Gravity is a pull! Exploring forces and motion with English learners

English learners (ELs) benefit from inquiry-based science instruction that includes explicit attention to language learning goals. The purpose of this article is to share a third-grade unit on forces and motion which integrates science inquiry and writing in science notebooks with the goal of developing ELs' engagement in science, conceptual understanding, and academic language and literacy skills. We demonstrate how to engage diverse students' background knowledge and use classroom activities and discussion to create bridges between everyday and academic language. We utilize excerpts from Peter, Lucia, and Andrea's science notebooks to explore and highlight how teachers can use this resource as a means of communicating science, during instruction. Through these EL students' journals, we discuss the importance of developing language goals at the word, sentence, and discourse level while promoting and supporting ELs' use of the language of science.     

Infrared Photography

Although literacy plays a large role in elementary science classrooms, one thing that offers a challenge for educators is meeting the linguistic needs of English language learners (ELLs) while also meeting their content needs. An additional challenge is ensuring that academic literacy extends beyond the classroom. This article presents ways of extending classroom literacy into the home. The suggestions and activities emphasize literacy strategies appropriate for ELLs as well as English-speaking students.     

Sweet Science for ALL! Supporting Inquiry-Based Learning Through M&Ms Investigation for English Language Learners

This article describes a series of inquiry-based lessons that provide English language learners (ELLs) with opportunities to experience science and engineering practices with conceptual understanding as well as to develop their language proficiency in elementary classrooms. The four-lesson sequence models how various types of instructional strategies for ELLs can be embedded through science lessons with thoughtful consideration of ELLs’ diverse cultural backgrounds. The cross-curricular science lessons provide ELLs with opportunities to apply and enhance their mathematics, reading, writing, and communicating skills while investigating the properties of M&Ms.     

Literature sources for primary environmental science teachers

With school days seemingly getting shorter and packed with more and more obligations, teachers integrate core subjects like science and reading in the hopes of delivering a curriculum that is meaningful and content rich. Using trade books, primary teachers can develop and deliver science content designed to introduce students to proenvironmental behaviors built around the Next Generation Science Earth and Human Activity Standard, Human Impacts on Earth Systems, ESS3-C. The Next Generation Science standards call for integrating literacy skills and science to develop knowledge of scientific topics. This article shares ideas on how primary teachers can use a variety of children’s literature as a foundation to inspire young students to take small steps toward developing proenvironmental behaviors. Under an umbrella of three environmental themes, proenvironmental behavior, trash, and water pollution, the article describes key concepts, vocabulary, and activities designed to develop a mindfulness of proenvironmental behaviors for each selected text. While texts and learning experiences are intentionally focused on young learners (Kindergarten/first grade), they can be adapted and used in all primary grades.     

Visual immersion for cultural understanding and multimodal literacy

ABSTRACT

When considering inclusive art curriculum that accommodates all learners, including English language learners, two distinct yet inseparable issues come to mind. The first is that English language learner students can use visual language and visual literacy skills inherent in visual arts curriculum to scaffold learning in and through the arts. Second, in facilitating a sense of belonging for students whose home language and cultural aesthetic may be different from those of the dominant school culture, an authentically developed multicultural art curriculum can guide self-efficacy and inclusiveness. Both aspects of teaching art for English language learners can have the added benefits of facilitating collaborative learning opportunities and increasing worldviews for all students.     

Happy Art

This article looks at how arts integration can boost the language development of limited English proficient students in kindergarten through second grade. I first review existing research on how young children learn and describe the special challenges faced by children who must learn in an unfamiliar language. I then identify arts-based mechanisms that boost the language development of limited English proficient students and examine strategies used by a successful urban arts-and-literacy program to enhance the language development of English language learners in the primary grades.     

Language choices in the teaching of human reproduction

The choice of which language strategies to use in schools in Africa is the subject of much debate. In the Life Sciences, cultural issues associated with the use of biological terminology add to this debate. In our study, we examined the language choices made by Grade 7 Natural Sciences teachers in South Africa during their teaching of human reproduction. A mixed method approach was employed, involving firstly a survey questionnaire amongst 40 teachers in urban schools followed by a multiple case study of 10 of these teachers. Data were collected during classroom observations by means of field notes and audio-recordings followed by interviews which were transcribed and coded. We found that teachers used a variety of language strategies including use of home languages, English or code switching. The teacher’s and/or learners’ fluency in English and the teacher’s perception of the need for learners to feel at ease when discussing human reproduction influenced their choices. In addition, teachers’ belief in the importance of using biological terminology rather than traditional metaphors in order to create a more formal and thus respectful discourse, led them to use the English version of the biological terms. We argue that different language choices are appropriate for different urban contexts, and that teachers should use the language/s in which learners are most comfortable in order to enable deep and rich discussions on the sensitive subject of human reproduction.     

