California Science Project (CSP) http://csmp.ucop.edu/csp/ The California Science Project (CSP) is a statewide teacher professional development network for teachers of science from elementary to the postsecondary level.
Helping English Learners Increase Achievement Through Inquiry-Based Science Instruction http://brj.asu.edu/content/vol26_no2/pdf/ART2.PDF This article was submitted and printed in the "Bilingual Research Journal, Summer 2002 Issue, Volume 26, Number 2. Written by Dr. Olga Maia Amaral and Dr. Leslie Garrison, from San Diego State University, and Dr. Michael Klentschy, Superintendent for the El Centro School District; the article summarizes the results of a four-year study. The study is base on a four-year project in science education conducted in a rural setting with English learners in grades K-6, with the ultimate benefit on writing, reading, mathematics, and of course, science. Please click above to read the results.
The Rural Educator, Vol 23, No 2, Winter 2001, Pg 1 http://www.nrea.colostate.edu Turning Challenges into Opportunities in Science Education in Rual Communities
by: Olga Amaral and Leslie Garrison
Teaching Science in Rural Communities
Introduction
It is not unusual to hear educators point to a number of contributing factors that cause difficulty in promoting excellence in science education in small rural communities. Many don’t see it as excuses for poor performance in student achievement in science so much as just facts that have to be accepted, facts that no one can really do anything about. Some of these obstacles include geographical isolation, lack of resources, lack of a consistent science curriculum, lack of appropriate teacher training, and low socioeconomic status among the student population, just to mention a few. This article looks at reasons typically considered disadvantageous to the development of high achievement in science and explores how to turn barriers into advantages. It examines how a region can band together to change the culture of science education; putting in place innovative science programs with limited resources. This paper demonstrates how this rural area in Southern California, changed the “what bad luck” mindset of inevitability to the “what good luck” mindset of possibility.
Background
A science education reform program entitled Valle Imperial Project in Science (VIPS) is currently located in the Imperial Valley in Southeastern California. A rural area, the Imperial County is comprised of 14 school districts ranging in size from 77 to 7,258 students (California Department of Education1997-98). This county is one of California’s largest (4,597 sq. miles) and most sparsely populated (140,000). It borders Mexicali, Baja California, Mexico, a city with over one million people. Much of the population in the Imperial Valley lives at a poverty level with a median household income of $22, 201 (Bureau of the Census, 1999). The county’s unemployment rate in 1997 was 26.5%, much higher than the state’s rate of 7.2% for that same year (Employment Development Department, 1998).
In poor rural communities, it is often difficult to find programs in science education that fulfill expectations that insist on excellent achievement in science for all students. The VIPS project is beginning to work to meet these high expectations.
Demographics
The school population in 1997 totaled 32,394 in 14 school districts in the Imperial Valley. Of these, 81% were Hispanic, 14% were Caucasian, 2% were African-American, 1% were Asian, .6% were Native American, .4% were Filipino and 1% fell under other categories (California Department of Education, 1997-98). More than 46% of all students were limited English proficient and needed assistance with English skill development. In addition, 10% were children of migrant workers. Limited English proficient and migrant students are groups for whom academic achievement in English has been difficult to attain. Also, these are groups traditionally underrepresented in scientific professions (Wickware, 1997; Clayton, 1995).
Valle Imperial Project in Science
The Valle Imperial Project in Science (VIPS) is a science reform program that currently includes all elementary schools in the Imperial Valley. It is modeled after a science reform initiative implemented in the Pasadena Unified School District in Pasadena,
California. From 1995 to 1998, the El Centro School District, under the leadership of Superintendent Dr. Michael Klentschy, adapted the program from the urban area of Pasadena and implemented it in three pilot schools in the rural setting of Imperial County. For the 1998-99 academic year, the district was successful in securing financial assistance from a Local Systemic Change Initiative (LSCI) grant funded by the National Science Foundation to expand the pilot countywide. In its first year of implementation, the program included half the schools in the county and brought all schools on board by the second year.
