Supporting Preservice Teachers and Their Future Multilingual Students Through Museum-Based Learning

• In Event: Equitable Access and Promising Practices: Supporting Multilingual Learners Beyond the “Core”

Abstract

Museums as sites of learning assist preservice teachers (PST) with development of practices, theory, content knowledge and reflection in support of teaching and learning (Author, 2022a; Gupta & Adams, 2012). Additionally, museums can serve as a space to model meaningful instructional practices (Hamerness et al., 2016; Nichols, 2014), especially in regard to using visual texts supporting students’ meaning making and critical thinking skills (Walsh-Moorman, 2018). However, using existing community-based resources, like museums to support teacher learning, beyond core subjects is less developed. I asked, what perceived benefits did PSTs note for using the museum as a site of learning to apply to future teaching practice supporting multilingual learners?

This study draws on two complementary frameworks: multimodal meaning-making and learning through a social semiotic frame (Bezemer & Kress, 2016; Kress & van Leeuwen, 2001) and teacher learning beyond the university classroom (Zeichner, 2010). By interacting with museum art or artifacts as signs, users decide what they want to find (e.g., symbolic meaning), what they would like to see or learn more about (e.g., the social and cultural meaning), and also the path to follow next (e.g., researching the artist, object, or time period to gain additional insight or meaning).

This qualitative case study (Yin, 2009) is based on data collected from a PST teacher education class that visited a local museum four times across the course to extend university-classroom learning. Data sources (generated Spring 2020) included: field notes, PTS reflective dialog journal entries, PST generated lesson plans, individual interviews, and a professionally produced video of students reflecting on their experiences. Interview data and a transcript of the professional video were analyzed alongside lesson plans to trace PSTs learning trajectories. We generated in vivo codes (Saldaña, 2015) of PSTs’ responses (‘extended classroom learning,’ ‘‘introduce art to classrooms’, ‘promoted collaboration’, ‘practical experience’ and grouped these codes by themes to arrive at our findings.

The museum allowed for multiple meaning-making perspectives. As PSTs negotiated for meaning of the museum’s works in relation to their social and cultural contexts, similar to what ML encounter in school, they came to be more “receptive of students and their answers,” as Julie reflected. Museum visits enhanced Patricia’s “ability to work well with others and build communication skills,” whereas Marisol reflected that the museum experience taught her that “being open to many different student opinions is a great way to get dialogue going and to encourage participation.” In designing lesson plans for use in future teaching, Jose reflected how cultural objects, like a Greek theater mask could “fortify our synthesis skills in [school] in order to combine our subjects with everyday things that students may encounter and that are relevant to them.” While Elise noted pairing art with various subjects meant, “our class is creating accessible resources to introduce art and discussion into classrooms.”

Use of museums may support PSTs to consider museum visits with their ML and engage in object-based discussions that center students’ cultural and linguistic backgrounds as assets in meaning making.

Author

• Matthew R. Deroo, Florida International University