Our control group was taught science in the way that science is typically taught. When the students were taught science they were introduced to the ideas and the concepts simultaneously. For example, if they students were taught about how plants use carbon dioxide, they encountered something that read “Plants use carbon dioxide, which is the ‘bad’ air that humans breathe out, in order to to make their energy. ”
To contrast this somewhat standard approach to teaching, we also taught the lesson using what we call the Disaggregate Approach to science teaching. In Disaggregate instruction, the teacher attempts to separate, or disaggregate, the language and concepts to improve students’ learning. To accomplish this, students in the study were taught using everyday language alone. By doing this, students were introduced to the ideas without being taught the science language. The language was taught after the initial idea was explored.For example, a students my encounter something that read “ Plants use the bad air that humans breath out in order to make their own food.”
As a result of these early findings, we are now planning to test this type of teaching for second language learners. The S.A.L.L.I group is seeking the support of 5th grade teachers who are interested in participating in this project. If you interested please feel free to contact us. We look forward to hearing from you. relationship between students language and identity effected their classroom learning. Second, I attempted to challenge scholars to consider using Discursive Identity as a theoretical lens through which to understand science learning for minority students. Third, my research examined how using the relationship between language and identity as a theoretical lens to inform education could improve classroom instruction.
