Kim & Ramos Receive Funding For Project Examining Transmodalising With Technology In Science (TTS)
Sujin Kim, Assistant Professor, and Kathleen Ramos, Associate Professor, in the Advanced Professional Teacher Development and International Education (APTDIE) Division, School of Education, received funding from the Spencer Foundation Small Research Grants Program for the project: "Transmodalising with Technology in Science (TTS)."
The project is a small-scale, yet in-depth inquiry into ways that upper elementary science and English as a second language (ESOL) teachers can apply a transmodalising pedagogy to support emergent bilingual learners (EBLs) in developing conceptual understanding and disciplinary language and literacy practices in science classrooms.
The TTS research project addresses the well-documented gap of EBLs’ engagement in science classrooms by exploring how an innovative, technologically-mediated multiliteracies approach, using the digital technology of infographics, can shift teachers’ practice from applying general best practices to creating affordances for engaging EBLs in authentic, disciplinary practices in science classrooms. Through a qualitative case study design and social semiotics approach to data analysis, Kim and Ramos are exploring the impact of a technology-mediated transmodalising pedagogy for science instruction in upper elementary science classrooms with EBLs.
The envisioned outcome of this research is a guiding framework for content-language-technology integrated instruction for science and ESOL teachers of young adolescent learners. Given the lasting repercussion of COVID-19 for instruction with EBLs, this timely research will bolster knowledge about EBLs’ engagement and learning experiences in science instruction during and post-pandemic.
The researchers received $59,915 from the Spencer Foundation Small Research Grants Program for this project. Funding began in January 2022 and will end in late December 2023.
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