Bilingual Science Education
- 1. Bilingual Science Education; The Most Effective Teaching Strategy for Academic Success Melissa Z.Velilla SEYS 778
- 2. INTRODUCTION Mainstream teachers with little or no training to work with ELLs, are faced with the challenge of teaching ELLs. The challenge for science teachers is conveying complicated science concepts to ELLs, in which the vocabulary used is often unfamiliar.
- 3. INTRODUCTION The question guiding my research; “What is the most effective strategy a new science teacher, with no ESL training, can use to teach science effectively to English language learners?” My hypothesis; “Visuals are the most effective strategy a new science teacher, with no ESL training, can use to teach science effectively to English language learners.”
- 4. METHODS I taught my bilingual students the menstrual cycle for my study I used my period 2 bilingual class as the control group My period 3 bilingual class was the experimental group I used 4 charts and notes to teach the lesson
- 5. METHODS 15 students participated in the control group. 17 students participated in the experimental group. A total of 32 participants in my study. 15 students were female and 17 students were male. The age group ranged from 15 to 19 years old. All of my students are Hispanic with Spanish being their native language.
- 6. METHODS
- 7. METHODS
- 8. METHODS I gave both groups a pre-test I spent 3 days teaching the lesson The control group only saw 1 diagram. It was the negative feedback mechanism of the menstrual cycle. I gave both groups a post-test I gave both groups a Likert scale survey to fill out after they completed the post-test
- 9. RESULTS Table 1 Gender of Participants Participants Total Females Total Males Total Experimental and control 15 17 32 combined Experimental 6 9 15 group only Control group 9 8 17 only
- 10. RESULTS Age of Participants 28% were 15 0% were 17 19% were 16 21% were 18 13% were 19 94% of the total participants strongly agreed or agreed that visuals help them learn science topics. 94% of the experimental group strongly agreed or agreed that reading notes helped them learn science 53% of the control group strongly agreed or agreed that reading notes helped them learn science . 93% of the control group strongly agreed or agreed that listening helped them learn science well 58% of the experimental group strongly agreed or agreed that listening helped them learn.
- 11. RESULTS The results for the pre-test were equal among both the experimental and control groups. The average grade in the experimental group, for the post-test, was only slightly higher than that of the control group. Table 4 Post-test score data Experimental Control Total Mean 33.71 28.33 31.19 Median 40 20 29 Mode 0 10 0 Std Dvn 29.65 23.73 26.75 Variance 879 563.1 715.4
- 12. RESULTS The control group unanimously agreed that they did not study for the post-test The experimental group had only 47% agreeing that they studied at least one hour before the test. 65% of the experimental group agreed that they completed all homework related to the menstrual cycle 47% of the control group agreed that they completed all homework assignments related to the menstrual cycle.
- 13. CONCLUSION Visuals do seem to help students learn science Without doing homework and studying the use of visuals will not help them pass exams or remember what they learned
- 14. LIMITATIONS My sample was not random My sample size was to small The post-test was based on memorization and basic understanding.
- 15. LIMITATIONS The statistical analysis of the data would have been more interesting if I ran a correlation test. I could have compared the grades with the ages of the students. In addition, I could have improved my study by collecting and analyzing data based on their English language proficiency. That is the one variable that could have ultimately made the difference.