Author(s):
Need: Teachers struggle to teach children whose heritage language is different from their own, and multilingual learners (MLs) rarely reach academic parity with their peers. STEM careers are the fastest growing professions for high school and college graduates, but ML preparation in the STEM subject areas is particularly lacking. This has a ripple effect within multilingual communities where limited access to science knowledge affects entrance to STEM secondary programs and post-secondary careers. While teacher training is crucial to ML success, teachers are ill-prepared to teach MLs in STEM due to lack of appropriate preparation and pedagogical materials, and misunderstanding about how general strategies for teaching MLs apply to STEM. Additionally, elementary teachers’ time teaching science or engineering in their classrooms, preparedness in teaching STEM, and understanding of effective strategies for doing so in ways that will further student participation in STEM is limited. Guiding Questions: Our study sought to prepare future teachers to make STEM education accessible to all students, and to combat negative attitudes and biases teachers may have toward who can “do” STEM and those with life experiences different from them. We created a two-course program paired with an internship teaching STEM to MLs called STEM-EL. Pre- and post-test surveys were given; semi-structured group interviews were conducted at the end of each day of field experience; preservice teachers wrote reflections of their classroom experiences. Using these qualitative and quantitative methods, the researchers sought to ascertain changes in preservice teachers’: a) pedagogical content knowledge, including content knowledge and instructional strategies, particularly for teaching MLs; b) self-efficacy, or one’s belief about their ability to successfully enact tasks in STEM; and c) attitude toward having MLs in their classroom. Outcomes: Teaching Engineering Self-Efficacy Scale (TESS) was chosen because most teachers have not experienced engineering or engineering pedagogical development while learning to become a teacher. Science Instructional Practices Survey (SIPS) documented shifts in science instruction towards reform-oriented education. To better understand the participants’ attitudes toward teaching MLs, we used the Social Justice – Inclusion Survey (SJ-IS). The TESS showed improved positive self-efficacy in engineering. The mean pre-test score was 4.41 and post-test score was 5.47 on a Likert scale of 1-6 (1 being “strongly disagree” and 6 being “strongly agree”). The SIPS showed preservice teachers were likely to have their students carry out practices of scientists. Questions about planning/carrying out investigations and developing/using models had the highest pre- to post-test gains. Our program helped preservice teachers better understand what those practices might look like in a classroom and how they might enact them more often than initially thought. The SJ-IS showed significant improvements in attitudes and feelings about teaching MLs. The greatest changes were that preservice teachers felt more enthusiastic, confident, comfortable, and prepared in their ability to work successfully in a classroom composed of majority MLs. Broader Impacts: We will provide implications for future development of STEM ML learning experiences for preservice teachers that serve to dismantle biases and elevate STEM learning for this population of students.
Coauthors
Jeanne Carey Ingle, Bridgewater State University, Bridgewater, MA
