A first-year middle school science teacher's experiences navigating science content in a Dual Language Immersion Program

For the continuing development of quality instructional practices, educators must have access to the findings of research and be in a position to explore applications of those findings. We think we may have found such a resource: A 2016 book titled The ABCs of How We Learn: 26 Scientifically proven approaches, how they work, and when to use them by Schwartz, Tsang, and Blair is a concise, insightful, and applicable set of 26 short articles that explain key learning factors, provide examples, and identify the supporting scholarship. In this article, a first-year middle school science teacher and a veteran teacher educator offer teacher educators and professional developers an overview of the 26 factors as they work in a middle school science classroom and an example of how to effectively utilize this text in teacher education programs via vignette creations and analyses.

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The Evolution of Drawing as an Equitable Way to Assess ELLs in a Middle School Science Classroom

Handbook of Research on Advancing Language Equity Practices With Immigrant Communities - Advances in Educational Technologies and Instructional Design ◽

10.4018/978-1-7998-3448-9.ch008 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 142-159

Author(s):

Amanda M. Latimer ◽

Martha E. Monreal

Keyword(s):

Middle School ◽

Science Classroom ◽

School Science ◽

Middle School Science ◽

Science Content ◽

Implementation Barriers ◽

School Students ◽

Ell Students ◽

Content Understanding ◽

Science Assessments

In this chapter, the authors discuss what they observed and learned as drawing was integrated into assessments already in use in a middle school science classroom. Informed by a growing body of evidence that supports the notion that allowing students to draw answers on assessments disrupts normative assessment practices, promoting more equitable assessments for ELLs. Their overall goal was to add to the understanding of how drawing can provide a more complete picture of ELL students science content understanding. This chapter begins with the historical importance of drawing in science, and then the intersection of ELLs, drawing, science, and assessment, followed by a description of how drawing was adapted into middle school science assessments. Examples of how middle school students responded to prompts to draw answers on assessments are included followed by implementation barriers that were confronted by their teachers. The authors then conclude this chapter with a discussion focusing on recommendations to fellow teachers.

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Mobilities of Language and Literacy Ideologies: Dual Language Graduates’ Bilingualism and Biliteracy

Journal of Literacy Research ◽

10.1177/1086296x16686143 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 49 (2) ◽

pp. 210-239 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Nadia R. Granados

Keyword(s):

Dual Language ◽

Qualitative Methodology ◽

Language Immersion ◽

Language And Literacy ◽

Cultural Economic ◽

Dual Language Immersion ◽

Immersion Program ◽

Complex Processes ◽

Political Forces ◽

Past Experiences

Using qualitative methodology, this research examines how graduates of a K-5 dual language immersion program have experienced multiple and competing social, cultural, institutional, and political forces at play in complex processes that ultimately affect one’s mobilities of language, literacy, and learning. These students have now grown into adulthood, and the extent to which their past experiences as dual language students have affected their current language and literacy ideologies and practices is examined. As graduates experienced and internalized notions of Spanish as social, cultural, economic, and literacy capital, this likely contributed to current ideologies that greatly esteem bilingualism and biliteracy. The findings highlight that ideologies of language and literacy are neither static nor fixed, but over time, they have been molded and reshaped in a very fluid and lively process.

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An Examination Of How Middle School Science Teachers Conduct Collaborative Inquiry And Reflection About Students’ Conceptual Understanding

Contemporary Issues in Education Research (CIER) ◽

10.19030/cier.v10i2.9933 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 10 (2) ◽

pp. 169-178

Author(s):

Christine Todd-Gibson

Keyword(s):

Middle School ◽

Science Teachers ◽

Conceptual Understanding ◽

Collaborative Inquiry ◽

School Science ◽

Middle School Science ◽

Science Content ◽

School Activities ◽

Science Group ◽

Middle School Science Teachers

This qualitative case study examined how middle school science teachers conducted collaborative inquiry and reflection about students’ conceptual understanding, and how individual teachers in the middle school science group acted and made reflections in response to their collaborative inquiry. It also examined external influences that affected the teachers’ ability to engage in collaborative inquiry. Observational, written, and interview data were collected from observations of teachers’ face-to-face meetings and reflections, individual interviews, a focus group interview, and online reflections. The results of this study revealed that collaborative inquiry is a form of professional development that includes answering curricular questions through observation, communication, action, and reflection. This approach was developed and implemented by middle school science teachers. The premise of an inquiry is based on a need with students. Middle school science teachers came to consensus about actions to affect students’ conceptual understanding, took action as stated, and shared their reflections of the actions taken with consideration to current and upcoming school activities. Activities involved teachers brainstorming and sharing with one another, talking about how the variables were merged into their curriculum, and how they impacted students’ conceptual understanding. Teachers valued talking with one another about science content and pedagogy, but did find the inquiry portion of the approach to require more development. The greatest challenge to conducting collaborative inquiry and reflection was embedding teacher inquiry within a prescribed inquiry that was already being conducted by the Sundown School District. Collaborative inquiry should be structured so that it meets the needs of teachers in order to attend to the needs of students. A conducive atmosphere for collaborative inquiry and reflection is one in which administrators make the process mandatory and facilitate the process by removing an existing inquiry.

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