Cory A. Buxton

Social Problem Solving Through Science: An Approach to Critical, Place-Based, Science Teaching and Learning

The Social Problem Solving through Science (SPSS) project engaged middle school-aged youth in the study of local environmental challenges with implications for human health and well-being, both globally and locally. Students considered environmental risk factors in a series of structured activities to develop background knowledge on environmental health issues. Pairs of students then worked together on a relevant topic of their choosing to create and share “public service announcements” in the form of posters to educate their peers, family, and community members about one of the public health topics they had studied. The project goal was to assess the degree to which learning tasks designed to be transformative to students’ understanding of their place in the world could also increase students’ science knowledge despite that outcome not being a primary focus of instruction. Pre- and post-interviews of the 23 project participants indicated that participation enhanced science content knowledge while also engaging them in a process of decolonization and reinhabitation of their places as members of society.

Promoting Science among English Language Learners: Professional Development for Today's Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Classrooms.

We describe a model professional development intervention currently being implemented to support 3rd- through 5th-grade teachers’ science instruction in 9 urban elementary schools with high numbers of English language learners. The intervention consists of curriculum materials for students and teachers, as well as teacher workshops throughout the school year. The curriculum materials and workshops are designed to complement and reinforce each other in improving teachers’ knowledge, beliefs, and practices in science instruction and English language development for ELL students. In addition to these primary goals, secondary goals of the intervention included supporting mathematical understanding, improving scientific reasoning, capitalizing on students’ home language and culture, and preparing students for high-stakes science testing and accountability through hands-on, inquiry-based learning experiences.

Urban Elementary Teachers’ Perspectives on Teaching Science to English Language Learners

This descriptive study examined urban elementary school teachers’ perceptions of their science content knowledge, science teaching practices, and support for language development of English language learners. Also examined were teachers’ perceptions of organizational supports and barriers associated with teaching science to nonmainstream students. The study involved 221 third- through fifth-grade teachers from 15 urban elementary schools in a large school district. The teachers completed a survey in the spring of 2005. The internal consistency reliability estimates, Cronbach α, for scales created from the survey items were within an acceptable range. The teachers reported that they were generally knowledgeable about science topics at their grade level and that they taught science to promote students’ understanding and inquiry. In contrast, the teachers reported rarely discussing student diversity in their own teaching or with other teachers at their schools. The teachers identified specific organizational supports and barriers in teaching science with diverse student groups at both the school and classroom levels.

Integrating Science and English Proficiency for English Language Learners.

Despite the expectation that all students should achieve high academic standards, content area instruction and English for speakers of other languages instruction for English language learners (ELLs) have traditionally been conceptualized as separate domains, resulting in educational inequities for ELLs. This is because effective instruction to promote academic achievement for ELLs requires integration of content and language. Such inequities are more pronounced in urban schools where ELLs are disproportionately represented. In science education, research on instructional interventions to simultaneously promote science and English proficiency of ELLs has begun to emerge in recent years. Grounded in this emerging research literature, we offer specific instructional strategies to integrate science and English proficiency for ELLs in five domains: (a) literacy strategies with all students, (b) language support strategies with ELLs, (c) discourse strategies with ELLs, (d) home language support, and (e) home culture connections.

Science Curriculum and Student Diversity: A Framework for Equitable Learning Opportunities

We address issues of science curriculum for nonmainstream students—students of color, students learning English as a new language, and students from low-income families—who are often concentrated in urban schools. First, we describe a theoretical framework for equitable learning opportunities with nonmainstream students. Building on this framework, we then discuss challenges in designing and implementing science curriculum materials for these students. Although some of these challenges affect nonmainstream students more broadly, other challenges are more directly related to specific student groups. Next, we provide examples of curriculum development and research programs to illustrate key components in the theoretical framework and to highlight how these programs address challenges in curriculum design and implementation. Finally, we offer an agenda to guide future research and development efforts. We discuss how alternative, sometimes competing, theoretical views of curriculum development in the literature can be brought together in the context of high-stakes testing and accountability policy.

