Student Progressions in Science and Language Development – Progress in Developing Positive Attitudes and Confidence

Partners in Innovation: Integrating ELD and Science

The Integrating ELD (English Language Development) and Science program, a partnership between the Exploratorium and Sonoma Valley Unified School District (SVUSD), offered elementary students wide-ranging opportunities to interact with and make meaning of natural phenomenon through science inquiry. In turn, students’ individual and collective investigations created rich and varied opportunities for using language. The kind of student-centered and student-generated learning produced by the Integrating ELD and Science program happened in deep and complex ways, but often “below the radar screen” of what can be detected through formal standardized student assessments.

As an alternate construct to achievement testing, the concept of student progressions provides a view of how children build their knowledge over time. The student progressions concept is presented here in the following report to show how SVUSD students-at-large made positive, and often dramatic, progress in developing confidence and positive attitudes about their learning. Discussed is why a positive attitude toward learning is important, and what administrators and classroom teachers in SVUSD had to say about how the program contributed to the development of positive attitudes and confidence of their students. The report also provides an example of a particular student progression in gaining confidence in science and language illustrated through the 5th grader’s own words and work.

Progress in Developing Positive Attitudes and Confidence (pdf, 8 pages)

Partners in Innovation: Integrating ELD and Science
Exploratorium and Sonoma Valley Unified School District
PROJECT PORTFOLIO:

Introduction and Overview – The Innovation and Its Contributions

The Contributions to Teachers – How Teachers Were Empowered to Support Students Learning Science and Developing English Language Fluency

Student Progressions in Science and Language Development:

What follows are five separate and brief reports focusing on various aspects of student progressions in learning science and language. We suggest that reader begin with the first, “Student Progressions in Science and Language Development: An Introduction and Rationale” that describes the idea of student progressions.  The construct of student progressions serves as an alternative to standardized test scores as a way to assess and demonstrate student growth and development.

An Introduction and Rationale

Progress in Developing Positive Attitudes and Confidence

Progress in Learning Science Content

Progress in Developing Science Practices and Thinking Skills

Progress in Developing Language Fluency and Complexity