8470 Views (as of 05/2023)
  1. Shakhnoza Kayumova
  2. AssistantProfessor
  3. Presenter’s NSFRESOURCECENTERS
  4. University of Massachusetts Dartmouth
  1. Akira Harper
  2. Graduate Student
  3. Presenter’s NSFRESOURCECENTERS
  4. University of Massachusetts Dartmouth
  1. Kimberly Welty
  2. Grant Support Specialist
  3. Presenter’s NSFRESOURCECENTERS
  4. University of Massachusetts Dartmouth

Social Positioning, Language & Science Identity

NSF Awards: 1652752

2020 (see original presentation & discussion)

Grades 6-8

Funded by her NSF CAREER grant, Prof. Kayumova and her research team host an annual STEAM Your Way 2 College summer camp at UMass Dartmouth for middle school age students who's primary language is not English.  Students work closely with graduate students, professors, and mentors on inquiry-based science and engineering design projects that are relevant to the students’ social, cultural, and everyday experiences. These diverse investigation-based, hands-on projects help the students develop critical STEM knowledge and skills, and at the same time explore issues and design solutions to the challenges relevant to their local communities, based on social and environmental justice. Initiatives include, but are not limited to: 

• Health, bioengineering, and robotics 

• Marine sciences, oceanography, and environmental issues 

• Engineering and design challenges 

• Computational thinking, artificial intelligence, and digital innovation 

• Data science

This video has had approximately 1,006 visits by 822 visitors from 199 unique locations. It has been played 312 times as of 05/2023.
Click to See Activity Worldwide
Map reflects activity with this presentation from the 2020 STEM For All Video Showcase website, as well as the STEM For All Multiplex website.
Based on periodically updated Google Analytics data. This is intended to show usage trends but may not capture all activity from every visitor.
show more
Discussion from the 2020 STEM For All Video Showcase (45 posts)
  • Icon for: Shakhnoza Kayumova

    Shakhnoza Kayumova

    Lead Presenter
    Associate Professor
    May 4, 2020 | 05:06 p.m.

    Thank you for taking the time to visit our STEAM Your Way 2 College video. Our research is important because it draws on theories that recognize students’ identities and agencies as critical aspects of learning. To this end, we are honored to present at the STEM for All Video Showcase, to demonstrate how we are generating new insights about the relationship between language-based identity and science identity development among emergent bilingual and multilingual learners. Our research would be interested in your feedback, especially in regard to the following questions:

    1. What was one thing that caught your attention while watching this video?
    2. If you have engaged in similar research, given our current pandemic, what are some of the ideas that you've thought about in terms of moving from an in-person STEM learning environment to an online learning environment?
    3. Has this video helped to further your understanding of providing equitable STEM environments for all learners? If so, in what ways?
    4. One of the things we have been doing in our research is examining whether or not a robust STEM curriculum is enough to dismantle inequities related to power and identity.  Our intervention on social positioning attends to anti-deficit and cultural and linguistic straight-based approaches and openly interrogates how our epistemic and identity perspectives in science education have been shaped by dominant discourses and narratives related to science, ability, innateness, and intelligence. What are your thoughts on this? Do you think a robust STEM curriculum is enough without political and ideological clarity about the relationship between learning and power?

     

  • Icon for: Sandra Larios

    Sandra Larios

    Graduate Student
    May 5, 2020 | 10:35 p.m.

    Thank you for sharing this video with us! To address your last question, I personally do not think that STEM curriculum is enough without political and ideological clarity about the relationship between learning and power. Power plays a very important role in how we exist in this world. For these students language is a part of this power dynamic - one of the students shared how she sometimes doens't know how to express herself in English and serves as a bridge to other students who do not yet have those English skills. This subtly addresses how language is a form of power - those who know the language in use can express themselves, however, this may not be true for those who do not know that language, which may result in a lack of expression, participation, etc. Thus, I believe we need to take into account the backgrounds of our students and acknowledge them as knowledge holders, and as educators be the ones who are bridging them to the curriculum and not using the "lack" of language skills as a reason that our students cannot learn/understand the curriculum. A question I do have is how you incorporate the parents/caregivers into this work? Are relationships extended beyond the camp or just for the two weeks? If so, how are they fostered? Again, thank you for sharing this wonderful video! 

     
    3
    Discussion is closed. Upvoting is no longer available

    Francene Watson
    Kimberly Welty
    Shakhnoza Kayumova
  • Icon for: Shakhnoza Kayumova

    Shakhnoza Kayumova

    Lead Presenter
    Associate Professor
    May 6, 2020 | 01:58 a.m.