The VIPS program focuses on five distinct elements needed for educational systemic change. These are a) administrative support, b) quality curriculum, c) sustained professional development, d) reliable materials support, and e) comprehensive assessment/ evaluation. Administrators, teachers, community members and parents give consistent attention to these five elements. As a result, science education is taking on a new look for students in the Imperial Valley. We are systematically changing the “What bad luck” culture of rural poverty to that of “What good luck” culture of science reform.
About This Program
The following information is presented in terms of a “bad luck” versus “good luck” scenario. After looking closely at initial achievement test results in science for students who participate in the VIPS Program, the question of the elements contributing to success was explored. Informal surveys with teachers, principals and superintendents gathered information regarding attitudes and perceptions about reasons given for success that could be categorized by a willingness to look at what the area has to offer in positive ways. Some may perceive the negative aspects of small rural communities as blocks toward the accomplishment of many things. Others are more willing to look at the conditions present and find ways to turn them into successes. The perceived “bad luck” impediments to success are presented in italicized font and the “good luck” aspects of those perceived impediments are presented in a bold font.
Isolation
The Imperial Valley is located at the extreme southeast corner of California and lacks any large metropolitan area. The closest city is San Diego that is approximately 120 miles west. The next large city is Los Angeles and it is located over 200 miles northwest of the valley. Outsiders often view the Imperial Valley, with sustained summer temperatures above 115 degrees, as a strange and inhospitable place, which adds to the feeling of isolation. While technology has improved lines of communication, a sense of isolation remains for many residents.
Students seldom have experiences outside of this area. A recent article in the Imperial Valley Press points to the reluctance of families and students themselves to enter colleges that take them away from home.5 Many are educated locally and remain here to work. Staff developers are reluctant to come to this remote area to provide services locally due to additional travel time, travel expense, and relatively small numbers of participants. More common is the “export” mentality that those from the Valley need to go outside the area to receive needed training.
The teacher force in the Imperial Valley is very stable. A total of 821 teachers have completed credential programs at San Diego State University – Imperial Valley Campus since June of 1979. Of these, a total of 628, or 76.4% are still currently employed as educators in the Imperial Valley.
When positive educational programs are implemented among this stable teacher population, they remain a part of the educational system. That is, when a reform initiative takes hold, it is likely to have a positive impact because it is done on a longterm basis and there is little movement by teachers responsible for the change. Therefore, when teachers begin to implement change in their classrooms, that change tends to be more consistent. With this level of consistency in training and staff development experiences, the rural and isolated community of Imperial Valley provides an ideal location for science reform efforts.
Low Income
The Imperial County is a very poor community. The unemployment rate in 1997 was 26.5%, well over triple the state’s unemployment rate of 7.2% for the same year (Imperial Valley Press, October 10, 1999). In poor communities such as this, resources are always few. Teachers struggle to find materials that move the implementation of the curriculum beyond basic textbooks.
School districts also struggle to find sufficient resources, both material and human, to accomplish their goals. There is a chronic shortage of fully credentialed teachers as well as a shortage of quality staff developers with expertise in science education to meet all the training needs of the Valley.
The Imperial Valley is a great place to write proposals for grant funding. Its demographic profile is such that it allows educators to easily demonstrate need for additional programs. Imperial County received the VIPS grant in part due to its unique population and extreme need.
Teachers in low-income areas are very appreciative of support, especially when it is provided in the local area. They do not take resources for granted when those resources mean materials, they are anxious to learn about the best way to use them. When it means professional development, they welcome opportunities to learn about different strategies to teach. VIPS demonstrates this point clearly as the number of local teachers who have received training has increased from 14 during the first year of implementation (Pilot Program) to 216 during the fourth year. The total number of teachers trained thus far with the program in its fifth year of implementation already totals 558.
