School principals play a pivotal role in directing students’ classroom educational experiences. However, in the USA, many elementary principals (serving youth 5–12 years old) have had few formal experiences with professional development or coursework that centers on current standards for quality science instruction as guided by the Framework for K-12 Science Education. Thus, researchers need to understand the decisions being made that directly enhance or inhibit science instruction for youth. This study draws on sensemaking from organizational theory and social capital theory to explore sensemaking and collective sensemaking influence decision-making for science within an elementary science network. Findings from this study include elementary principals make decisions concerning science based on the knowledge they have, principal decision-making can be influenced by the network they draw on for information, and there are maintained beliefs that impede the decision-making elementary principals concerning science.

校长在指导学生的课堂教育体验方面发挥着关键作用。然而，在美国，许多小学校长（为 5-12 岁的青少年服务）在以 K-12 科学教育框架为指导的当前质量科学教学标准为中心的专业发展或课程方面几乎没有正式经验. 因此，研究人员需要了解正在做出的直接增强或抑制青少年科学教育的决定。本研究借鉴组织理论和社会资本理论的意义建构，探索意义建构和集体意义建构对基础科学网络中科学决策的影响。这项研究的发现包括小学校长根据他们拥有的知识做出有关科学的决定，校长的决策可能受到他们利用信息网络的影响，并且存在阻碍小学校长有关科学决策的信念。