Collaborative Research: Assessing the Results of Sociolinguistic Engagement with K-12 STEM Education in Maryland and Virginia Public and Independent Schools

文化和语言多样化的学生在进入STEM（科学，技术，工程和数学）教室时不会把他们的语言模式留在门口。 因此，了解语言障碍，包括关于语言的系统性想法，如何影响STEM学习和成就，特别是对非洲裔美国青年来说，是很重要的。在国家科学基金会的支持下，合作研究人员克莉丝汀L.马林森博士，巴尔的摩县马里兰州大学的安妮·H. Charity Hudley博士威廉和玛丽学院的研究人员正在调查K-12 STEM教育工作者对学校社会，文化和语言标准的理解。特别关注非洲裔美国学生的语言，研究人员正在努力更全面地了解语言变化和变化如何影响K-12 STEM教师对语言差异，教学实践和学生评估的判断。研究人员正在收集来自公共和独立学校的60名K-12 STEM教育工作者的信息，他们在马里兰州的大巴尔的摩，弗吉尼亚州的汉普顿路和弗吉尼亚州的里士满教授非洲裔美国学生。使用定性和定量的方法，他们正在评估教育工作者对语言变异的知识和态度，在他们的教学中对语言变异的反应，以及对语言变异在学生评估中所起作用的理解，特别是与他们的非洲裔美国学生有关。此外，研究人员还与作为教育顾问的参与者合作，为课堂使用设计语言学知识丰富的材料。收集到的关于STEM背景下语言变异的信息以及关于语言的系统性想法有助于扩展语言学家的理论和模型，以了解语言、文化和社会影响之间的关系。从这项研究的结果是讲基于课堂的语言变化的反应，教师对语言变化的态度，以及非洲裔美国学生的语言的符号和结构的影响之间的相互作用，解释的机会差距，持续为文化和语言多样化的学生，特别是在STEM教育背景下的作用。研究结果为教育K-12 STEM教育工作者提供了关于课堂上语言和文化问题的最佳实践。这项研究正在以教育工作者讲习班、教师设计的阅读材料和一个介绍该项目并确保其研究成果得到广泛传播的教育工作者网站的形式，为教育工作者的教学法和实践提供直接的实际应用。

Culturally and linguistically diverse students do not leave their language patterns at the door when they enter STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) classrooms. Therefore,understanding how linguistic barriers, including systematic ideas about language, affect STEM learning and achievement, particularly for African-American youth, is important. With the support of the National Science Foundation, collaborating investigators Christine L. Mallinson, Ph.D., of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and Anne H. Charity Hudley, Ph.D., of The College of William and Mary, are investigating K-12 STEM educators' understandings of social, cultural, and linguistic standards in schools. With particular attention to the language of African-American students, the investigators are working toward a fuller understanding of how language variation and change affects K-12 STEM teachers' judgments about language differences, pedagogical practices, and student assessments. The researchers are collecting information from a group of 60 K-12 STEM educators from public and independent schools who teach African-American students in greater Baltimore, Maryland, Hampton Roads, Virginia, and Richmond, Virginia. Using both qualitative and quantitative methods, they are assessing educators' knowledge about and attitudes toward language variation, responses to language variation in their pedagogy, and understanding of the role that language variation plays in student assessment, particularly in relation to their African-American students. In addition, the researchers are working with participants who serve as educator-consultants to design linguistically informed materials for classroom use.Information collected on language variation as well as systematic ideas about language in STEM contexts are contributing to expanding linguists' theories and models for understanding the relationships between linguistic, cultural, and social effects across a range of educational settings. Results from this research are speaking to the roles of classroom-based responses to language variation, teacher attitudes toward language variation, and the interplay between symbolic and structural effects of the language of African-American students in explaining the opportunity gaps that persist for culturally and linguistically diverse students, particularly in STEM educational contexts. Research findings speak to best practices for educating K-12 STEM educators about linguistically and culturally-based issues in the classroom. This research is providing immediate practical application to educators' pedagogy and practice in the form of educator workshops, teacher designed readings, and a website for educators that describes the project and ensures that its research outcomes are broadly disseminated.