Grant funds provide the flexibility for creative activities that regular funding could never provide. One example of this is a grant-supported Master’s program in Curriculum and Instruction with a focus in science education currently being offered at San Diego State University - Imperial Valley Campus. One of the courses offered during the summer of 1999 had participants attend a one-week science seminar at the San Diego Wild Animal Park. These experiences enhanced the teachers’ science knowledge-level and provided a solid and relevant foundation for science instruction.
High Number of ELL Students
Imperial Valley demographics indicate that the percentage of limited English proficient students is among the highest in the state. The percentage of students identified as limited English proficient in Imperial County totals 46.2% as compared to 24.6% at the state level6. High numbers of English Language Learners in school districts is often correlated with low achievement test scores as students who do not speak English fluently are at a decided disadvantage on standardized tests administered in English. Further, effective instruction in multiple language classrooms requires specially trained teachers and, although much effort goes into finding the best ways to teach this student population, it does not always translate into outcomes that yield high results on tests.
Students and teachers in the Imperial Valley come from the same ethnic and cultural background. Most teachers from the Imperial Valley have themselves gone through the process of learning English as their second language. When educators view the presence of English Language Learners in a positive light, there is a tendency to work harder to make the educational process for them be an effective one.
Language acquisition is enhanced when there is a connection felt between teachers and students. Being on the border with Mexicali, there are two cultures that are very much of a presence for students and teachers. Knowledge about these two cultures helps teachers to better understand students’ backgrounds. Their experiences do not seem to be so far removed from those of their students. Being on the border also means having access to two countries and brings the benefit of drawing upon best practices and resources from each combining to make the educational process a richer one for students in this region. With over one million people in the metropolitan area, Mexicali, Mexico has many educational opportunities to share with the inhabitants of the Imperial Valley that are not otherwise available. An example of this is a partnership that has been formed between the VIPS Program and the Sol del Niño Children’s Science Museum located in Mexicali. This state-of-art science museum is one of those resources.
Low Achievement
Imperial Valley students struggle to attain levels of achievement that satisfy teachers, administrators and parents. Students’ performance in many curricular areas lags behind those of other regions in California.
In 1999, students in the Imperial County consistently scored below the state average in the area of science. When comparing the national percentile rank for each group, the findings are as follows (California Department of Education, Education Data Partnership, 1999):
Table 1
Achievement in Science for Imperial County Students as Compared to State Averages
Grade Imperial Valley State
9 35 44
10 33 45
11 30 45
When student achievement is low, teachers, administrators, and parents seek ways to improve the educational program. The drive for improvement has become even more pronounced since the implementation of high stakes testing. Teachers want to become more proficient in using effective teaching strategies in science instruction to help improve student performance.
To make a significant impact on achievement in science, effective science instruction needs to start in the elementary grades. VIPS instruction begins in kindergarten and consistently provides cumulative experiences in content and process development using inquiry-based curriculum aligned to the national science standards (National research Council, 1996). Curriculum units selected for each grade level span the major domains of life, earth and physical science. They develop the concept of inquiry through each grade level.
The VIPS program, with its strong curriculum, extensive staff development and materials support was welcomed by local districts. No individual district had such a comprehensive program in place nor had the means to initiate one. While there is student movement in schools and districts in Imperial County, most students tend to remain in the Valley. A countywide program such as VIPS, provides an integrated program, regardless of which county school the student attends. Results become easier to show when a strong and consistent curriculum is employed throughout the county.
The strong need, small size, and isolation of Imperial Valley have made the formation of a strong county-side consortium possible. With the strong curriculum, good staff development for teachers, and an overall greater attention to science education offered by VIPS, educators are confident that student achievement will increase.
Small Town Atmosphere
There is a low population density in the Imperial Valley. Educators tend to know each other and be familiar with the trends in education. In a small place, everyone seems to know everyone else. Sometimes, it seems that they are all related to each other. This usually means that word of mouth travels very fast and things can be passed along in a very short time frame.