    Thank you so much, Sandra, for such a great comment. I agree with you! However, we are also getting a lot of push back that what we are doing is simply "good pedagogy" and providing access to a robust curriculum. However, our findings are showing that without political and ideological clarity about language (and other social markers), there cannot be an inclusive and robust STEM curriculum. We are planning to show our findings using some fuzzy set analysis and by attending to the necessary and sufficient conditions of our study.

    This is our second year, and we make phone calls and try to stay in touch with parents (they have been actively communicating with us during the summer and after summer program). We send home letters, photos, and call them. I provide them with my phone number to call me at any time. We hire older siblings as mentors to the program and provide them additional training. We have been hoping to build and foster stronger relationships over the years, including this year, however, with the Covid-19, we are limited in terms of visits and etc. We also recognize that these are important times to connect with them and working very hard to make sure that we will be available if not in person than over the phone or support them with technologies/materials. We have plans for doing some family-college nights and other activities and waiting to hear from the governor and the state to plan our next steps accordingly. Again, thank you so much for your thoughtful and super helpful comments.

     
    1
    Discussion is closed. Upvoting is no longer available

    Sandra Larios
  • Icon for: Jeffrey Ram

    Jeffrey Ram

    Researcher
    May 12, 2020 | 05:03 p.m.

    Students for whom English is not their first language have difficulty with standardized tests, but in the laboratory their conceptual understanding and motivation is frequently superior.  In our project, we have parental consents in English, Spanish, and Arabic and will provide more if teachers notify us they are needed.

  • Icon for: Joni Falk

    Joni Falk

    Researcher
    May 5, 2020 | 07:49 p.m.

    I really enjoyed this video very much. I like how you are not only looking at the impact of culture and identity but taking english language fluency into account. How are you going to study and measure impact? What will you do this coming summer should Covid 19 not permit a face-to-face two week experience? Thanks again for this really interesting presentation. 

     
    2
    Discussion is closed. Upvoting is no longer available

    Kimberly Welty
    Shakhnoza Kayumova
  • Icon for: Shakhnoza Kayumova

    Shakhnoza Kayumova

    Lead Presenter
    Associate Professor
    May 6, 2020 | 02:14 a.m.

    Thank you so much, Joni! We using a mixed-method approach and utilizing some fuzzy-set analysis. Qualitatively, we record classroom interactions and do micro-level moment to moment analysis of students' performances and analyze the change over time using our social positioning framework. We are in close communication with the school districts to figure out either a hybrid or virtual meeting. However, things are changing by the hour where we are located so it has been very difficult to plan anything. Our university is closed until July, similarly to all schools in the area. We are hoping that we will have a better idea and information about summer soon and plan accordingly. Do you have any suggestions? These are very difficult times because we already know that some families have been hit very hard and they are taking care of their sick family members. Some of our community partners believe that asking kids to do virtual programs during these difficult times may not be conducive, while others believe that this would help kids, and by working closely with the school partners we could come up with a program that would not be possible otherwise. One of our school partners suggested doing something around social and emotional support. So we are still talking and trying to keep continuous communication with our partners and community members, and also families, to figure out what would be the most appropriate approach in this situation.  We would welcome your comments and suggestion. Thank you for your thoughtful questions!

  • Icon for: Barbara Rogoff

    Barbara Rogoff

    Researcher
    May 6, 2020 | 02:38 a.m.

    Thanks for your video and your project!  The emphasis on student strengths is so important. Our group is working to identify the learning strengths of students from Indigenous and Mexican-heritage backgrounds -- our video focuses on the children learning to collaborate by being included as contributors in important events.  That makes me wonder if collaboration is one of the assets that you build on in your program.

    It's a pleasure seeing these students enjoying the opportunity to learn science, and to be together in such a supportive program!  It would be interesting to follow up on these students in coming years.

     
    3
    Discussion is closed. Upvoting is no longer available

    Akira Harper
    Kimberly Welty
    Katie Strom
  • Icon for: Shakhnoza Kayumova

    Shakhnoza Kayumova

    Lead Presenter
    Associate Professor
    May 6, 2020 | 03:47 a.m.

