The Kindergarten Science Classroom: Designing Learning Environments Toward Equity and Participation for Emergent Bilingual Students

• In Event: Strategies for Implementing Equitable Science Education for Linguistically Diverse Learners

Abstract

Our study is the result of a three-year, teacher-researcher partnership focused on the implementation of the Next Generation Science Standards physics unit in an urban kindergarten classroom. This study highlights elements of a designed learning environment, which were found to support a range of participation styles as students worked to leverage scientific models to learn about complex phenomena, explain their thinking, and become engaged participants in the process and practice of scientific modeling. We present findings that highlight how elements of the design framework afforded emergent bilingual students the opportunities to take advantage of a system of supports where they could make intellectual connections between their ideas and scientific concepts.

Authors

• Michelle Salgado, University of Washington - Seattle

• Kaia Tomokiyo, Highline Public Schools