Teaching Science and Engineering in Elementary Bilingual Classes in Massachusetts and Puerto Rico

• In Event: Sociocultural Perspectives on Teaching Science and Engineering in Bilingual and Dual-Language Programs: Professional Development Issues

Abstract

Professional development of Bilingual and Dual Language (BDL) educators is a key element for the success of BDL education programs (Guerrero & Lachance, 2018; Howard et al., 2018). Quite often, BDL teacher preparation programs do not emphasize students’ development in the partner language for academic, social, and political purposes (Guerrero & Guerrero, 2009) and seldom integrate it with discipline-specific content (Aquino-Sterling, 2016) like science and engineering (S&E). In addition, the issue may be magnified in professional development (PD) opportunities for in-service teachers. We argue that to support BDL teachers, teacher educators need to prepare them to become confident language, literacy, and content educators simultaneously.

We draw on a linguistically and culturally sustaining pedagogies (CSP) framework (Paris & Alim, 2017), which seeks to foster cultural and linguistic pluralism. Working from an asset-based perspective, CSP proposes to instead center “the dynamic practices and selves of students and communities of color in a critical, additive, and expansive vision of schooling” (p. 3).

This is a multiyear concurrent mixed-method research project (Creswell & Plano, 2018), and we will present on the second phase. We used a purposeful and maximal variation sampling strategy (Creswell, 2014) as well as snowball sampling (Glesne, 2011) for participant recruitment. We collected data from teachers’ participation in an online PD workshop; teachers’ curriculum units, classroom materials, and artifacts; and teachers’ self-reflections (i.e., online presentations to other teachers, Q&A sessions, implementations of improved curriculum units).

Working with two cohorts of BDL teachers in Massachusetts and Puerto Rico (n=24), we developed a PD workshop and guided the implementation of culturally sustaining, inquiry-based units in BDL programs. We chose S&E content because research suggests the need for more linguistically and culturally relevant content in these areas (Johnson & Atwater, 2014). PD workshops included training in CSP in S&E, including translanguaging. As a by-product of the ongoing training, a cohort of BDL teachers was created. BDL teachers in the cohort offered mutual help and support.

Emerging findings from this study suggest that teacher-participants became more confident in their ability to facilitate students’ biliteracy development in CSP, S&E lessons. Teachers overwhelmingly welcomed such S&E specific training delivered in Spanish, which they did not receive while in their teacher preparation program. Teachers expressed the need for instructional resources that authentically reflect S&E practices in the partner language and culture, including translanguaging. The participation in the workshop and the guided implementation of inquiry-based curriculum units created an opportunity for teachers to develop linguistically and culturally sustaining science and engineering practices.
This work supports previous research indicating the need for quality BDL teacher professional development beginning from teacher preparation programs focusing on discipline-specific content. It will also contribute to prepare ideologically clear bilingual and dual language teachers (Alfaro & Bartolomé, 2017) who can advocate for CSP S&E instruction. Implications of this study include a reconsideration of BDL teacher education to enhance S&E instruction as a vehicle to enhance a more equitable BDL education for emergent bilinguals in the 21st century.

Authors

• Marialuisa Di Stefano, University of Massachusetts - Amherst

• Idalis Villanueva, University of Florida

• Alberto Esquinca, San Diego State University