Scientific modeling and translanguaging: A multilingual and multimodal approach to support science learning and engagement

Ashlyn E. Pierson, Douglas B. Clark, Corey E. Brady
2021 Science Education  
Research suggests that translanguaging can be transformative for teaching and learning by making students' diverse linguistic resources a meaningful part of classroom discourse. Building on this study, researchers have explored how translanguaging practices can support learning in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics), primarily in the context of bilingual classrooms. However, in the United States, most students learn in English-dominant classrooms. In response, researchers
more » ... d educators have begun to explore strategies for inviting and leveraging translanguaging in English-dominant classrooms, primarily focusing on literacy learning. Less is known about supporting translanguaging in English-dominant STEM classrooms, particularly with monolingual teachers. In an English-dominant sixth-grade STEM classroom engaging in a 9-week ecology unit, we explored how scientific modeling could not only provide a context for inviting translanguaging, but how it could also provide a setting where modeling and translanguaging could be experienced as analogous meaningmaking practices. Our findings demonstrate that translanguaging has the potential to support new kinds of learning in English-dominant STEM classrooms, not only about STEM content and practices but also about what counts as legitimate and valuable participation in these spaces. K E Y W O R D S scientific modeling, translanguaging Douglas B. Clark and Corey E. Brady contributed equally to each other.
doi:10.1002/sce.21622 fatcat:lhuyz4muevhjnhdt4dq5i2ajri