    Dear Barbara (Dr. Rogoff), 

    I have goosebumps right now. My research team is working on a paper related to the patterns of sophisticated and flexible collaboration and cooperation we have been observing in the students in our program. It reflects many of your findings related to this in home and family settings among siblings and family members. However, many of our students did not know each other prior to coming to the program, and they are exhibiting similar cultural competencies that you have observed and documented in your study. We completed over 480  hours of micro-level analysis of these events and found these patterns in all groups. What is fascinating about these findings is that although we did set up our program so children could collaborate, we did not necessarily "teach" these skills. We are actually learning these skills from them. Although it was not our initial intention, we believe that our findings show the implication and extension of your findings in more "formal learning settings." We will be working with these students for the next 3 years. 

    It is such an honor!!!! You are and your research work has been such an inspiration for myself, since the doctoral program, and my current research group.  This is such an honor! Thank you for all your work! The education research world is a better place thanks to your decades-long anthropological research!!!!

     
    1
    Discussion is closed. Upvoting is no longer available

    Katie Strom
  • Icon for: Margo Murphy

    Margo Murphy

    Facilitator
    Science Instructor
    May 6, 2020 | 10:15 a.m.

    I so appreciate the work you are doing.  I am interested in knowing more about the teacher PD support.  In the video you have a teacher talking about reading facial expressions....  can you speak more to that and what kinds of training is needed to help implement the program?  Thanks!

     
    1
    Discussion is closed. Upvoting is no longer available

    Kimberly Welty
  • Icon for: Shakhnoza Kayumova

    Shakhnoza Kayumova

    Lead Presenter
    Associate Professor
    May 7, 2020 | 04:51 a.m.

    Dear Mary,

    Thank you for watching our video and for your thoughtful questions. 

    Our work draws on social positioning framework, and our training involves applying this framework to the content (we with on the curriculum based on anti-deficit and asset-based communicative and epistemic approach to science inquiry and sense-making in the context of integrated STEM) and pedagogy (with focus on interactional and relational aspects of teachers’ work in the classroom). Practically, we ask questions such as what roles and positions we give students so they can be epistemic agents and recruit their diverse communicative repertoires to engage in culturally and communally relevant STEM projects. Once we invite teachers and instructors to work with us the work, we start with helping teachers to make practical sense of STEM content and sense-making and inquiry practices, at the same time about anti-deficit notions of identity, culture, and positioning. For example, we focus on curriculum examples and video vignettes from the project (beginning from our pilot year, and each year we add new ones), where students from their district schools engaged in a variety of rich science activities as a basis for discussing what teachers notice, how positioning of students as advantaged or not changes interactions, how we can see students’ competencies as they work in projects, and other related topics. Much of this work draws from successful models such as video clubs in mathematics (Sherin et al, 20014; Sherin et al 2005; Van Es & Sherin, 2010) and cultural anthropological work about competencies of (Gutierrez et al, 2019; Rogoff, 2016) cultural and linguistic diversity that promote reflection on practice. The key feature of this PD is to allow local area science teachers and instructors to observe and notice emergent bilingual-multilingual students in engaging and performing STEM practices using varieties of communicative and cultural repertoires. Research shows when these students struggle in the content areas, teachers are likely to adopt a deficit assumption about students’ family backgrounds, cultural, language, cognitive, and academic skills (Lawson, 2003). Allowing teachers to observe students engaging in advance STEM practices and content is an initial step in debunking deficit notions. While observing, teachers also have an opportunity to build on their content and pedagogic knowledge related science and STEM practices and how to support students’ learning and identity development. We provide instructors and teachers with concrete examples of a variety of teaching and learning strategies relevant to social positioning, identity development, and science content and practices. As a part of their work with us, teachers are asked to design a curriculum with highlighting sense-making, epistemic heterogeneity, identity development, and social positioning. Then they teach in. the program and we meet and reflect on the practices at the end of each day. A graduate student or high-school volunteers (we introduce this research mentorship program this year) works with teachers who volunteer to capture these efforts on video and bring daily observations for our reflection. Thank you so much for visiting our page and for watching our video. Let us know if you have any comments or suggestions.

     
    1
    Discussion is closed. Upvoting is no longer available

    Margo Murphy
  • Icon for: Katie Strom

    Katie Strom

    Higher Ed Faculty
    May 6, 2020 | 10:44 a.m.

    This project is amazing, and it’s such necessary and urgent work. Asset-based approaches to teaching that explicitly value students’ linguistic resources and various forms of knowledge are absolutely essential. Moreover, positioning students as if they are already experts- and naming them as such- is a form of prolepsis, which Vygotsky wrote about, a future-oriented pedagogy in which you work with students in ways that shows them that you already see them as their future-selves with the skills and knowledge that you are currently learning.  In my dissertation, one of the case studies was done in a 10th grade special education biology teacher’s class. Most of her students were both labeled as “special needs” and were multilingual learners. In her class, however, they were “scientists,” and she engaged in scaffolded, inquiry-based group activities with them that were well-connected to their lives, constantly encouraging them abd celebrating their successes, and by the end of the year, her students performed better than the general education classes on the tenth grade science assessments (not that I think testing is all that important, but still a measure of what she was able to accomplish in partnership with them).

