Instructional Intervention to Promote Science and Literacy for Linguistically Diverse Elementary Students

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The goal of this research is promoting science learning, particularly focusing on science inquiry, and literacy development for linguistically diverse as well as mainstream students. The research addresses the following questions: What are developmental trajectories in conducting science inquiry by linguistically diverse elementary students? What is the process of instructional intervention as teachers provide effective scaffolding on the nature of science and literacy with students' language and cultural experiences and the teacher explicit to student exploratory continuum? What is the impact of the instructional intervention on teacher change and student achievement over time that can be sustainable and scalable across diverse groups of students and teachers? How do state and district policies influence the implementation of the intervention? What are similarities and differences in the process and impact between two intervention conditions: (a) design experiments and (b) focused intervention?This 4-year research will be conducted at two sites, Miami-Dade County Public Schools in Florida, the nation's fourth largest school district and San Francisco Unified School District in California. The research will involve grades 3, 4, and 5 elementary students at 6 elementary schools representing diverse ethnolinguistic backgrounds in each district. The research will include a total of 12 elementary schools, about 150 teachers, and about 4,500 students each year. Teachers will receive support for professional development in science and literacy instruction as well as diversity in language and culture. Instruction will focus on two units at each grade level, including the topics of measurement, states of matter, the water cycle, weather, the solar system, and heat energy. A key aspect is a longitudinal design with cohorts of teachers and students. Data collection will involve multiple sources across schools, teachers, and students. Patterns of change in teachers' knowledge, beliefs, and practices, as well as student achievement, will be analyzed.