The value of having a low population density lies in the fact that just a few people, when working effectively, can have a major impact on setting the course for instructional reform. A small cohort of administrators has the responsibility for curriculum and instruction in the Imperial Valley. Because this group is small, a few key people were brought together to collaborate and agree on a vision for science education. Local educators understand that to be self-reliant as a region, they must become interdependent. A small school district such as those with as few as 77 students do not have much hope of instituting programs independently due to cost. If, however, that district can become part of a consortium that functions interdependently, it stands a better chance of receiving the services it needs. VIPS has formed such a consortium and services are available for all school districts regardless of size.
The word being passed around is that great things are happening as a result of the science project and teachers are anxious for their school’s turn to be brought on board. The word is out on VIPS, and it’s “Where do I sign up?”
Curriculum
When it comes to curriculum, literacy and mathematics rule. Science holds a far less important position, as evidenced by its omission on the list of required tests in the state of California. While the state department of education recognizes its importance, state rewards and sanctions are not based on student performance in science. With a renewed focus in California on the development of literacy skills for children, many teachers interpreted this mandate to improve literacy skills as a call to spend all their time teaching children how to read, often at the expense of science instruction.
The curriculum in science has traditionally been textbook and worksheet-driven with limited opportunities available for teachers to conduct experiments that would take students through experiences worthy of the time it takes to carry them out. Where kit or inquiry-based science does exist, materials are often depleted after the first few times they are used and are difficult and expensive to replace. Without proper training on their use, kits often collect dust in the back storage room. Even many of the best-intentioned teachers don’t have the materials and know-how needed to bring kit based science curriculum alive.
The lack of focus and coordination of science instruction has led to inconsistency not only between districts, but also within schools. Curriculum selection in science is often driven by teacher interest as opposed to a balanced curriculum that emphasizes what students need to know about science in a consistent and cumulative manner.
The lack of focus on science at the state level made it ideal for a countywide reform effort. Everyone believed science to be important, but no one was currently developing or revitalizing programs in the area. Administrators and teachers alike were enthusiastic when a quality, interactive program could be available without the enormous expense in terms of time and money that is usually required to design and implement new programs.
VIPS directors began with the premise that the curriculum needs to be a strong one if it is going to bring results. The curriculum was selected based on its alignment to national science standards. Curriculum units selected for each grade, span the major domains of life, earth and physical science. They employ inquiry as their central instructional strategy while focusing on knowledge and process in science. Units selected to deliver this curriculum were carefully chosen from commercially available curricula from publishers such as Insights, Foss, and Delta and then piloted in the local area.
Teachers undergo a minimum of six hours of training per kit before they receive the units. Teachers use the units for nine weeks after which they are returned to the science resource center, refurbished and delivered to another teacher. This efficient and rapid turn around system allows each kit to be used four times throughout the year, providing savings to the districts.
When teachers receive the units, all materials are counted, bundled and readily available in the kits. Teachers never have to go out and buy material at the last minute to conduct an experiment. Everything is included in the kits with enough supplies for a complete classroom.
Inquiry-based instruction has allowed teachers to develop more interactive teaching strategies that are guided by questioning techniques and experimentation. Teachers report being more excited about science instruction as students are motivated and excited to learn.
VIPS units incorporate writing during each kit through science content journals. Teachers and administrators report that students who have participated in VIPS perform better on district-generated writing proficiency tests.
The content-rich and experientially based instruction provided through VIPS is especially appropriate for the English Language Learners (Sutman, 1993) present in Imperial Valley classrooms. They make appropriate use of cooperative learning groups, they use all types of realia, and instruction follows patterns in which the teacher, through inquiry, can best identify the level of individual students and build from their knowledge base.
Staff Development
Providing adequate staff development in a rural area that includes many single-school districts is very difficult (Storer & Crosswaite, 1995). Science experts able to deliver high quality workshops are concentrated in urban areas and therefore are geographically removed from this area and seldom have the ties that draw them here to work. This results in experts not wanting to travel here for long periods of time, time needed to provide ongoing support. Professional development personnel in science are limited, resulting in the need to import them. When they do come, there is sometimes the feeling that they are anxious to get on that last plane before day’s end!