    However, as a prerequisite to developing an assets-based perspective that is future-oriented and values student knowledge,/language, teachers have to develop socio-political and socio-linguistic consciousness about processes of schooling, as well as understand the entanglement of student identity, culture, language, home/community, etc.  It is impossible to separate a student’s culture and language from their identity- they co-create each other- so devaluing a students’ language and/or dismissing their knowledge and experiences from home/community diminishes their sense of self, their confidence, and likely their desire to participate/engage (who would want to take part in activities that send you a message that everything about you and your family/community/heritage is worthless or undesirable?). In addition, drawing on student experiences/knowledge and linguistic resources is also necessary for learning in English- that’s key second language acquisition practice. So all this is NOT just “good pedagogy,” it’s a specific set of orientations, knowledge, and practices on the part of the teacher/school that includes recognition that dominant pedagogies and curriculum in the US are deficit-based toward multilingual learners (and many other groups); understanding that language/culture/community/home/self are entangled and co-constituted and the student/their learning is negatively impacted by curriculum/pedagogy that doesn’t value/tap into their resources; and deliberate use of prolepsis-based, future-oriented, socioculturally/sociolinguistically informed practices. And simply a “rigorous” STEM curriculum will not achieve this- we need teacher development and ongoing supports, as well as school/district supported programs, that help teachers develop this politically-informed knowledge, interrogate and disrupt deeply-held deficit based perspectives, and learn/practice the pedagogical practices to support students as they develop.

    Thank you so much for this work! Looking forward to seeing more!

     
    1
    Discussion is closed. Upvoting is no longer available

    Kimberly Welty
  • Icon for: Kimberly Welty

    Kimberly Welty

    Co-Presenter
    Grant Support Specialist
    May 7, 2020 | 02:19 p.m.

    Katie - thank you for watching our video and sharing your insights.  We appreciate you taking the time to comment as well and we'll be back in touch with you to address your ideas.

  • Icon for: Shakhnoza Kayumova

    Shakhnoza Kayumova

    Lead Presenter
    Associate Professor
    May 10, 2020 | 06:12 a.m.

    Wow, Katie. Yes!!!!!! I want to copy and paste your comments everywhere!!! I would love to get in touch with you and see if we can collaborate together. I am already in love with your work. Your work and scholarship on PD and teacher learning/enactment multiplicities and complexities continue to inform us. I would love to pick your brain about issues related to "learning." 

  • Sarah Ansari

    Graduate Student
    May 6, 2020 | 05:04 p.m.

    Thank you for this important work you're doing!  I'd love to learn more about the tools you speak of in the video that support teachers in positioning students as "epistemically and cognitively advantaged" in your summer institutes.  As an elementary ELD Specialist and doctoral student, I'm extremely interested in efforts aimed at, as you aptly describe, "dismantling language-based deficit narratives".  I think large-scale societal change is absolutely necessary to achieve this, but efforts such as STEAM Your Way 2 College are not only benefiting the students and teachers involved, but are contributing to systemic changes.  I'm inspired by, and look forward to learning more about your work!  

     
    1
    Discussion is closed. Upvoting is no longer available

    Kimberly Welty
  • Icon for: Kimberly Welty

    Kimberly Welty

    Co-Presenter
    Grant Support Specialist
    May 7, 2020 | 02:22 p.m.

    Thank you Sarah for watching our video and commenting.  We also hope we are able to contribute to systemic changes in education. Our PI will be able to address your question about the tools we use to position students in our summer programs in the near future.

  • Icon for: Shakhnoza Kayumova

    Shakhnoza Kayumova

    Lead Presenter
    Associate Professor
    May 10, 2020 | 05:08 a.m.

    Thank you so much Sarah. We are working on a couple research publications. I will be happy to share them with you!

  • Icon for: Lynda McGilvary

    Lynda McGilvary

    Facilitator
    Communications Director
    May 6, 2020 | 10:37 p.m.

    I'm completely onboard with your reasoning! So many students develop skills from birth, yet fail to recognize them as strengths. Can you provide an example of one of your activities that capitalizes on these strengths. What instruments and indicators do you use to document and quantify changes in students' affect toward science?