Using Educative Assessments to Support Science Teaching for Middle School English-language Learners

Grounded in Hallidayan perspectives on academic language, we report on our development of an educative science assessment as one component of the language-rich inquiry science for English-language learners teacher professional learning project for middle school science teachers. The project emphasizes the role of content-area writing to support teachers in diagnosing their students’ emergent understandings of science inquiry practices, science content knowledge, and the academic language of science, with a particular focus on the needs of English-language learners. In our current school policy context, writing for meaningful purposes has received decreased attention as teachers struggle to cover large numbers of discrete content standards. Additionally, high-stakes assessments presented in multiple-choice format have become the definitive measure of student science learning, further de-emphasizing the value of academic writing for developing and expressing understanding. To counter these trends, we examine the implementation of educative assessment materials—writing-rich assessments designed to support teachers’ instructional decision making. We report on the qualities of our educative assessment that supported teachers in diagnosing their students’ emergent understandings, and how teacher–researcher collaborative scoring sessions and interpretation of assessment results led to changes in teachers’ instructional decision making to better support students in expressing their scientific understandings. We conclude with implications of this work for theory, research, and practice.

Designing a Model-Based Methodology for Science Instruction: Lessons from a Bilingual Classroom

Abstract This study reports on findings from the “Science Theater/Teatro de Ciencias” (sTc) project. The goal of sTc was to explore the potential of using student-generated computer models as a medium for elementary school students to develop richer and more meaningful explanations of science content. A secondary goal was to effectively engage culturally and linguistically diverse students in science learning. This paper reports on findings from a second/third grade two-way bilingual classroom. Conceptually, I rely upon a sociocultural perspective that differs from previous work that has been done using computer models in science classrooms. Specifically, I explore two issues that expand upon this prior work: 1) the potential value of using computer modeling for science learning in the primary elementary grades; and 2) the role that clarifying one’s personal understanding of how science is practiced plays in students’ academic success in school science. My assertion is that model- based science instructio...

Research and Praxis On Challenging Anti-immigration Discourses in School and Community Contexts

Recently, harsh immigration policies have made the lives of the new immigrant Diaspora in the southeastern United States extremely challenging. Disturbed by the impact of these sociopolitical changes on students, their families, and their teachers, as multicultural educators, we have turned for help to recent research and praxis from the U.S. and Europe that overtly challenges anti-immigration discourse. We examine two theoretical perspectives that can support educators in talking back and acting against anti-immigration discourses and practices in schools and communities. We provide cases of our own work in the southeastern United States to test the value of these theories

Science, Language, and Families: Constructing a Model of Steps to College Through Language-Rich Science Inquiry

In this chapter, we propose a new framework for collaborative science education with English language learners based on bringing together three educational components: (a) engaging students, parents, and teachers together in bilingual science learning and preparation for college; (b) authentic science practice; and (c) academic language development to support language-rich science inquiry. We describe the model and how we applied it during a bilingual project for Latino/a middle school students and their families that focused on preparedness in science as a point of entry to higher education. Our work with this model evolved over 2 years of leading inquiry-based science workshops in university laboratory settings where students, their parents, and their teachers all engaged bilingually in science learning together. We present findings that focus on changes in the workshop participants’ ideas about science, academic success, and higher education. We suggest that further work with this and related models of collaborative science learning could provide positive examples of successful academic engagement with Latino/a students and families.

Negotiating a Sense of Identity in a Foreign Land Navigating Public School Structures and Practices That Often Conflict With Haitian Culture and Values

As part of a larger investigation into the educational experiences of Haitians in South Florida, this study explores factors that influence the identity development and academic success of Haitian students. Individual and focus group interviews with Haitian students, parents, and teachers provide the context for studying how pressures from both home and school shape the identity development of Haitian youth. Using a conceptual framework grounded in both structural and cultural analysis of identity formation, we describe three themes that emerged from our analysis: (a) learning as recitation or inquiry, (b) teacher as strict parent or lenient spectator, and (c) peers like me or Americanization.