As occurs in many school districts and counties, staff development can take on a life of its own in that teachers are pulled in a hundred different ways. Every subject area is important, every strategy holds the promise of improving achievement. Teachers attend professional development training and often return to their classrooms without sufficient background, support, and confidence to implement the changes and things continue to be the same routine. For this reason, teachers love in-service training that leaves them with something tangible that they can use the very next day in their instruction.
The staff development component of the VIPS Program may just be the single most powerful element of this project. During a full cycle of training, teachers receive a total of 100 hours of training. All teachers in participating districts go through the training. The district expects that all teachers integrate this curriculum into their teaching and, as such, expects that all teachers receive training. Before they can use any unit, teachers must receive six hours of training on how to deliver the unit. This training is done immediately prior to their scheduled use of the unit. In this manner, information received during the training is immediately reinforced through practice. This training is scheduled during regular school hours when substitutes are available and on Saturdays for all others. Compensation is provided for teachers who attend Saturday training sessions. The training is done in a trainer-of-trainers model. Teacher trainers who are experienced with kit content and implementation, train a group of teachers on a specific unit. The teachers use the unit with their students and debrief after the implementation stage. Once teachers have used a kit at least twice in their classrooms, they enter the pool of potential teacher trainers. The project leadership team picks the best from this pool and teaches them on how to present the training to other teachers. Through this method, the pool of teacher trainers is constantly being expanded and renewed.
One other area of need is in the teachers’ knowledge base about science. Teachers sometimes fear teaching through an experientially based approach because they fear the inquiry process used with students will reveal their own lack of knowledge of science. Through a Master’s Program in curriculum and instruction with an emphasis on science, participants are receiving courses that focus on content and enhance their skill level in biology, zoology, botany, physics, astronomy and geology. Students in the Master’s classes adapt science content from their courses for use with classroom teachers. These activities in addition to others developed by Jerry Pine at Cal Tech are available to local teachers who desire to build content knowledge in a particular area.
The teacher force in the Imperial Valley is incredibly stable. This stability stems from the fact that local students are able to continue their education and become teachers without relocating to another area. When staff development is invested in a stable teacher force, the benefits remain in the community.
Weak Teacher Content Knowledge
Elementary classroom teachers need to strengthen their content knowledge in science. However, in areas such as the Imperial Valley, there are no professors who teach science on a full-time basis. The relatively few courses and small student population (approximately 750 students in both undergraduate and graduate courses) do not justify, having a full-time position in any single science discipline. As a result, content experts to provide content training are difficult to find.
Instructional methods teachers in some universities are out of touch with what goes on in the classrooms. Too often, what they have to offer is not consistent with what is available and expected of elementary teachers.
The Imperial Valley Campus has only one resident full time faculty member who teaches science content courses but this professor is primarily working with students at the undergraduate level. Therefore, the Master’s program has had to “import” professors from other areas. As a result, the Imperial Valley Campus has had the flexibility to find and use instructors who shared the program’s philosophy that inquiry based science methodology for the elementary level classroom is preferable to a primarily theoretical-based program.
Calling on parttime instructors to staff the science methods courses has benefited the program. The instructor of the science methods courses for the elementary credential is the director of the VIPS Program. Students receive the direct benefit of seeing the alignment between what they learn in this course and the work they will be expected to perform in the classroom. Theory is combined with practical applications for classroom use and those applications are then taken directly from the experiences students will eventually have as teachers in the Imperial Valley.
When prospective teachers reach the point of student teaching, every effort is made to place them with veteran classroom teachers who are implementing VIPS units so they can work side-by-side to learn the curriculum under the supervision of a veteran teacher. Having gone through the methods course places student teachers on a more even playing field with the veteran teachers. Science instruction becomes one that promotes more of a sharing among colleagues than a traditional supervisor/student relationship.