     
    1
    Discussion is closed. Upvoting is no longer available

    Kimberly Welty
  • Icon for: Kimberly Welty

    Kimberly Welty

    Co-Presenter
    Grant Support Specialist
    May 7, 2020 | 02:24 p.m.

    Thank you Lynda for your insightful comments and questions.  We will be able to provide answers to your questions shortly!

  • Icon for: Shakhnoza Kayumova

    Shakhnoza Kayumova

    Lead Presenter
    Associate Professor
    May 10, 2020 | 05:06 a.m.

    Dear Lynda, 

    This is such a great question. When we have designed the program, we relied on extensive research from learning sciences and cultural-historical studies about social, cultural, linguistic, and cognitive resources and strengths of emergent bilingual/multilingual children from Latinx, Portuguese, and Cape-Verdean backgrounds. We also engaged in the communities these children live and go to schools. So, we knew about some of their social, cultural, and linguistic strengths, such as code-switching, translanguaging, cultural competencies and cognitive processes required to accomplish joint activities and complex, competencies with multi-modal representations, as well as social skills such as assisting and helping their peers and their instructors with understanding directions and etc. While these strengths and various forms of relational knowing were constitutive of our design, we were also cognizant not to essentialize them and attune ourselves as well as our activities so that we can attend to their strengths as they emerge. Therefore, one main feature of our activities is that many of them are inquiry-based and open-ended. They allow multiple approaches and ways of engagement. Second, all of or activities require a join activity. That way we know that students can utilize their strengths to accomplish complex tasks and bring their various strengths (cultural and linguistic) while working on different parts of projects, communicating, planning, and designing. Third, an important feature is that we utilize topics and issues that are currently relevant to their communities. This way they can bring their everyday epistemologies to attend to the issues and combine that with epistemic practices of the discipline. Here is one concrete example, this year we wanted to engage students in thermodynamics and concepts of energy. We decide to go with environmental and food justice issues in the community. Students had opportunities to investigate these issues from their community's perspective, they asked questions from their families, collected data about sources of food, their ecological and climate footprints. They looked at the grocery ads to collect data and make calculations. They grew their own seeds from the fruits and vegetables they consumed. They were provided Ipads and notebooks so they record their data and observations in various modalities. They were part of diverse linguistic groups and helped each other with translations and translanguaging. We collected qualitative data such as video, audio data from classroom enactments (and do moment-by-moment data analysis of students’ engagement), we also collect fieldnotes, use observation protocol, and interviews with students. In terms of quantitative data, there is also a pre-post social positioning survey. We analyze these data sets qualitatively, quantitatively, as well as a combination of two in fuzzy set analysis.

  • Icon for: Mia Dubosarsky

    Mia Dubosarsky

    Director of Professional Development
    May 7, 2020 | 02:06 p.m.

    Dear Shakhnoza & team, 

    What a valuable project with long lasting impact! Strengthening these students' cultural identities while making connection to a new STEAM identity seems like the perfect way to engage a diverse group of future STEAM professionals and problem solvers. Kudos! 

     
    1
    Discussion is closed. Upvoting is no longer available

    Kimberly Welty
  • Icon for: Shakhnoza Kayumova

    Shakhnoza Kayumova

    Lead Presenter
    Associate Professor
    May 10, 2020 | 05:07 a.m.

    Thank you so much Mia :). I look forward to our collaboration!

  • Icon for: Kimberly Welty

    Kimberly Welty

    Co-Presenter
    Grant Support Specialist
    May 7, 2020 | 02:14 p.m.

    Thank you Mia for watching our video and commenting! We appreciate your comment.

  • Icon for: K. Renae Pullen

    K. Renae Pullen

    Facilitator
    Specialist
    May 7, 2020 | 08:50 p.m.

    Thank you so much for your inspirational work. I excited to learn more about the structures you all used to help teachers as they position students as competent scientists and engineers in the classroom. Is there a place where I can read more about your work? Also, I'd like to learn more about how the teacher PD helped expose, change, and/or improve teachers' implicit bias.

     
    1
    Discussion is closed. Upvoting is no longer available

    Kimberly Welty
  • Icon for: Shakhnoza Kayumova

    Shakhnoza Kayumova

    Lead Presenter
    Associate Professor
    May 10, 2020 | 05:19 a.m.

