Scientific Modeling to Support Multilingual Students: Examining a Professional Learning Design for Elementary Teachers

• In Event: Equity in Elementary Science Teaching and Learning

Abstract

Problem. This design-based research study (Cobb et al., 2003) initially aimed to help elementary teachers to plan and implement model-based science learning sequences in a year-long professional development (PD) program. During our initial PD implementation (Cohort 1, Summer 2019), participating teachers prompted revisions to our design by asking for support with teaching students classified as English learners (ELs). In response, we focused on the multimodality inherent in scientific modeling and on scaffolding students’ participation in language-intensive science practices (Lee & Stephens, 2020). Although several teachers used modeling to expand opportunities for sensemaking (Pierson et al., 2021), our analysis of PD data suggests that equitable teaching may have been constrained by deficit ideologies prevalent in US educational institutions (Daniel, 2021) that shape how the teachers and PD facilitators in our study interpreted and responded to students’ participation in learning activities (Louie et al., 2021).
Design. In this session, we will describe how, in response to our initial analysis, our research team has redesigned our PD program in order to explicitly raise and respond to deficit ideologies, focusing on monoglossic language ideologies that privilege “academic” English over students’ multilingual and multimodal communicative resources (Garcia & Li, 2014; Flores & Rosa, 2015). Specifically, we revised summer PD workshops to include activities in which teachers (1) participated as learners in multilingual science lessons, (2) reflected on their own experiences as multilingual learners, and (3) discussed hierarchical language prevalent in schools that contributes to deficit perspectives of students from minoritized groups, including multilingual learners.
Findings. We used interaction analysis (Goodwin, 2018; Jordan & Henderson, 1995) to understand how the activities described above shaped teachers’ and researchers’ understanding of equitable teaching practices. We will present an analysis of the redesigned activities implemented with Cohort 1 teachers (May 2021), and further refined activities to be implemented with Cohort 2 teachers (July 2021).
With Cohort 1, we found that engaging in multilingual learning activities enabled teachers to see how students unfamiliar with “academic language” could meaningfully and rigorously engage in learning. Following these activities, teachers participated in critical reflections about hierarchical language (e.g., “Level 0” ELs). Yet, we were surprised to find that later in the PD, teachers in some cases continued to privilege academic English as the “goal” of science learning, a stance that could limit learning opportunities for multilingual students. Drawing on theories of ideology in interaction (Philip et al., 2018), we hypothesize that we did not create adequate space for teachers to grapple with divergent ideologies, and we did not adequately support multiple pathways for teacher learning that built from teachers’ goals and priorities (Warren et al., 2020). These findings inform redesigned activities for Cohort 2.
Contribution/Significance. While science educators agree on a goal of “broadening participation” (NSF INCLUDES, 2020), differing meanings for “equity” (Warren et al., 2020) and deficit ideologies reified by institutional accountability structures (Louie et al., 2021) makes supporting equitable science teaching challenging. This paper will offer insight about designing PD that supports teachers and researchers in grappling with these complex issues.

Authors

• Heather J. Johnson, Vanderbilt University

• Ashlyn Pierson, The Ohio State University

• Danielle Keifert, University of North Texas

• Bethany Daniel, Vanderbilt University

• Andrea Henrie, Vanderbilt University