Human Development and School Services Faculty Publications

Methods and Strategies: Using Acorns to Generate an Entire Alphabet. Nature Walks Empower Young Bilingual Learners

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2-2016

Abstract

The increasing presence of linguistically diverse young children in U.S. public schools has prompted science educators to recognize the need for approaches that are inclusive and sensitive to students' academic needs. The challenge is to design lessons that provide language support while actively engaging children in authentic scientific inquiry. Scholars suggest that direct access to nature enhances cognitive development and promotes language acquisition for young bilingual learners. Connections with plants and animals, Elizabeth Lawrence (1993) asserted, lay the foundation for cognitive activity. Not only do children acquire knowledge and labels about plants and other live organisms, but they also advance to more complex levels of reasoning. By planning outdoor experiences, teachers can draw on children's innate inclination to engage with nature and to facilitate content and language development, specifically knowledge of the alphabet. This column provides ideas and techniques to enhance your science teaching. In this article, the authors highlight a specific type of approach that focuses on the connections between outdoor experiences and second language development in an early childhood bilingual classroom. This lesson centers on the science standards of plant reproduction and Common Core standards for language arts, including the addition of drawings to descriptions in order to provide details. The activity took place at a child development center with prekindergarten students who embarked on a nature walk.

Publication Title

Science and Children

DOI

10.2505/4/sc16_053_06_76

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