    Dear Renee, Thank you so much for watching and your thoughtful inquiries. This past summer was the first year of implementation. We are stepping into our second year. We have finished our preliminary data analysis and findings and submitting them to a couple journals. I will be happy to share with you these peer-reviewed articles. We have also presented our findings in AERA, NARST and ESERA conferences. We will be happy to share with you those presentations as well. I will upload them to our website. 

    When it comes to structures we used to help teachers as they position students as competent scientists and engineers, I would say one of the most effective and important ones were daily debriefings, our observational protocol was very helpful to take some notes daily and share what we saw as noteworthy with them every day before and after the daily program. Those moments were very important for us to reflect about our practices and improve upon them. We were also very privileged to have high school mentor group and students who came to work with us (siblings of the program participants), they shared with teachers their own observations and insider knowledge as well. Another most important thing explicitly talked about reminding ourselves about issues related to power, as well as openly interrogate how our epistemic and identity perspectives in science education have been shaped by dominant discourses and narratives related to science, ability, innateness, and intelligence. 

     
    1
    Discussion is closed. Upvoting is no longer available

    K. Renae Pullen
  • Icon for: Holly Morin

    Holly Morin

    Marine Research Associate
    May 7, 2020 | 09:14 p.m.

    SUCH important work that you are doing! As many know, engaging minority and underserved students in science and thinking of STEM careers can be challenging, and this is a fantastic way to really let the students find their identity IN STEM. I love it!  

    This is something we discovered with Inuit youth, which we had participating in our Northwest Passage Project.  They do not have "traditional training" like other U.S. undergraduate students that were onboard with our team, however, they definitely possessed the knowledge. Moreover, the intersection between traditional knowledge and "modern knowledge", how the former really influences and informs the latter, is something that should not be taken for granted.  It was great to see our students rally around and support our Inuit students, and they really did shine during the 18-day expedition we had in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. The other students, and actually the entire project team, also appreciated the Inuit perspectives that were shared during the cruise,  Very similar to what was stated in the video, they may not have the same language (or in this case, go to college or school in the same was as other students), but that doesn't mean they don't possess the scientific knowledge necessary to succeed and have an impact.

     
    2
    Discussion is closed. Upvoting is no longer available

    Kimberly Welty
    Akira Harper
  • Icon for: Akira Harper

    Akira Harper

    Co-Presenter
    Graduate Student
    May 8, 2020 | 10:46 a.m.

    Thank you so much for watching our video Holly & I'm happy to hear that you are seeing similarities to what you're doing within your project, to what we're doing in our video! You hit the nail on the head! Our kids are extremely smart, deserving, and they all brought various forms of scientific knowledge into the camp with them. It blew us away at times because of how smart our students are and how well they succeeded. I think programs like STEAM Your Way 2 College & the Northwest Passage Project, are both important because the work that we do allows our students to have access to these STEM identities, and eventually access to STEM-related careers. 

     
    2
    Discussion is closed. Upvoting is no longer available

    Kimberly Welty
    Holly Morin
  • Icon for: Holly Morin

    Holly Morin

    Marine Research Associate
    May 8, 2020 | 12:33 p.m.

    Yes! It's been really interesting with many of our other Northwest Passage Project undergrads, who are first generation college students in their families, watch their career/future education paths morph after this experience.  We partnered with 5 minority serving institutions on the project, and many of these students are now looking to incorporating oceanography or environmental science into their future, things that weren't on their radar prior to the project and their expedition experience. For example, students on a pre-med path, are maintaining that, but now looking at climate impacts on health, or environmental impacts on genetics- not only are they thinking about these new (to them) areas of science and how to continue with these topics in the future, but they are doing it in really innovative ways!

     
    1
    Discussion is closed. Upvoting is no longer available

    Kimberly Welty
  • Icon for: Kimberly Welty

    Kimberly Welty

    Co-Presenter
    Grant Support Specialist
    May 8, 2020 | 01:53 p.m.

    Thank you Holly for your comments. I really enjoyed watching your video as well. It's so important that people realize the interconnectedness of issues (nothing is in its own bubble) and how decisions/actions/consequences are not isolated to just their issue or geographic area. I'm really thankful for the work you and your team are doing and look forward to hearing more about the success of your project in the future!

  • Icon for: Shakhnoza Kayumova

    Shakhnoza Kayumova

    Lead Presenter
    Associate Professor
    May 10, 2020 | 05:20 a.m.

    Holly, thank you so much! Your project is so exciting. Where are you located?

  • Icon for: Jamie Bell

    Jamie Bell

    Informal Educator
    May 8, 2020 | 08:22 a.m.