This close tie between preservice teacher training, inservice teacher staff development, and actual classroom practice can only happen in an atmosphere of collegiality, respect, and common purpose. These relationships can be more easily built among professionals who work closely together in a small and isolated community.
Summary
The VIPS Program builds on the success of the project first started in Pasadena, California. With the vision to improve science education in the Imperial Valley, Dr. Michael Klentschy, the superintendent of the El Centro School District, the largest K-8 district in the Imperial Valley, began a pilot program in three of the district’s schools. After establishing a good record of success in those schools, a plan was devised to increase participation to all schools, not just in El Centro but in all 15 elementary school districts in the Imperial Valley. Other school districts signed on to participate and, within one year, close to half of all districts were engaged in the delivery of a new curriculum in science. Staff development was maintained at the same level of quality and additional materials were purchased. Once completely refurbished, the materials were distributed from a central location. Two full-time staff members refurbish and distribute the science kits. Funding for this refurbishing is currently provided collaboratively by the grant from the National Science Foundation and participating school districts. Resource teachers were hired to provide in-classroom support as needed to teachers who were just starting to implement the program.
There was recognition that teachers needed to further their own education in science. Responding to that need, one of the authors, Dr. Leslie Garrison, a faculty member in the Teacher Education Program at the local university, Imperial Valley Campus, offered a Master’s Program in Curriculum and Instruction. This program is an established program of San Diego State University but offered a unique perspective to participants in that all examples about curriculum, instruction, assessment and evaluation and content used science as a point of departure. This was done through Science Training Academic and Master’s Program (Project STAMP). Participants are practicing teachers who have participated in some portion of the 100 hour VIPS training. Participants then had opportunities to apply what they were learning in the program directly to their classrooms.
The leaders of science reform in the Imperial Valley capitalized on the special strengths of this rural area. To replicate the success of this project, it may be important to start by identifying the special strengths of a particular area. Once identified, reforming science education and making it become one of the area’s source of pride will be much easier.
In the VIPS Program, the director and resource teachers are now well equipped to provide needed training in the area of science education. Teachers who implement the curriculum are more frequently than ever before agreeing to become trainers themselves for new teachers. Building this capacity from within is of major importance when one considers the lack of staff development resources in this area.
There is a “can do” spirit at the county level and a sense of commitment of collaboration among the school districts and the local university, the Imperial Valley Campus. Rather than focusing on our “bad luck”, we have evidence that there is much we can look to that is positive. Building on that will bring results for students in the Imperial Valley.
References
Bureau of the Census, Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates Program, February 1999.
California Department of Education. California Basic Educational Data System, CBEDS, (1997-1999).
Clayton, G. C. (1995, May/June). Astronomy in the ‘90s: angry, white and male? Mercury, (24) 33.
Employment Development Department, Local Area Unemployment Statistics. April, 1998.
National Research Council. (1996). National science education standards. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.
Storer, J. H. and Crosswaite, D. J. (1995, Summer). Delivering staff development to the small rural school. Rural Special Education Quaterly, 14 (3), 23-30.
Sutman, F. X. (1993, March). Teaching science effectively to limited English proficient students”, ERIC/CUE Digest, (87), 1-7.
Wickware, P. (1997, November). Along the leaky pipeline. Nature, 390, (6656), 202.
Unemployment Figures Released. (1999, October 10). Imperial Valley Press, p. 3.
