Opening the Door: Preparing Elementary Teachers to Teach STEM Content to English Learners

• In Event: Serving Multilingual Students in the STEM Content Areas

Abstract

Developing a multilingual and multicultural STEM workforce begins in K-12 education. This presentation will share a design-based research study of a multi-year university and community-based program focused on preparing elementary pre-service teachers to support STEM success for English learners. This mixed-methods study observed changes in education majors’: a) knowledge of STEM content and instructional strategies for teaching English learners; b) self-efficacy (one’s belief about their ability to successfully enact tasks); and c) bias toward multilingual learners. Results from the first cohort showed improvements in education majors’ STEM content knowledge of force, motion, and matter, self-efficacy for teaching and learning engineering, and significant changes in attitudes and feelings about teaching English learners.

Authors

• Jeanne Carey Ingle, Bridgewater State University
  Presenting Author

• Nicole J. Glen, Bridgewater State University
  Presenting Author