    Thank you for sharing this interesting, important project! I'm curious what you are learning from working with educators to provide a setting and experiences that support learners' positioning as assets. To what degree does is it helpful for those creating this environment to be conversant in social positioning and identity work theory? Are you finding any particular sweet spots where research and practice come together in this work?

     
    1
    Discussion is closed. Upvoting is no longer available

    Kimberly Welty
  • Icon for: Kimberly Welty

    Kimberly Welty

    Co-Presenter
    Grant Support Specialist
    May 8, 2020 | 04:11 p.m.

    Thank you Jamie for taking the time to watch our video and for your comments and questions.  I'd like to address your first question. We actually took time before the camp started to train not only the instructors but also the HS interns/mentors and other camp staff on social positioning theory so they would all understand where we were coming from and be able to implement it themselves while interacting with our students. I'll defer to my colleagues for your second question as they have more intimate knowledge to be able to answer that one.

  • Icon for: Shakhnoza Kayumova

    Shakhnoza Kayumova

    Lead Presenter
    Associate Professor
    May 10, 2020 | 05:28 a.m.

    Dear Jamie,

    We have been so privileged with educators and instructors who work with us in this project. We are continually working and learning from them. Let me give you one concrete and recent example. Our educators help us to understand/analyze video data that we collect in the classrooms. We were watching one of the classroom interactions, and suddenly our teacher says, did you see that? She was pointing at the group of boys, and how once of one they in the group got hold of the activity he started helping others in the group. This was something that we would not be able to understand or see just from just watching the video or was not fully captured in the observational notes, but she broke that whole event of interaction into the moment-by-moment sequence of learning. We have been learning from our educators every day during the program and we continue learning from them. Now they teach us about the strengths the students enact. Instead of us guiding them they are guiding our understanding. 

  • Icon for: Michael I. Swart

    Michael I. Swart

    Researcher
    May 8, 2020 | 01:39 p.m.

    Fantastic Work.  And such a clear outlay of your program, your theoretical framework and your research questions and objectives.  In our work using embodied learning to teach mathematics, we found that offering students opportunities to express their understandings beyond formal assessments helped alleviate many of students inabilities to demonstrate their knowledge, and this held especially for our ELL students.  Such a great ethos behind harnessing differences and diversities of culture and language as assets! Thanks for this work! 

     
    1
    Discussion is closed. Upvoting is no longer available

    Kimberly Welty
  • Icon for: Shakhnoza Kayumova

    Shakhnoza Kayumova

    Lead Presenter
    Associate Professor
    May 10, 2020 | 05:35 a.m.

    Thank you so much, Michael. Embodied learning in mathematics education has been informing our approach as well. If you do not mind, we will look up your work and read about it. Yes, ELL students have so much embodied knowledge and they are so good at deploying various bodily, semiotic, and cultural resources to make and express meaning, it is just fascinating and such a privilege to be witnessing their ingenuities and capabilities. 

  • Icon for: Kimberly Welty

    Kimberly Welty

    Co-Presenter
    Grant Support Specialist
    May 8, 2020 | 01:44 p.m.

    Michael, thank you for your comments and sharing insights about your work as well. It's good to see others embracing this ideology and practice for ELL students!

  • Icon for: Heidi Carlone

    Heidi Carlone

    Higher Ed Faculty
    May 9, 2020 | 08:57 a.m.

    Shakhnoza and Team-- Great work! It's really fun to see this work come alive in the video. I empathize with a lot of your struggles-- "This is just good pedagogy", a canceled summer program (ugh!), and the tensions with overtly integrating (and how much, when, how) emphases on power, and justice. Our team continues to learn a lot from your work!

     
    1
    Discussion is closed. Upvoting is no longer available

    Kimberly Welty
  • Icon for: Shakhnoza Kayumova

    Shakhnoza Kayumova

    Lead Presenter
    Associate Professor
    May 10, 2020 | 06:09 a.m.

    Aww!! Thank you, Heidi! It means so much for me (us) to hear this coming from you. You and your work created a pathway in science education to "talk" about identity issues and continues to inform generations of scholars and scholarships. You are our intellectual leader and inspiration. Thank you for all your support, advice, mentorship, and help! 

  • Icon for: Emmanuel Nti-Asante

    Emmanuel Nti-Asante

    Graduate Student
    May 10, 2020 | 05:38 p.m.

