support math and science teachers enhance their awareness of the productive potential uncertainty can have in their instruction. In Chapter One of this dissertation, I introduce the background and purpose of this line of inquiry before presenting three independent, but interconnected, manuscripts. In Chapter Two, I report findings from a qualitative study exploring pre-service math teachers’ sources and perceptions of uncertainty after engaging in a course that intentionally introduced personal, pedagogical, and mathematical uncertainties. In Chapter Three, I describe the findings from a qualitative study that identified changes in middle school science teachers’ perceptions and practice of using student uncertainty as a pedagogical resource, specifically after engaging in a practice-based professional development designed to elicit and reflect on scientific uncertainty. Then, expanding on the findings presented in the two previous chapters, I propose resources in Chapter Four intended to enhance math teachers’ awareness and ability to embed mathematical uncertainty into problematized instruction. Finally, in Chapter Five, I conclude the dissertation connecting the three manuscripts, integrating the findings, and summarizing future implications.

The shift across developmental education from prerequisite to corequisite remediation has left students underprepared for college-level mathematics in need of additional support. Typically, this support takes the form of content remediation, but what happens when this extra help is reframed in terms of student learning skills and confidence? Taking place across four sections of College Algebra at a large community college in Texas, this mixed methods, quasi-experiment examined the academic and affective outcomes between students given the usual, content-centered remediation versus an intervention grounded in the theories of self-regulated learning and growth mindset. This intervention included explicit instruction on cognitive and metacognitive learning strategies and growth mindset principles, weekly reflective student learning journal writing prompts, and a reworking of formative assessments. No statistically significant differences were found between the two groups, but higher exam scores by the intervention group indicate possible practical significance. Qualitative differences also emerged between the two groups with the intervention group self-reporting a wider variety and more frequent use of metacognitive learning strategies, demonstrating a higher degree of self-experimentation and strategic planning, and experiencing greater increases in external locus of control and self-confidence. Although many interesting avenues remain to be studied the incorporation of self-regulated learning and growth mindset principles may help students enrolled in corequisite algebra-based courses become more effective learners.