Science education for young emergent bilinguals

Abstract

Linguistic diversity among school-aged children in the United States has grown rapidly over the last 30 years, and this trend is expected to continue in the coming years. This chapter presents an overview of research on science education for young emergent bilinguals in preschool through third grade settings. This body of work provides important insights but also raises many questions about how science education unfolds and can be improved for children learning in a second or additional language in early childhood educational contexts. We begin with a brief discussion of the contexts in which (research on) science education for young emergent bilingual occurs. We then examine the empirical research, organizing our review along four dimensions that emerged as the main analytic foci across studies: Curriculum development, teacher professional development, student outcomes, and classroom interaction. Across these four foci, hands-on and inquiry-based science education figures prominently, as does the integration of science education and English language development. We conclude by discussing implications of the research for educational practice, directions for future research, and the need for further integration of multiple perspectives on and methodological approaches in research on science educational processes and outcomes for emergent bilinguals and their teachers in early childhood educational contexts.