Let’s Talk About Science: The Teacher’s Role in Fostering Participation and Community in a Bilingual First-Grade Classroom

• In Event: Poster Session 3
  In Poster Session: Educational Needs of Immigrant and Minority Students

Abstract

Science is one subject area that is heavily connected to an academic register of language. This case study highlights one first grade bilingual classroom and presents information on how the students interacted and took language risks during science. The study investigated the teacher’s role in providing bilingual learners with pathways of social and verbal participation, while also attempting to understand how teacher identity and investment shape events in the classroom context to foster participation. The research findings provide insight into how the classroom teacher facilitated tasks and provided avenues of access to the “language of science” for the children.

Author

• Cristin Marie Geoghegan, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign