Abstract
The field of bilingual special education is currently plagued with contradictions resulting in a serious underrepresentation of emergent bilinguals with learning disabilities in professional science fields. This underrepresentation is due in large part to the fact that educational systems around the world are inadequately prepared to address the educational needs of these children; this inadequacy is rooted in a lack of understanding of the linguistic and cultural factors impacting learning. Accepting such a premise and assuming that children learn in unexpected ways when instructional practices attend to culture and language, this study documents a place-based learning experience integrating geoscience and literacy in a fourth-grade dual language classroom. Data sources include transcribed audio-taped conversations from learning experience sessions and interviews that took place as six focus children, who had been identified as having specific learning disabilities, read published science texts (i.e. texts unaltered linguistically or conceptually to meet the needs of the readers). My analysis revealed that participants generated responses that were often unexpected if solely analyzed from those Western scientific perspectives traditionally valued in school contexts. However, these responses were also full of purposeful and rich understandings that revealed opportunities for expansive learning. Adopting a cultural historical activity theory perspective, instructional tools such as texts, visuals, and questions were found to act as mediators impacting the learning in both activity systems: (a) teacher-researcher learning from children, and (b) children learning from teachers. I conclude by suggesting that there is a need to understand students’ ways of knowing to their full complexity, and to deliberately recognize teachers as learners, researchers, and means to expansive learning patterns that span beyond traditional learning boundaries.
Resumen
El campo de educación especial bilingüe está plagado de contradicciones que han provocado una falta de representación en los campos profesionales de las ciencias de aprendices bilingües que tienen dificultades de aprendizaje. La limitada representación se debe en parte al hecho de que en todo el mundo los sistemas educativos no están adecuadamente preparados para cubrir las necesidades educativas de estos niños; esta falta de preparación surge del poco entendimiento de factores linguísticos y culturales que afectan el aprendizaje de estos niños. Este estudio acepta este principio y asume que los niños aprenden de forma inesperada cuando las practicas educativas prestan una atención adecuada a la cultural y el lenguaje, y documenta una experiencia de aprendizaje localizada en la comunidad e integrando lectoescritura en la geociencia en una clase bilingüe de cuarto grado de primaria. Los datos de este estudio incluyen conversaciones llevadas a cabo durante las diferentes sesiones de aprendizaje que fueron grabadas y transcritas, y entrevistas con seis niños clasificados con dificultades de aprendizaje, mientras éstos leían textos de ciencias publicados (textos no alterados ni linqüística ni conceptualmente). El análisis de los datos revela que los participantes generaron respuestas que a menudo eran inesperadas si se analizaban solo desde una perspectiva cientifica occidental, que es la que se valora más en contextos educativos. Sin embargo, las respuestas de los niños estaban repletas de entendimientos de gran riqueza de las que surgieron oportunidades para un aprendizaje expansivo. Tomando una perspectiva socio-cultural histórica basada en la actividad, herramientas de enseñanza tales como textos, visuals, y preguntas actuaron como mediadores impactando el aprendizaje en los dos sistemas de la actividad: (a) maestro-investigador aprendiendo de los niños, y (b) los niños aprendiendo de los maestros. El artículo sugiere que se necesita entender las formas complejas de aprender de los estudiantes, y reconocer a los maestros de forma deliberada como aprendices, investigadores, y mediadores de patrones de aprendizaje expansivo que llegan más allá de las delimitaciones formales del aprendizaje.
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I would like to thank María Torres-Guzmán, María Paula Ghiso, and the lead editor for their contributions on previous drafts of this article.
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Martínez-Álvarez, P. Special ways of knowing in science: expansive learning opportunities with bilingual children with learning disabilities. Cult Stud of Sci Educ 12, 521–553 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11422-016-9732-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11422-016-9732-x