ERIC Number: EJ1179706
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2018
Pages: 25
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0950-0693
EISSN: N/A
'Opening Up' a Science Task: An Exploration of Shifting Embodied Participation of a Multilingual Primary Student
Gómez Fernández, Roberto; Siry, Christina
International Journal of Science Education, v40 n7 p771-795 2018
Culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) students have different home languages and cultures from many of their peers, In our context, these students suffer from higher school drop-out rates than their peers and are far behind their peers in sciences. This study investigates the interactions of a nine-year-old child whose home language is Portuguese and who learns science in this specific case in a "diglossic" environment in the Luxembourgish school system, in which his teacher used German for written tasks and Luxembourgish for oral communication. We examine, moment-by-moment, the interactions around a task regarding environmental protection. The role of this "Lusoburguês" (Luxembourgish and Portuguese identities and nationalities combined) student and his embodiment and participation changes when his group is confronted with an activity that requires an increased amount of manipulation. His identity evolves in interaction, as he becomes the leader in his group, and through a playful stance, manages to open the task so that his peers can further explore. Implications include the value of including more open-ended investigations in the teaching and learning of science as well as implications for further study concerning practice-based approaches in science classrooms with CLD students, particularly in increasingly multilingual/cultural and/or diglossic or heteroglossic school contexts.
Descriptors: Multilingualism, Bilingual Students, Portuguese, Elementary School Students, Student Diversity, Migrant Children, Educational Policy, Ethnography, Environmental Education, Student Participation, Science Activities, Task Analysis, Student Leadership, Student Attitudes, Special Needs Students, Teaching Methods, Foreign Countries, Interviews, Participant Observation
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Elementary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Luxembourg
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A