first Alarm
Language and background
cultural shock
Gender issue cultural differences
professional surprise
Language in science teaching
awarness
knowing about culture and language.
connect research and practice
CSP and Translanguaging.
culturally sensetive teaching
my journey!
Language and background Students had misconceptions that were because of difference between academic language and everyday language.
- example: acceleration , Velocity and speed, law vs theory
- solution: before hand discussions
student had problem understanding concepts because of lack of previous experience with the concept.
- example: elevator
- solution: recognize them, ask them, take an action
learning about culture of science classes and labs in US My advisor wanted I shadow Physics, Chemistry, and Biology classes and labs
- Lecture based big classes
- No attempt to give students sense of belonging
- Gender difference both in numbers and reactions
- No attention to math background (calculus was not required)
- No connection between what science professor was doing and what lab instructor was doing
My son went to school as language learner
- Science teacher was communicating with him and teaching him with drawing and we were answering back with drawing
I was only minority in the entire department
- Thousands of time I asked myself if they have any idea how difficult it is to communicate and write in a language that was not part of your life for 30 years.
- Hundreds of time I asked if they know about the rest of universe except the things they hear in the news
Interview in UTRGV I got invited to the campus interview to teach in classroom interactions with the topic teaching science to EL students.
- new course, new topic
- I thought in Persia about Newton's third law. Students learned it and did an inquiry based activity too. then we discussed what worked and what did not and what was their feeling.
- I still have one section in science method class about it
SIRG internal grant It was 2 days after coming to the Edinburg I attended a meeting about SIRG grant which was asking about what it means to serve in a HSI. I did not know what it means but I knew I need to know it to serve my students so I applied and won. the goal of project was NOS but it needed me to know the population so I collected 120 autobiographies from my students. half of them were science majors and half were not. I read them over and over to find the factors helped them to be successful in science and factors that were failure. then I designed the workshop with every single activity designed to help with one of that barriers. . Structure of Workshop Designed based on Elements of NOS and Autobiographies Element of Nature of Science Theme from Autobiography Structure of the workshop Related Activities Observation vs. inference Law vs. theory -Lack of cultural elements -Language barrier (lack of understanding of science terminology) -Lack of deep understanding of science -Using cultural pictures to connect LPTs’ prior knowledge to the explanation of these concepts -Cultural pictures (picture of Dia de los Muertos Vs. Iranian new year) -Tricky Track activity (Lederman & Abd-El-Khalick, 1998) -Great fossil activity (can be found online) Science has socio-cultural elements -Lack of cultural elements -Gender stereotypes -Discussion with a scientist about the kinds of research in Valley. -Sharing related stories of the history of science -Story of Mendel (Williams & Rudge, 2016) -Discussion with scientists Science is a human endeavor -Lack of cultural elements -Gender stereotypes -Discussion with a female scientist -Discussion about the role of creativity and imagination in science -Tangram activity (Vesali et al., 2022). -Tricky Track activity -Great fossil activity -Discussion with scientist Science is tentative but durable -Conflicts between science and religion -Lack of deep understanding of science - Discussion with a female scientist - History of science
-Tangram activity - The Ptolemy's model of solar system and Aristotelian views of motion Creativity and Imagination are part of science -Teachers’ attitudes and learning styles -Discussion around activities -Comparing science with other disciplines -Tangram activity -Tricky track activity -Great fossil activity - Real science experiment on the pendulum with a scientist Science has limitations and cannot answer all the questions -family involvement -conflicts between science and religion - History of science -Discussion around activities -Discussion with scientists -Great fossil activity - Story of Darwin -Story of Mendel
My research strands Nature of science
- CR instrument
- both teaching with cultural lens and analyzing data with cultural lens
Translanguaging Competency 1: The teacher should know pedagogical methods on how to teach linguistically diverse students. That means the teacher knows:
- Linguistically diverse students need opportunities to participate in activities, discussions, and argumentations.
- It is critical for students to know both concept and terminology.
- Students usually use their minoritized languages for forming ideas and the dominant language of instruction for displaying the formulated idea.
- Scientific sense-making and linguistic sense-making support each other.
- Minoritized languages can support instruction in the dominant language and do not work against it.
Competency 2: The teacher believes in the importance of using translanguaging pedagogy and has professional dispositions. That means the teacher:
- Is open to various ways of verbal and written expression.
- Challenges linguistic hierarchy and ideologies that students and facilitators brought to the setting.
- Acknowledges linguistically diverse students’ rich linguistic and knowledge resources.
- Establishes a rich learning community and safe space in which all participants are recognized.
- Has a language inclusive ideology.
