20. Research in Innovative Intercultural Learning Environments
Paper
Language and Practice in Science Classes in Heterogeneous Multicultural Classrooms.
Avi Gvura1, Lilach Tencer-Herschkovitz2
1Beitberl college, Israel; 2The academic college Levinsky-Wingate
Presenting Author: Gvura, Avi;
Tencer-Herschkovitz, Lilach
Many societies in the current era are characterized by the existence of significant ethnic, racial or religious diversity, and this turns them into multicultural or multinational societies (Tully, 2001). Israel is an example of a multicultural country that includes different national and cultural groups (Dahan, 2007). Societies that consider themselves multicultural place in the forefront the value of equal treatment of different cultures, recognition of heterogeneity and preservation of pluralism (Ezer, 2004, Schweid, 2000). The role of the state, in a society that considers itself liberal, is to enable the existence of the variety of cultures in the country, and the school is one of the places to ensure the necessary conditions for the continued existence of the variety of cultures that exist in society.
One of the challenges in a multicultural society is dealing with learning linguistic literacy skills in the various fields of knowledge and especially in the field of science. The development of scientific knowledge and scientific literacy are considered a central goal in Israel and the world (https://madan.education/review-daily/167/). The teachers in the various fields of knowledge are very literate in their field of knowledge but have not been trained enough to teach linguistic literacy (Cohen & Livant, 2011).
An analysis of the science textbooks shows that the science profession has unique literacy requirements. The examined chapters are characterized by short informative texts, syntactic, simplicity and a low linguistic level. Hardly any difficult or unfamiliar words and phrases that are not specific to the material being studied were found. The vocabulary reflects not only the main points of scientific language but actually the foundations of scientific work. The texts are rich in words such as: characteristics, features, phenomenon, principle, explanation, conclusion, proof. The scientific terms receive a lot of attention and are emphasized both through definitions and through lexical repetitions. (Cohen & Livant, 2011) The purpose of studying "scientific literacy" is to impart both scientific knowledge, that is, scientific content and ideas, and an understanding of the ways of investigating science and the nature of scientific explanation and scientific proof (Dragos & Mih, 2015).
The research has two main goals: (1) to examine perceptions of science teachers regarding linguistic skills and language skills and their importance in teaching science in multicultural schools. (2) to test the science teachers' literacy action strategies in language issues in general and the scientific language in particular when it comes to multicultural schools. These two goals will lead to the formulation of literate proposals and methods of action and will enable the formulation of an appropriate program for studying the subject of science in multicultural schools.
Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources UsedThe study is an interdisciplinary qualitative-interpretive study in the field of education that combines description, analysis, interpretation and understanding. The focus of the interpretive paradigm is on understanding the complex world of experiences of teachers when teaching a precise subject such as science. According to this approach, the researcher observes the actions of people and their discourse as they are, during their natural occurrence, without attempting to manipulate them (Alpert and Shelsky, 2013; Shelsky and Ariely, 2016). The research method makes it possible to test the teachers' actions in the context of the process of shaping educational concepts and formulating literacy action strategies in the classroom. This approach may help in adapting a curriculum for the training of teachers who will teach in multicultural schools, mental flexibility and inclusion of students from other cultures (Zur & Eisikovits, 2015).
We held in-depth semi-structured personal interviews with the teachers. In the study, 19 science teachers were examined, some of whom are science teaching students and most of whom are qualified science teachers in multicultural elementary schools in the center of the country, in southern Tel Aviv and in Lod. The schools are characterized by a combination of Jews, immigrants and Arabs (Muslims and Christians). The teachers teach in the education system between three and 15 years. About 45% have not undergone training or further education in the language, and all of them stated that there are students in their class who do not speak Hebrew. We sorted the answers of the teachers and we found three central themes that may lead to an answer to the research questions: (1) Enriching the vocabulary (2) The literate approach of the science teacher (3) Training and continuing education. We analyzed the answers using a thematic content analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006).
The research questions are:
1. What are science teachers' perceptions of linguistic skills and language skills and their importance in teaching science in multicultural schools?
2. How do science teachers practically relate to the issue of language in general and scientific language in particular when it comes to multicultural classrooms?
Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or FindingsRegarding the vocabulary, it can be said that most of the teachers teach new vocabulary intermittently and a minority testify that they teach vocabulary for general use and everyday communication in every lesson. Not one of them ignores new vocabulary. Most of them think that the science teacher is not required to have a high linguistic skill. However, they also indicate that it is very important to know the professional terminology that characterizes the field of science. Teacher: "they must understand what I say in class and also because it will meet them in other places like, an article in the newspaper, on television." They do not give up the desire to enrich the students' language in the professional field as well. Another teacher claims that "in the case where the student gives a correct answer, but does not use the scientific terms, I do not reject the answer since I take into account the fact that these are children whose mother tongue is not Hebrew, but I ask him to describe the process again using terms in the scientific language."
In their literate approach, the teachers allow work with a dictionary, and use visual means to explain general words they do not understand. Other teacher points out that "unlike a non-multicultural class, here the explanation should also be illustrated by a picture or a video or a translation into the student's native language. For this I also use the students' friends". Among the findings is that all the respondents answered that they strive for precise scientific language and that they correct wrong concepts in science.
Most of the teachers claim that training and further education in the language are required, and that a science teacher who is proficient in the language provides a better response in a multicultural classroom.
ReferencesAlpert, B., & Shalsky, S. (2013). A close look at the school and the classroom: Ethnographic studies on education. Tel Aviv: Mofet.
Braun, V. & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3(2), 77-101.
Cohen, A. and Livnat, Z. (2011). The language of the subjects: linguistic knowledge and its expression in different subjects of study in middle school.
A review is invited as background material for the work of the Language and Literacy Committee, https://education.academy.ac.il.
Dahan, Y. (2007). Theories of social justice. Tel Aviv: Ministry of Defense.
Dragoş, V. & Mih, V. (2015). Scientific literacy in school. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences 209, 167-172.
Ezer, H. (2004). Multi-culturalism in society and school. Raanana: Open university.
Schweid, E. (2000). Jewish humanistic education in Israel. Tel Aviv: Hakibbutz Hameuchad.
Shelsky, S., & Arieli, M. (2016). From positivism to post-modern interpretation and approaches in the study of education. In N. Sabar-Ben Yehoshua (Ed.), Traditions and currents in qualitative research (pp. 23–65). Mofet.
Tully, J. (2001). Introduction. In A.-G. Gagnon & J. Tully (Eds.), Multinational democracies. (pp. 1-34). Cambridge University Press.
Zur, A., & Eisikovits, R. (2015). Between the actual and the desirable: A methodology for the examination of students’ lifeworld as it relates to their school environment. Journal of Thought, 49 (1-2), 27–51
20. Research in Innovative Intercultural Learning Environments
Paper
Thinking About the Hopeful Futures of Treescapes in Uncertain and Environmentally Endangered Times.
Samyia Ambreen, Kate Pahl, Khawla Badwan
Manchester Metropolitan U, United Kingdom
Presenting Author: Ambreen, Samyia;
Pahl, Kate
This presentation draws on findings from a three-year long project. Our on-going project “Voices of the future: collaborating with children and young people to re-imagine treescapes was funded across environmental science, arts and humanities and social science (NERC NE/V021370/1]. This project addresses the call for reconceptualising children’s participation in the construction of knowledge about their environments. With emphasis on active and experiential learning, it is argued that engaging children and their own embodied experiences in research would be helpful to re-imagine what environmental education could mean to them (Rousell and Cutter-Makenzie, 2020).
In our research, we have worked with children aged (7-8) in three different primary schools in the northwest of England. Children from Year 3 and 4 which is Key Stage (2) in Britain educational system, were involved as co-researchers to plan and do different activities related to trees in their schools. These activities took place inside the classrooms whilst thinking about trees and co-designing the new woodlands in the school playgrounds. Some of the activities also took place outside in the school playground including tree planting and measuring carbon sequestration in trees by measuring a tree diameter. On some afternoons, we also visited school forest (woodland area) in one of semi-rural schools to observe the role of trees in awarding children opportunities to learn from nature and trees.
In our experience of working with different groups of children in three different school settings, we see tree/child relations as something porous always connected, embedded, and embodied, dynamic and active (Murris and Osgood 2022). Childhood in our work is not considered as a universal phenomenon (Rautio and Jokinen 2015) but we see it in relations to children’s social and relational worlds, whilst looking at their relations with the natural environments.
