Pillar 3: Investigaciones and Hands-On Learning

• In Event: Building and Sustaining una Escuela Bilingüe: Pillars as Anchors of Practice

Abstract

Objectives: The investigaciones and hands-on learning pillar focuses on students learning through two languages by asking questions, researching, interacting with content, and creating products that demonstrate understanding. When students are at the center of their content learning, the result is high engagement levels that facilitate language acquisition. This paper demonstrates how at Entre Mundos this is done through inquiry and project-based science and social studies units that provide students with authentic experiences like field trips and animals in the classroom.

Theoretical Framework: Regarding language learning, inquiry-based teaching stimulates students to engage in cognitive and exploratory activities actively (Lee, 2014). Through inquiry-based learning, language learners strengthen their linguistic skills while at the same time gaining different cultural and social perspectives as they discuss and research content (Escalante Arauz, 2014). Simultaneously, recent practices in language learning emphasize the significance of the student's contribution to developing their language practices through active involvement (Mollaei & Rahnama, 2012).

Modes of Inquiry & Data Sources: A self-study approach that allowed teachers to observe and reflect on the various inquiry spaces at Entre Mundos. In particular, teachers focused on how students' linguistic practices developed as real-life connections were made between their home backgrounds, classroom content teaching, and community resources and beyond (Wong et al., 2020).

Results: Over the years, inquiry and hands-on learning have continued to evolve at Entre Mundos. As students get older and expand their linguistic repertoire, their engagement increases as they take on a more pronounced voice in their learning. In science classrooms, teachers continue to connect learning with real-life experiences and their multicultural backgrounds. There are animals in the classroom to spark curiosity and encourage sharing of family knowledge and stories and allow students to care for living things in and out of school.

Field trips have also become an integral part of Entre Mundos. In community walks, students notice how Spanish and English - as well as other named languages - are spoken in the neighborhood to address the needs of the diverse population surrounding the school. Students also travel across the city to take a closer look at landmarks and view exhibits, which allows for perspectives that differ from reading a text or watching a video. Many discussions occur before, during, and after each paseo. Field trips affirm students' linguistic identities and provide contexts for language practice and inquiry into curricular topics.

Significance of the Study: Inquiry-based and hands-on learning are essential for teaching and learning, especially for students becoming bilingual and biliterate. When students have real-life experiences, they are highly engaged in learning new content and skills as they grow their linguistic repertoire with features of Spanish, English, and perhaps other languages. Field trips add another level of conceptual understanding to students learning in a bilingual setting, as they experience content and language while interacting through models, exhibits, experts, and authentic artifacts. Inquiry-based and hands-on learning allows students to come to new understandings, ask multiple questions, conduct research, and demonstrate their content learning using their full linguistic repertoire.

Author

• Alcira Jaar, New York City Department of Education