Competency 3: The teacher can identify the rationale for using translanguaging pedagogy. The teacher believes in using translanguaging pedagogy: Helps students to have a better understanding of science and enriches the science experience. Facilitates learning science terminology. Facilitates learning language. Activates meaning-making resources. Facilitates access to more resources for pedagogical scaffolding. Increases self-confidence, positions, identity, sense of belonging, and sense of solidity among minoritized students; it also helps the students overcome their marginalized positions. Helps contributing to the group discussion and playing an active role in the learning, increases reasoning power and communication potential, and helps authentic voices to be heard. Creates an emotionally safe environment in which students can share their feeling and adds humor. Helps access to personal stories, examples, and prior knowledge, acts as a third space that bridges everyday experience and science. Supports small group interactions. Supports student-centered approach. Bridges borders between cultures. Increases motivation. Welcomes other languages in science. Competency 4: The teacher possesses professional skills to implement translanguaging pedagogy. The teacher is able to: Recognize a proper time for translanguaging. Bridge the gaps between everyday and academic discourse. Use interaction as a tool for learning. Maintain classroom culture. Facilitate the academic task. Frame epistemic practices and support learners’ bilingual or multilingual identities. Provide supporting environment and use translanguaging as a dynamic activity that flows in CLIL classrooms. Competency 5: The teacher selects appropriate pedagogical approaches and instructional strategies to apply translanguaging pedagogy. The teacher uses: Translanguaging for conceptual learning regarding the content of science. Translanguaging for learning the language of instruction. Translanguaging in small groups in which students share the same language. Translanguaging for identity development of students. Translanguaging for providing the opportunity of accessing to the larger community for students. Translanguaging in different stages of instruction. Translanguaging for developing culture of classroom. Variety of classroom materials and resources to facilitate translanguaging. Translanguaging for assessment. Translanguaging for extracting prior knowledge. Competency 6: The teacher is aware of the challenges of using translanguaging pedagogy and is able to handle them. The challenges include: Superficial understanding of translanguaging that leads to simple code-switching Monolingual students in the classroom Low expectations of students Contextualizing the subject matter to everyday experiences of students that are different from those of the teacher Recognizing if the difficulty is related to scientific knowledge or to the language Recognizing differences between discursive and national languages that can emerge in such a situation Wrong expectation of themselves Choosing an assessment that meets need of students Classroom management Ideology of not seeing other languages as the language of science Incorrect translation Table 6 Themes Related to Instructional Strategies Organizing Theme Basic Themes N A- Translanguaging for conceptual learning content of science S01- Using students’ minoritized languages to explain terms in the language of instruction 11 S02- Using students’ minoritized languages for de-briefing of the scientific content 9 S03- Reading in the language of instruction and explaining in the students’ minoritized languages 6 S04- Providing an opportunity for discussion to gain an understanding of science 1 S05- Shaping learner’s contributions 2 S06- Facilitating learning figures/tables, for example, using students’ minoritized languages to synthesize their key information of a graph 5 S07- Engaging students with various ways and resources to help them to learn new science ideas and use both languages (e.g., worksheet in students’ languages) 3 S08- Summarizing and explaining students' points by teacher 7 S09- Writing students’ thoughts using all their linguistic resources 2 S10- Summarizing the lesson in both the language of instruction and minoritized languages 5 S11- Checking for comprehension cues from the students who were silent 2 S12- Giving voice to students 4 S13- Let student ask questions in minoritized languages and receive answers in the language of instruction 1 S14- Using important words in both languages 1 S15- Whole class discussion 1 S16- Doing scientific practices 1 B- Translanguaging for learning language (L2) S17- Incorporating language learning strategies 5 S18- Pronouncing English acronyms in minoritized languages 1 S19- Playing a language game 1 C- Translanguaging in small groups S20- Using the language of instruction in small groups in multi-language classes 9 S21- Problem based approach inside groups 1 D- Translanguaging for identity S22- Earning identity via helping peers in group 1 E- Translanguaging for accessing to the larger community S23- Keeping the fundamental terms in English to facilitate access to the scientific community. 5 F- Translanguaging in different stages of instruction S24- Using remediation activities in minoritized languages 1 S25- Using context embedded activity 2 S26- Using translating and/or code-switching 6 S27- Using the proper stages across of a lesson for minoritized languages 5 S28- Facilitating language shifts 8 G- Translanguaging for developing culture of classroom S29- Providing opportunities to talk for developing the dominant language of instruction 7 S30- Social interactions in both languages 5 S31- Encouraging students to express themselves in their minoritized languages and create relationships between the two languages 5 S32- Reading students' silence as an alarm that they are not learning. 1 S33- Using minoritized languages to establish classroom norms 1 S34- Announcing before switching to students’ minoritized languages 1 H- Classroom facilities S35- Using objects and facilities (dictionaries, 3D objects) 12 S36- Having course materials in both languages 7 I- Translanguaging for assessment S37- Using oral presentations, online blogging or video-production, and short writing while they can use their minoritized languages in the process of production 3 S38- Using student-generated self-assignments and giving them a feeling of authorship of their own work to make an agency 4 S39- Using Multimedia/multi-language assignments 2 S40- Using formative assessments like clarifying questions in minoritized languages 1 J- Translanguaging for extracting prior knowledge S41- Making connections from text to children’s experiences 24 S42- Discussing everyday knowledge and values in the classroom 5 S43- Letting student approach the concept from their personal life and experience lens 1 S44- Using minoritized languages to elicit students’ contributions/points of view/previous knowledge 1 S45- Using familiar terms in students’ minoritized languages by students and encouraging them to expand their communicative repertoire 4 S46- Filling gap between earlier experiences and the present ones 4 phenomenon-based learning My teaching practice CRP Tenets Subcategories High Expectations 1. Modeling, scaffolding, & clarification of the challenging curriculum 2. Using students’ strength starting points 3. Investing and taking personal responsibility for students’ successes, going above and beyond 4. Creating and nurturing cooperative environments 5. Having high behavioral expectations Cultural Competence 1. Reshaping the prescribed curriculum 2. Building on students’ funds of knowledge 3. Encouraging relationships between school and communities Critical Consciousness 1. Engaging students in social justice work 2. Making explicit the power dynamics of mainstream society highlights:
- small group discussions in the convenience language
- debriefing in both languages
- interviews in both languages
- hearing personal experiences
- vocabulary
