Scientific Practices: Equalizing Opportunities for Linguistically Diverse Student Groups

Abstract

Abstract. This study explores the hypothesis that curricula designed to engage students in evidence-based inductive reasoning can equalize opportunities for linguistically diverse students. Specifically, we evaluated how English language learners and native English speakers performed on conceptual physics assessments and the extent to which they used models and evidence to justify claims and ideas. Results indicate that within this learning context, all students demonstrated conceptual learning gains as well as reliance on evidence and models to support their claims. Female English language learners, a group that has remained underrepresented in science, used evidence and models most frequently to support their claims, and these students demonstrated performance on end of course assessments of conceptual understanding that was comparable to university students. Male English language learners did not rely on evidence and models to the same extent. We discuss these differences and propose rationale for aspects of the learning environment that may have led to these findings.

Identifying and Analyzing Actions of Effective Group Work

“…Incorporating student discourse may improve student understanding by providing opportunities for students to share and discuss their ideas [5]. Additionally, during group discussions in-depth scientific thinking and sense-making may occur [6]. Sensemaking involves students delving into the class activity to understand the experiment itself and to reveal the underlying scientific principles which explain their observational evidence [7].…”

“…The Physics and Everyday Thinking High School (PET-HS) curriculum activities require that students regularly collaborate in small groups to complete tasks, such as collecting and interpreting evidence and model building [1,2,3]. Discourse is a central practice with the PET-HS curriculum and high school students learning in this context have demonstrated growth in their use of argumentation strategies and in their willingness to ask questions and challenge other students' ideas [4].…”