Math

and

Science

Lessons Teach

English

Skills

By Jennifer Stepanek

Math and science classrooms—especially those rich in inquiry and problem solving—hold special promise and challenge for language-minority students. Scientific inquiry and math problem solving are suffused with talk: questioning, describing, explaining, hypothesizing, debating, clarifying, elaborating, and sharing findings. While the language demands are significant, the potential is also strong that students will learn important English- language skills as well as science and math.

The Winter 2004 issue of Northwest Teacher is focused on "Learning English in the Math and Science Classroom." The journal features teachers who are incorporating language instruction into their mathematics and science lessons. Their experiences suggest many ways to foster students' English acquisition while they also study challenging mathematics and science content.

The opening article, "From Barriers to Bridges: Diverse Languages in Mathematics and Science," reviews what researchers and practitioners have learned about English language learners in the math and science classroom. The article also explores how the languages of mathematics and science can be a perplexing challenge for all students.

In "Growing Languages Through Science," a teacher in the rural town of Royal City, Washington, doesn't hesitate to introduce complex scientific material in his instruction. As his ESL students conduct experiments in biotechnology—studying chromatography, electrophoresis, and polymerase chain reactions—their hands-on experiences are a catalyst for learning new and sometimes complex vocabulary.

In "Teaching Across a Spectrum of Languages," a third-grade classroom in Woodburn, Oregon, gathers a group of native English-, Spanish-, and Russian-speaking students. Here, the teacher follows an individualized approach to bilingual education.

A single, free copy of Northwest Teacher is available to Northwest educators via e-mail request at math_and_science@nwrel.org; the publication is also online at www.nwrel.org/msec/nwteacher/index.html. To purchase multiple copies, see the online catalog.