Consultation for Teachers and Children's Language and Literacy Development during Pre-Kindergarten

MyTeachingPartner (MTP) is a teacher professional development program designed to improve the quality of teacher-child interactions in pre-kindergarten classrooms and children's language and literacy development. The program includes language/literacy activities and two Web-based resources—video exemplars of effective interactions and individualized consultation—designed to support teachers' high quality implementation of these activities. This study examined the impacts of the MTP Web-based resources on the language and literacy development of 1,165 children during pre-kindergarten. Children whose teachers were randomly assigned to receive access to both the video exemplars and participated in consultation (MTP Consultancy n = 65) made greater gains in receptive language skills during pre-kindergarten compared to children whose teachers were randomly assigned to receive access to the video exemplars only (MTP Video Library n = 69). Further, among MTP Consultancy teachers, more hours of participating in the consultation process was positively associated with children's receptive language development, and more hours implementing the language/literacy activities was positively associated with children's language and literacy development. Implications for improving children's school readiness and promoting teachers' participation in professional development programs are discussed.     

医学实验动物学专业英语教学方法初探

本文结合作者参加医学实验动物专业英语教学和在美国访问学习经历,介绍了几种在专业英语教学中强化学生综合运用语言能力的方法,希望能够起到抛砖引玉的作用,为促进学生掌握该专业英语语言特点,提高学习效率和实际应用能力提供有益的参考。     

Gardening for Homonyms: Integrating Science and Language Arts to Support Children's Creative Use of Multiple Meaning Words

Curriculum integration can increase the presence of science at the elementary level. The purpose of this article is to share how two second-grade teachers have integrated language arts content as a part of science-language arts instruction in a garden-based learning context. One application was a teacher-designed Gardening for Homonyms lesson, which supported new ways of thinking about words and wordplay while developing science vocabulary related to structure and function, diversity of life, and interdependent relationships in ecosystems. This article provides the lesson and discusses its implementation in two second-grade classrooms. Examples of student work illustrate children's creative thought around and application of multiple meaning words. Pre-, post-, and extended posttest measures of students' ability to generate and to use homonyms demonstrate that this science-language arts integrated lesson can result in both short- and long-term learning. Applications and follow-up from the lesson over two subsequent years have engaged second and third grade students in study/inquiry about plant growth and life cycles while utilizing many facets of language arts, which have ranged from labeling an experimental design and writing predictions and results to conversing about digital “GigaPan” images on growing strawberries.     

Heritable risk factors associated with language impairments

There is a strong genetic contribution to children's language and literacy impairments. The aim of this study was to determine which aspects of the phenotype are familial by comparing 34 parents of probands with language/literacy impairments and 33 parents of typically developing probands. The parents responded to questionnaires regarding previous history for language/reading impairment and participated in psychometric testing. The psychometric test battery consisted of tests assessing non-verbal IQ, short-term memory, articulation, receptive grammar, reading abilities and spelling. Self-report measures demonstrated a higher prevalence of language and literacy impairments in parents of affected probands (32%) compared with parents of unaffected probands (6%). The two groups of parents differed significantly in their performance on the non-word repetition, oromotor and digit span tasks. Non-word repetition gave the best discrimination between the parent groups even when the data from the parents who actually were impaired as ascertained by direct testing or self-report were removed from the analyses. This suggests that non-word repetition serves as a marker of a family risk for language impairment. The paper concludes with a discussion of issues associated with ascertainment of specific language impairment (SLI).     

Expert video exchanges in bilingual biology lessons - student’s intrinsic motivation and subject-specific interest

ABSTRACT

This paper presents an instructional model to incorporate English-language communication between international practicing scientists and English learners into secondary science lessons. The aim was to identify a method that lets pupils practice English as the language of science and that elicits positive affective attitudes in the form of task-specific intrinsic motivation. As a central condition, the approach had to be feasible in realistic school settings. The pupils that participated in the two studies presented (total n = 218) were native German speakers and interacted with English-speaking experts in the curricular contexts of cytology and immunology via videos. We assessed pupils’ task-specific intrinsic motivation (as defined by their interest/enjoyment of the exchange and their relatedness to the expert) and compared it to their subject-specific interest in biology and English before and after the project. We further contrasted the motivational ratings of bilingually experienced and inexperienced groups of pupils. Both groups reported similar and remarkably high task-specific intrinsic motivation for the video exchange. Subject-specific interests remained constant before and after implementing the method and were correlated with interest/enjoyment in the standard, but not in the bilingually experienced classes. The applicability of the exchange model in different topics, subjects, and student groups is discussed.     

Breaking the language barrier

English has undoubtedly become the universal language of science. But how did this come about and what are the potential benefits?     

