Science Teaching and Learning in Linguistically Super-Diverse Multicultural Classrooms

Co‐creating a community of belonging and presence: Multilingual learners' experiences of science and language learning at an urban, inclusive STEM‐focused high school

“…In this study, we centered the voices of ninth grade multilingual learners, and in particular, their science experiences in a Regents Living Environment class at STEM Scholars Academy, an urban ISHS. We intentionally foregrounded their perspectives through their own voices, which are largely absent from the research literature and discussions on their education more broadly, particularly among newcomers and students with beginning levels of English fluency (Ricketts et al, 2022; Roof & McVee, 2021). We explored the elements of multilingual learners' experiences that were asset‐oriented, humanizing, and sustaining, which promoted a healthy science learning ecosystem, all at the same time exposing the persistent challenges.…”

“…Given these positive experiences, one takeaway from this study is to ensure that multilingual learners have opportunities like science inquiry projects, as they are capable of designing, implementing, and making sense of experiments. Too often, science learning experiences are predominantly characterized by taking notes, reading, doing worksheets, and taking quizzes and tests (Ricketts et al, 2022). Science teachers like Mrs. Clark have important roles to play in creating, recommending, and advocating for rigorous science learning experiences for multilingual learners.…”

“…However, we caution readers against interpreting the contrasts students made between science experiences in their native countries with those at STEM Scholars Academy in essentializing, deficit ways. There is much heterogeneity among multilingual learners, including in terms of their prior schooling experiences, migration channels, immigration statuses, countries of origin, and religions, to name a few (National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine [NASEM], 2018; Ricketts et al, 2022; Ryu & Tuvilla, 2018). Furthermore, other studies have documented the ways in which science education in students' native countries has been empowering and encouraging for students' critical thinking and actions for justice (Upadhyay et al, 2020).…”

“…Other than demographics, there was no mention of language or the extent to which multilingual learners' experiences were inclusive. Thus, as Ricketts et al (2022) contend, there is a need for more contextualized approaches to research that foreground student voice and attend to ethnographic observations, particularly in super‐diverse contexts, with more newcomers and students classified with beginning levels of English fluency.…”

“…In contrast, in meaningful, rigorous science instruction, all students including multilingual learners, experience culturally relevant science phenomena and have opportunities to engage in sensemaking practices in ways that are also relational and authentic to learners' ways of doing and being in science (Brown, 2019; Kayumova & Dou, 2022; Ricketts et al, 2022). Authentic engagement also distinguishes school science tasks from those that more directly engage learners in science practices, such as planning and carrying out investigations, analyzing and interpreting data, developing and using models, and engaging in argument from evidence (Next Generation Science Standards Lead States, 2013).…”