In this presentation, we will include examples of creative outputs mainly created by children as part of their collaboration in the treescapes project. We will discuss how these child-led creative outputs offer us to have an expansive view of children’s engagement with treescapes. We will talk about the role of films created by children, creative forms of field notes that children recorded during research activities. We will also showcase examples of our planned research activities which will be developed as toolkits for teachers/practitioners for future use. By doing this, we aim to encourage teachers and practitioners to explore how stories portrayed in different data outputs provide a broader, expansive, and relatively different (not western and adult dominant) view of children engagement with treescapes.
Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources UsedAs part of our research, we worked groups of Year 3 and Year 4 with children in one semi-rural and two urban schools in the northwest of England. Whilst working with children in schools, we although were conscious of fluid power relations which adults may exercise over children because of children’s vulnerability and dependency upon others (adults) (Mayall 2020) in a school setting. For instance, it may include deciding which group of children we can work with, when and for how long we can spend time with children as part of our research. We however, in our post humanistic and new materialist research approach, deconstruct adult-child binaries and consider humans as part of an intra-connected network of socio-political, material-discursive, nature culture, human–non-human relations (Murris and Osgood 2022, p. 212).
Our team included tree scientists, who were interested in measuring trees, ethnographers, and childhood studies academics, as well as tree planting practitioners and a philosopher and an artist. We held several activities including designing and planting new woodlands, estimating carbon emissions through tree measuring, exploring biodiversity and treescapes through hands on activities. This multi-disciplinary team spent several days in the school, recording and documenting our tree related activities. IPad (s), voice recorders, notepads and scrapbooks were given to children to record the activities.
Within our research, we came to know about different versions of common worldings (Taylor et al 2021) illustrating child-tree relations including other than human elements. This includes children seeing themselves as part of the outdoor environments along with birds migrated from a different location, chicken in the neighbourhood and frog pond in the forest school area. In one school in Bolton, we also have learned about tree-child relations in relation to learning. For instance, how trees in the forest school area provided children opportunities to learn forestry skills (i.e., coppicing) and other social and communicative skills (i.e., teamwork and role play). Another form of common worldings of tree and children in Urban school in Manchester involves children’s relations with buildings, streets, pipes, Co2 emissions, cranes, trees in the parks. Children in this school helped us to imagine their sporty worlds with trees and how do they engage other outdoor play activities in/with trees. They also shared tree stories from their transnational families context.
Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or FindingsThe above-described experiences of our work with children led us to see child/tree relations as something messy, emerging and being generated during the time of research. The creative outputs designed by the children showcase dynamics ways of their engagement with treescapes. These also helped project team to design bespoke interdisciplinary toolkits for practitioners as curriculum resources. Our work with children in this project advocates for Spyrou’s call to focus more on care, mutuality and reciprocity embedded within research process rather than generating accounts on what are child/tree relations. The critical encounters of everyday moments (Nxumolo 2016) happened in this research produce as well as unsettle common stories of child tree relations. The unsettled and unfinished stories of child led treescapes advocate for having more open -ended process of knowing with children about their worlds, in our attempts to produce knowledge about socially and environmentally justice futures of children in the society.
ReferencesMayall, B. (2020). Generation as a social variable, Children's Geographies, 18:2, 144-147, DOI: 10.1080/14733285.2020.1716184
Murris, K., & Osgood, J. (2022). Risking erasure? Posthumanist research practices and figurations of (the) child. Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood, 23(3), 208-219. https://doi.org/10.1177/14639491221117761
Nxumalo F (2016) Towards ‘refiguring presences’ as an anti-colonial orientation to research in early childhood studies, International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 29 (5): 640-654, DOI: 10.1080/09518398.2016.1139212
Spyrou, S. (2023). From extractivist practices and the child-as-data to an ethics of reciprocity and mutuality in empirical childhood research. Childhood, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1177/09075682231220158
Rautio, P. and Jokenin , P. (2015). Children’s Relations to the More-Than-Human World Beyond Developmental Views. Ed (s). Bethan Evans, John Horton, Tracy Skelton In. Play, Recreation, Health and Wellbeing - Geographies of Children and Young People. Springer: UK. 35 to 49
Rousell, D. and Cutter-Mackenzie-Knowles, A. (2020) “A systematic review of climate change education: giving children and young people a ‘voice’ and a ‘hand’ in redressing climate change. Children's Geographies, 18 (2): 191 - 208
Taylor, A., Zakharova, T., & Cullen, M. (2021). Common Worlding Pedagogies: Opening Up to Learning with Worlds. Journal of Childhood Studies, 46(4), 74-88. https://doi.org/10.18357/jcs464202120425
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