Mariachi and Spanish speaking English learners: District initiatives,models, and education policy

ABSTRACT

Districts nationwide are challenged with how best to address the needs of an increasing number of non-English or limited-English speaking students. These young people are similarly challenged as they face new environs, unfamiliar cultural settings, and significant communication issues. Findings have indicated that an arts-rich education can assist limited English speakers, many of them considered to be at-risk students, to achieve at higher levels. This article examines a number of districts with growing Hispanic populations that have implemented standards-based mariachi programs and found success in engaging Spanish speaking English learners, their parents, and the Hispanic community at large in the process. Some of these districts had considerable issues needing to be resolved but innovative solutions have led to student success. One district that serves as a model to be replicated is chronicled in detail due to how its creative program implementation subsequently informed policy. School climate data is also provided by another district, which broke down its reporting according to subgroup. Although the data do not measure only those who were enrolled solely in mariachi courses, the major findings are significant in that they indicate how music coursework impacts Latino students specifically. The impact of participating as an active music-maker in any ensemble by any participant cannot be overlooked, but for Spanish speaking English learners, the standards-based mariachi program provides a culturally familiar and welcoming setting, facilitates new patterns of learning, and addresses the priority of attaining English language proficiency.     

Windmills by design: Purposeful curriculum design to meet next generation science standards in a 9–12 physics classroom

The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) challenges science teachers to think beyond specific content standards when considering how to design and implement curriculum. This lesson, “Windmills by Design,” is an insightful lesson in how science teachers can create and implement a cross-cutting lesson to teach the concepts of force, motion, and Bernoulli's principle. This 9–12 lesson requires students to consider the science behind windmill design by engineering windmill blades that can produce the most power in a class competition. The lesson is designed as a 5E lesson incorporating essential features of inquiry-based instruction.     

How do Detergents Work? A Qualitative Assay to Measure Amylase Activity

We present a practical activity focusing on two main goals: to give learners the opportunity to experience how the scientific method works and to increase their knowledge about enzymes in everyday situations. The exercise consists of determining the amylase activity of commercial detergents. The methodology is based on a qualitative assay using a colorimetric process. Quantitative results are also obtained by measuring the halo formed. This activity is suitable for and adaptable to learners at different levels of education: primary school, secondary education or even for pre-service teachers, which is the group the version described in this paper was intended for. This laboratory activity was designed to include the scientific method as a learning outcome. This was especially important in pre-service teachers, as increasing scientific literacy is one of the primary goals of science education. Through the activity, students also learn about micro-organisms and their applications in their daily lives, which is one of the tenets of Science–Technology–Society–Environment programs. A case study was conducted with a group of learners made up of 75 pre-service teachers from Universitat Rovira i Virgili in Tarragona, in order to verify whether this lab activity is well designed and can be satisfactorily implemented.     

Language analysis in the United Kingdom's refugee status determination system: seeing through policy claims about ‘expert knowledge’

This paper examines claims made about the role of ‘expert knowledge’ in analysing the language of individuals seeking asylum in the UK. I treat policy as a type of power and seek to understand how this policy uses the language of science to further the British government's stated interest to provide ‘secure borders’ and a ‘safe haven’ for refugees. I look at how the Home Office defines, shapes and implements the policy, and at how the policy has influenced judicial decisions. In short I unmask UKBA's claim that it relies upon expert, scientific knowledge to assess asylum claims.     

Splits or waves? Trees or webs? How divergence measures and network analysis can unravel language histories

Linguists have traditionally represented patterns of divergence within a language family in terms of either a 'splits' model, corresponding to a branching family tree structure, or the wave model, resulting in a (dialect) continuum. Recent phylogenetic analyses, however, have tended to assume the former as a viable idealization also for the latter. But the contrast matters, for it typically reflects different processes in the real world: speaker populations either separated by migrations, or expanding over continuous territory. Since history often leaves a complex of both patterns within the same language family, ideally we need a single model to capture both, and tease apart the respective contributions of each. The 'network' type of phylogenetic method offers this, so we review recent applications to language data. Most have used lexical data, encoded as binary or multi-state characters. We look instead at continuous distance measures of divergence in phonetics. Our output networks combine branch- and continuum-like signals in ways that correspond well to known histories (illustrated for Germanic, and particularly English). We thus challenge the traditional insistence on shared innovations, setting out a new, principled explanation for why complex language histories can emerge correctly from distance measures, despite shared retentions and parallel innovations.     

Fostering systems thinking in student teachers of biology and geography – an intervention study

ABSTRACT

Developing students’ systems thinking is an often-posed demand in education for sustainable development (ESD) and science literacy. Several studies have shown that systems thinking can be fostered in students of different education levels. Therefore, science teachers who are required to teach ESD-relevant topics should be proficient in systems thinking and be able to transfer that knowledge effectively to their students. The research project SysThema (Systems Thinking in Ecological and Multidimensional Areas) investigated the effect of three courses designed to foster systems thinking in student teachers of biology and geography. Courses varied in their proportions of technical fundamentals of system science and didactical content for teaching systems thinking. To conceptualise systems thinking, a heuristic structural competence model for systems thinking was developed. This model served as the basis for a test in evaluating the courses in a quasi-experimental intervention study that employed a pre-, post- and follow-up test control group design. After the completion of the courses, a high effect of fostering systems thinking was found in all treatment groups compared to the control group.