cesire*

Promoting the integration of Inquiry Based Science and English learning in primary education through

triadic partnerships

World Federation of Associations for Teacher Education (WFATE)Fourth Biennial International Conference

April 22nd, 2016

Núria Carrillo (CESIRE), Laura Valdés-Sánchez and Mariona Espinet (UAB)

Goals of the program

to develop teaching units that promote the integration of Inquiry Based Science and English (as a foreign language) learning

(CLIL teaching units)

SupportPrimary

in-serviceteachers

TrainPrimary

pre-serviceteachers

to develop CLIL teaching units and to participate in innovative and collaborative training programs for in-service teachers

Institution of reference (Primary Schools, CESIRE, UAB)

Schools

Educational administration

University

Researchers and teacher trainers specialized in Science, Language and English Education

Science - CLIL primary school teachers

Researcher professors specialized in Science education and in Language education and pre-service teachers

PRACTICE as boundary object

learning community

Fiel

ds o

f kno

wle

dge

(Sci

ence

/Eng

lish

lang

uage

) Structure: triadic partnership

Participants

• 30 primary (6-12) in-service teachers (during the 1st and the 2nd year of the program)

Schools: ESC Ciutat d’Alba-St Cugat del Vallès, ESC Sant GIL-Torà, ESC Progrés-Badalona, ESC Vila Olímpica-Barcelona, ESC Polinyà- Polinyà, ESC Ca n’Alzamora-Rubí, ESC Rosella-Viladecavalls, ESC Bellaterra-Cerdanyola del Vallès, ESC Lluçanès-Prats de Lluçanès, ESC Verd-Girona, ESC Mercè Rodoreda-Barcelona, C. Mare de Déu de la Salut-Sabadell, Esc Auró-Barcelona, C. Virolai-Barcelona, ESC El Sol i La Lluna-Castellar del Vallès.

• 23 primary pre-service teachers(from the English mediated Primary Education Graduate Program offered at the School of Education (UAB) recruited on a voluntary basis)

• 7 staff members from CESIRE and UAB(language and science education researchers and teacher trainers)

CESIRE- languages field (Núria Carrillo, Laura Farró, Roser Martínez) CESIRE- science field (Anna Castillón, Núria López), UAB (Mariona Espinet and Laura Valdés)

Practice as a boundary object

Practice as a unifying conceptual tool that would facilitate:

building of connections between Science education and English education

helping different members cross the boundaries within communities Schools

Educational administration

University

1st design of the boundary object

Program developmentIn-service teacher

development sessionsPre-service teacher

development sessionsProgram staff meetings

Phase 1: Exploration

1 session (2,5 hours/session) 1 session (2 hours/session) 3 meetings (3 hours/meeting)

Sharing experience Getting to know the project Reflecting and designingPhase 2: Introduction

2 sessions (2,5 hours/session) 1 session (2 hours/session) + access to materials

1 meeting (3 hours/meeting)

Inquiry approach to Science teaching (IBS)Communicative approach to English teaching (E)

Integrating scientific practices and linguistic demands (CLIL)

Reflecting and designing

Phase 3: Design and Implementation3 months 3 months 3 months

Designing and implementing IBS&E CLIL teaching units in primary classrooms

Assisting teachers on-lineMonitoring students

Phase 4: Reflection2 sessions (4 hours/session) 1 session (2 hours/session) + 2

sessions (4 hours/session) 2 meetings (3 hours/meeting)

Communicating the results. Sharing and reflecting about the classrooms implementation.Evaluating the program

Analyzing, reflecting, planningEvaluating and communicating the program

Outcomes: win-win-winProgram Staff win

• Finding of a fertile ground to continue working as a learning community at the intersection between science and foreign language acquisition in primary education.

• Theory development about CLIL.

• UAB/CESIRE researchers can do research about how this innovative teacher training approach helps both in-service and pre-service teachers design, implement and analyze CLIL units.

Outcomes: win-win-winIn-service Primary teachers win

• They have been strongly challenged and have been able to identify their strengths and weaknesses when teaching integrated inquiry based science and English.

• They expressed the need to expand their ability to present the science inquiry activities so that they become more authentic and functional contexts for both language and knowledge development.

• They enjoyed the help of pre-service teachers in their classrooms, recording the lessons and participating in the planning of the units.

Outcomes: win-win-win

Pre-service Primary teachers win

• They have experienced their participation in the community as a real induction into the professional field of CLIL approaches to content and language teaching.

• They benefit from this innovative approach that allows them to participate cooperatively with teachers in the design, implementation in the classroom and analysis of CLIL units.

Program evaluation: strengths

Explicit theoretical support provided by university and teacher educators from both science and foreign language education

StrengthsThe composition of the learning community including school teachers, students teachers, university professors and teacher educators from both science and language education disciplines

Its particular focus, that is, the attempt to systematically approach the integration of inquiry based science and English teaching in primary classrooms

Program evaluation: improvement proposals

Future work

All participants have developed a positive attitude towards the collaboration within such a diverse community and want to continue the work in the future.

Need to introduce one or two more teacher development sessions to identify the most appropriate linguistic demands and resources for second language acquisition

Research work needs to be done in order to investigate the use of these tools by prospective and practicing primary teachers when collaborating in the planning of teaching units

Two new sites will join in the next academic year: the University of Lleida and the University of Vic both in Catalonia, Spain. These two universities will create two new learning communities

Need to better articulate the participation of pre-service teachers so that they are offered more systematic scaffolding experiences into the collaborative planning of IBS&E CLIL teaching units

Conclusions

Open approaches as IBS demand students to use a diversity of language modalities, registers, and genres in order to be able to model natural phenomena.

Here lies the potential of this type of approaches to act as authentic contexts for both science learning and second language acquisition.

To conclude, this triadic partnership:• benefits the three parts of the learning community:

CESIRE, UAB and Schools- “win, win, win”.• offers an innovative teacher training approach that

benefits both in-service teachers and pre-service teachers.

Thanks for your attention

cesire* Núria Carrillo ncarrill@xtec.cat

Laura Valdés-Sánchez laura.valdes@uab.cat