Accessible Expertise: Supporting Participation for Nonnative Speakers in a Problem-Based Learning Science Classroom

• In Event: 28.077 - Strategies for Facilitating Skills Development in Problem-Based Learning

Abstract

It may “take expertise to make expertise” (Bransford & Schwartz, 2006), but all of the expertise in the world won’t matter if Non Native speaker students don’t have, or believe they have, access to that expertise. Inaccessible expertise might have an oppositional effect, making the individual’s own mastery less likely. Students who struggle - whether academically, socially or linguistically – might be led to believe that they have nothing unique or academic to add, that their voice does not matter. This has become increasingly relevant as schools serve students who represent a wide variety of socio-economic, ethnic and linguistic diversity. This case study examines the experiences of a teacher and her students in an intentional effort to support participation among NNS students.

Author

• Elizabeth Wright, The Pennsylvania State University