ELD / ALD English Language Development and
Academic Language Development
Academic Language Development (ALD) Academic Language Development (ALD) is key element of science instruction
By Olga Maia Amaral, Gilbert Mendez and Leslie Garrison
The California Science Project has recently embarked on the important task of defining elements of standards-based science instruction that lead to the promotion of scientific understanding, scientific thinking, positive classroom practices, and increased teacher knowledge in content and pedagogy. All of these elements, however, need to be placed within the context of classrooms that have students who are English learners. The range in student English proficiency levels challenges teachers to find a variety of ways to meet individual linguistic needs and improve literacy skills to a level where regular classroom instruction can be more easily comprehended. In California, we finally have English Language Development (ELD) standards that guide teachers by outlining the oral language development and literacy skills of the English language that students should acquire. These standards include skills for four different aspects of language: listening, speaking, reading and writing. The ELD standards create a common understanding of the components of language that English learners must acquire before being considered English proficient or fluent and ready to participate in instruction that does not have the need for accommodations in delivery of instruction. But is this enough?
Those who teach science and have students who are English learners may have noticed that such a student needs more than a basic understanding of the English language, more than the skills required to talk about a movie they may have seen the previous evening or the ability to read a romance novel, or the latest copy of Teen magazine. They need to learn the language and underlying concepts of science. How ideas are presented, sequences are built, and concepts are related are all part of Academic Language Development (ALD). It is necessary that staff development prepare teachers to use ALD for content instruction.
Part of ALD instruction includes using academic language functions. Examples of these are advanced organizers to scaffold content or declarative knowledge, series models to outline the steps in procedures, and open-ended sentences for reporting. Most of the academic language functions come from procedural knowledge (learning that requires students to perform a process of some type such as setting up an experiment) rather than declarative knowledge (learning such as knowing that an amoeba is a one-celled animal). For instance the CA Science Standards ask students to compare and contrast information, develop hypotheses, draw generalizations from data, and relate cause and effect of various phenomena. While students may know the information, they do not necessarily have the ALD to communicate their knowledge. Marzano et al (1992) suggest a four-step procedure for using comparison. Step one involves selecting items to compare. Step two entails selecting characteristics of the items on which to base the comparison. In step three, students explain how the items are similar and different with respect to the characteristic selected. The last step is to summarize what was learned. Teaching the series of steps can be accomplished through the use of Total Physical Response (TPR) or Terrell’s (1983) series model for beginning students. Academic language functions must incorporate three steps (not to be taught necessarily in the order presented): (1) teach the steps required for the process; (2) teach the declarative knowledge; and (3) teach the language structures required for students to verbalize (orally and in written form) (a) each of the steps in the learning process of the academic language, and (b) their understanding of the content.
Teachers can identify academic language functions by reviewing the content standards or frameworks, highlighting all action verbs that require students to learn something or accomplish a task. For example, in science, the content standards in grade 6 call for students to “interpret events by sequence and time from natural phenomena (e.g., relative age of rocks and intrusions)” (p. 18). The word “interpret” is an academic language function because it requires students to understand and communicate sequencing and cause and effect as students need to understand the reason for the natural phenomena.
Training in the area of Academic Language Development can serve as a powerful tool to help teachers reflect on their current practices as they teach science, helping them to focus on how comprehensible instruction in science is for all their students, but most especially for English learners.
References:
Marzano, R. J., Pickering, D. J., Arredondo, D. E., Blackburn, G. J., Brent, R. S., Moffitt, C. A. (1992). Dimensions of learning. Virginia: The Association for Supervision and Curriculum.
Terrell, T. (1983). The Natural Approach. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall Regents.
Imperial Valley Science Project - Proficiency Level Rubric California Science Project
California Science
Project
Imperial Valley
Science Project
Proficiency
Level
Content Vocabulary
Examples of Language
Level
1
Uses single words; needs visual/graphic support
Battery
Level
2
Few high frequency words (mostly nouns – sometimes adjectives)
Battery; coil; wire
Level
3
Uses content words in some context – errors are frequent
I measure streng of electromagnet.
Juan test and I test.
The saiz battery important.
Level
4
Uses technical vocabulary and sentence structure fairly
consistently with minor errors
Hector put the battery in holder and put the swish
together.
Level
5
Uses vocabulary and sentence structure appropriate for the
age
Adding an additional battery to the circuit will increase
the strength of the electromagnet.
