Project Activities
The research team carried out a series of iterative design experiments to: (1) define the elements of an integrated literacy/science curriculum; (2) develop and pilot two units based on the model; and (3) conduct two Classroom Implementation Trials (one for each unit). Expert teachers with experience teaching ELLs participated in all development and refinement work. The curricular units were field-tested in one classroom, revised, and then field-tested in a different classroom to provide new evidence of feasibility and potential effects on student learning. A randomized trial was conducted for each unit in which one of three treatment classrooms served as an in-depth case study of the implementation of the curriculum.
Structured Abstract
Setting
This study took place in urban schools in California in classrooms with at least 60 percent ELLs.
Sample
The project sample includes approximately 200 ELLs in first grade. Most students are Spanish speaking, but some students may speak Mandarin, Cantonese, and Vietnamese.
Intervention
Each curricular unit was designed to integrate instruction in literacy and science through promoting mastery of science knowledge, science discourse, and vocabulary. Researchers extended an existing intervention called Seeds of Science/Roots of Reading which has evidence of improving both science learning and reading comprehension for students in grades 2–5, with particular benefits for ELLs. Modifications for use with first-grade ELLs include increased use of audio materials, additional scaffolds and supports, more emphasis on oral language development, and adjustment to cover science concepts addressed in first grade. The length of units and instructional time was also adjusted to match the capacity of first graders. Each unit includes a teacher's guide, custom-written instructional books, student investigation notebooks, a system of formative and summative assessments, and a materials kit. Each unit included twenty 45-minute lessons to be taught within a 6– 7-week period.
Research design and methods
The research was conducted in three phases. Phase I included development and testing of the model of literacy and science integration for first-grade ELLs and will take place in two first-grade classrooms. Researchers and curriculum developers delivered, observed, and analyzed instruction in collaboration with classroom teachers. Activities focused on instructional routines and grouping strategies. Lessons were developed in one classroom and tested in the second classroom. The research team worked with expert teachers to develop lesson sequences and materials. The teachers had at least 5 years of experience teaching first grade and were certified to teach ELLs. Teachers helped identify focal students in each classroom for observations and informal interviews. This phase was designed to develop an integrated literacy-science intervention which increases the frequency and quality of relevant practices for both teachers and students, including specific inquiry, reading, writing, and discourse practice.
Control condition
Classrooms were randomly assigned to participate in one of the three treatment conditions or the control condition in the pilot studies.
Key measures
A large number of measures (both standardized and researcher-developed) of student learning in science, vocabulary, comprehension and English language were used, including the Test of Word Reading Efficiency-2 the Teacher Rating of Oral Language and Literacy (TROLL), the Science Learning Assessment (SLA), and the Concepts of Comprehension Assessment. State assessments of home language abilities and English language proficiency were also used. In addition, the Observation Survey of Early Literacy (Hearing and Recording Sounds in Words subtask), was used in this study.
Data analytic strategy
In Phase 1, information collected in classroom observations and teacher reflections were discussed in weekly group reflection sessions and used to make decisions regarding revisions to the curricula. Phase 2 included analyses of student assessments before and after using the curriculum as well as student work products, review of field notes, observations, and protocols that document instructional practices. Phase 3 analyses included regressions using the treatment condition as a predictor to examine effects on student learning Effects of mediating and moderating variables will also be examined.
Key outcomes
Researchers developed a model of literacy and science integration along with associated curriculum materials to help emergent bilingual students in first grade acquire science knowledge, reading comprehension prowess, and important science vocabulary. Findings from the pilot study include:
People and institutions involved
IES program contact(s)
Products and publications
Products: Final products were the integrated science-literacy curriculum (ISLC), which consisted of two NGSS-aligned units—Modeling Animal Defenses (MAD), a life science unit designed with the learning and development profiles of early first grade students and Light and Sound (LSS), a physical science unit designed for late first grade students. Peer-reviewed publications were also produced.
ERIC Citations: Find available citations in ERIC for this award here.
Publications:
Billman, A.K., and Pearson, P.D. (2013). Literacy in the Disciplines. Literacy Learning: the Middle Years, 21(1): 25-33.
Pearson, P.D., and Billman, A.K. (2016). Reading to Learn Science; A Right that Extends to Every Reader—Expert or Novice. In Zehlia Babaci-Wilhite (Ed.), Human Rights in Language and STEM Education (pp. 17-35). The Netherlands: Sense Publishers.
Pearson, P.D., Knight, A.M., Cannady, M.A., Henderson, J.B., and McNeil, K.L. (2015). Assessment at the Intersection of Science and Literacy. Theory into Practice, 54(3): 228-237.
Supplemental information
Co-Principal Investigators: Pearson, P. David; Barber, Jacqueline
- Moderate effect sizes favored the developed integrated science literacy program over the business-as-usual control group or the books-only group for 4 out of the 6 comparisons for the Fall Animal Defenses unit and 3 out of the 6 comparisons for the Spring Light and Sound unit (LSS).
- Based on researcher observations, the combination of multimodal experiences (read it, write it, talk it, and do it) worked equally well in grade 1 as it has in previous research in grades 2 through 5.
- Results suggest young learners can read to learn as they learn to read.
- Through a pre-existing relationship with Amplify Education, Inc., the team was able to incorporate their work from this project into a commercially available curriculum for integrated science and literacy called Amplify Science.
In Phase 2, two curricular units were developed, field-tested, and refined using design-based research techniques. This phase was designed to provide evidence of how change in the frequency and quality of teacher and student practices enacted in the full model are related to student learning and to make revisions to the curricular units to improve the likelihood of supporting student learning.
The pilot studies in Phase 3 recruited four demographically similar classrooms with at least 60 percent ELL students (a total of 100), and randomly assigned each classroom to one of three conditions: one case study treatment classroom, one of two treatment classrooms, or one business-as-usual comparison classroom. Key research questions in this phase included the study of fidelity of implementation, whether the model promoted greater student learning within each unit, and whether students in the intervention improved in their ability to read novel science texts.
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