    Professor Shakhnoza, I am happy I found this link. Interestingly, I relate so well to this video. I remember I grew up in the Ghanaian tropical zone where most people including my dad were woodworkers. I had to learn basic geometry and various geometric construction from my dads shop. Amazingly, I went to high school and university, to be trained to teach mathematics. My interest in Geometry diminished as my teachers couldn't relate the Geometry they were teaching to what was ddone in my community. However, it will interest you to know that any geometric question which is applicative and even more theoretical was my favorite. I have accepted the call to understand how best to prepare pre-service mathematics teachers in my country, but with a different flavor!. A focus on using ethnomathematics materials, authentic learning, and best incorporating subsistence geometric  practices in the society. I hail you and your team so high, I believe if things go well I will join  you this fall, 2020. Kudos and God bless you for reaching out to educate the underserved. " The African Culture is Mathematical, yet we overlook and rather take pain and valuables to search for what we don't have to learn Mathematics- Nti-Asante, Emmanuel". I am glad you have set the pace so well, we will get there, soon!!!! 

     
    1
    Discussion is closed. Upvoting is no longer available

    Kimberly Welty
  • Icon for: Kimberly Welty

    Kimberly Welty

    Co-Presenter
    Grant Support Specialist
    May 12, 2020 | 09:10 a.m.

    Thank you Emmanuel for your thoughtful reflections and sharing your experiences with us. We really appreciate reading them!

     
    1
    Discussion is closed. Upvoting is no longer available

    Emmanuel Nti-Asante
  • Icon for: Shakhnoza Kayumova

    Shakhnoza Kayumova

    Lead Presenter
    Associate Professor
    May 12, 2020 | 01:33 p.m.

    Dear Emmanuel,

    Thank you so much for your thoughtful comments and for sharing with us your experiences. I am excited to hear that you are using ethnomathematics, as you said, there are so much mathematics and STEM in everyday cultural practices, yet we tend to overlook them for the service of formal and procedural ones. I am excited for you and the wonderful things you are doing within the mathematics education and research community.  

     
    1
    Discussion is closed. Upvoting is no longer available

    Emmanuel Nti-Asante
  • Adriano Marzullo

    Higher Ed Faculty
    May 12, 2020 | 08:52 a.m.

    Thank you very much for sharing this video with me and thank you for what you are doing, it is admirable. Being international myself, I can sure relate to the kids. Watching this video it made me remember my first year as a graduate student, my English wasn't that good and I had trouble asking questions. Mainly because of my accent, people did not get me,  it was a struggle. Every instructor was great with me but I clearly remember that the classes I was more comfortable attending were the ones taught by foreign teachers because their English was "simple" and  I understood them completely: they never used idioms like" hits the road', or "under the weather" or "spill the beans" and most of them spoke slowly!!! Different accents for me were never a problem. 

    I would be happy to be of assistance, just let me know!  
     
    1
    Discussion is closed. Upvoting is no longer available

    Kimberly Welty
  • Icon for: Kimberly Welty

    Kimberly Welty

    Co-Presenter
    Grant Support Specialist
    May 12, 2020 | 09:12 a.m.

    Thank you so much Adriano for sharing your personal experiences & reflections.  We are honored that you felt comfortable enough to share them with us.

  • Icon for: Adriano Marzullo

    Adriano Marzullo

    Higher Ed Faculty
    May 12, 2020 | 08:52 a.m.

    Thank you very much for sharing this video with me and thank you for what you are doing, it is admirable. Being international myself, I can sure relate to the kids. Watching this video it made me remember my first year as a graduate student, my English wasn't that good and I had trouble asking questions. Mainly because of my accent, people did not get me,  it was a struggle. Every instructor was great with me but I clearly remember that the classes I was more comfortable attending were the ones taught by foreign teachers because their English was "simple" and  I understood them completely: they never used idioms like" hits the road', or "under the weather" or "spill the beans" and most of them spoke slowly!!! Different accents for me were never a problem. 

    I would be happy to be of assistance, just let me know!  
  • Icon for: Shakhnoza Kayumova

    Shakhnoza Kayumova

    Lead Presenter
    Associate Professor
    May 12, 2020 | 01:27 p.m.

    Thank you so much Adriano for sharing your experiences and reflections. You are a great role model and doing an amazing job yourself!  We will be definitely reaching out to you :). Thank you!

  • Icon for: Kimberly Welty

    Kimberly Welty

    Co-Presenter
    Grant Support Specialist
    May 12, 2020 | 09:12 a.m.

    Thank you so much Adriano for sharing your personal experiences & reflections.  We are honored that you felt comfortable enough to share them with us.

     
    1
    Discussion is closed. Upvoting is no longer available

    Adriano Marzullo
  • Further posting is closed as the event has ended.