1. science
2. ecology

A partnership of:
Texas Institute for Measurement, Evaluation, and Statistics at
the University of Houston;
California State University, Long Beach;
Center for Applied Linguistics;
Harvard University;
University of California, Berkeley; and
Vaughn Gross Center at the University of Texas at Austin.
QuEST: Quality English and
Science Teaching
Diane August
Annie Duguay
Center for Applied Linguistics
Copyright © 2011 Center for Applied Linguistics
QuEST: Quality English and Science Teaching
Branum-
University of Houston: David Francis, Lee
Branum-Martin, Elsa Hagan, Coleen Carlson,
Chris Bar
Center for Applied Linguistics: Annie Duguay,
Jennifer Powell, Aileen Bach, Natalia Jacobsen,
Lindsey Massoud, Kat Kramer
QuEST is a major strand of the National Research and
Development Center on ELLs-CREATE.
Overview of the Presentation
•Overview
–Study Goals
–Research findings
–Study context and results
–Partner work #1
•Instructional methods
–Dual objectives
–Language and literacy development
–Partner work #2
–Scaffolding content
–Partner work #3
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Study Goals
• Develop, implement, and assess the
effectiveness of an instructional approach
and professional development designed to
build the science knowledge and academic
language of middle school English-language
learners and their English proficient peers
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Research Findings
• NAEP (2005) scores at 8th grade indicate
– English proficient students scored 151 scale
score points
– ELLs scored 107 scale score points
– Only ELLs proficient enough in English to take
the assessment were included
• Review of all pre-experimental and experimental
studies indicate effective interventions for ELLs
– Build on effective L1 science research
– Take into account students’ language
backgrounds
Research Findings
• Studies that examine role of language proficiency
in science learning consistently find
– Limited English proficiency inhibits L2 learners
science achievement in English
– Students can bootstrap on L1 knowledge and
skills
• Studies that examine communication and
interaction patterns among culturally different
subgroups of students engaged in science activities
find
– Differences and similarities among cultures in
interaction patterns
Study Context
• Study implemented in high-poverty urban
schools in Texas with large numbers of ELLs
• Involved sixth grade and seventh grade
science teachers in middle schools
– Professional development
– Mentoring
• Informal structured observations
• Debriefings
Study Findings
• QuEST improves quality of teacher’s science
instruction and raises student performance on
curriculum-based measures of vocabulary and
science.
– Alterations made to accommodate ELLS
• Substantial variability across teachers in rated
quality of instruction
– Highlights the importance of professional
development and mentoring
• Important contribution to the field
– Only published experimental study where English is
medium of science instruction to show significant
treatment effects for both ELLs and English proficient
students
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Publication
The Impact of an Instructional Intervention on the Science and Language
Learning of Middle Grade English Language Learners
Diane August
Center for Applied Linguistics, Washington, DC, USA
Lee Branum-Martin, Elsa Cardenas-Hagan, and David J. Francis
Texas Institute for Measurement, Evaluation, and Statistics, University of
Houston, Houston, Texas, USA
Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness, 2: 345–376, 2009
Partner Work #1
• Choose a partner.
• Introduce yourself.
• Discuss:
– What is the ELL population of your school?
– What are the language and literacy needs of ELLs in
your content classes?
– What methods do you currently use to develop
language and literacy in content area classrooms?
– What would you like to learn about developing
language and literacy in content area classrooms?
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Instructional Methods
•Dual objectives
–Language
–Science
•Language and literacy development
•Scaffolding content
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Dual Objectives
• In science, we will learn:
– to identify and explain phototropism and
gravitropism in plants
• To develop our language skills, we will learn:
– to write a paragraph describing conclusions related
to the lab
– to spell irregular plurals for science content terms
– To acquire general academic and discipline specific
vocabulary: affect, record, phototropism,
gravitropism, gravity
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Dual Objectives
Students, as you enter the classroom…
• Go to the poster.
• Read each objective.
• Use a marker to rate your knowledge of
each objective on a scale of 1-4.
• Begin the review questions.
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Plants
Language and Literacy Development
• Direct instruction of individual words
– High frequency general academic and discipline
specific
• Word learning strategies
– Nominalization
– Irregular plurals
– Cognates
• Immersion in language rich environments
– Shared interactive reading and a lot of teacher and
student talk surrounding activities
– Incorporating L1 language and culture
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Academic and Discipline-specific Vocabulary
• Vocabulary
– General academic vocabulary
• Highest frequency words indicated by the
Academic Word List
• Procedural words that appear frequently on
grade-level assessments
– Discipline-specific vocabulary
• Key to meeting state and district science
standards
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Direct Instruction of Individual Words
Life Science
Word Cards
Lesson 6.1 – ecosystem
ecosystem
1. Read the word: ecosystem
Teacher Talk
2. Pencils up if you know the meaning of the word
ecosystem. Pencils to the side if you have heard the word
ecosystem but are not sure what it really is. Pencils down
if you have never heard the word ecosystem.
3. Look at the picture. In this ecosystem we see deer,
rabbits, birds, grasses and trees.
4. An ecosystem is all of the animals and plants in a
particular area, and how they are related to each other
and to their environment.
5. Un ecosistema está formado por todos los animales y
plantas que viven en un área específica, y que se
relacionan entre sí y con su medio ambiente.
ecosistema
6. Who can name a living thing in the ecosystem near our
school? [Possible responses: birds, squirrels, skunks, trees,
ladybugs, etc.]
Direct Instruction of Individual Words
Vocabulary
Word
abiotic
___________
cognate?
yes no
*Definition in English and in Spanish
*Sentence completion
Abiotic describes the nonliving parts of the
environment, including light, temperature,
rocks, and gases.
Abiótico en el medio ambiente se refiere a algo
que no tiene vida, incluyendo la luz, la
temperatura, las rocas y los gases.
___________
Some abiotic factors I can sense or see
outside today are
_________________________________
adaptation
An adaptation is a change or changes that
help an organism survive and reproduce in
its habitat.
___________
cognate?
yes no
___________
characteristic
___________
cognate?
yes no
___________
Adaptación se refiere a los cambios que
ayudan a un organismo vivo a sobrevivir y a
reproducirse.
An adaptation to living in the cold, snowy
tundra might be moving to a
__________________________________.
A characteristic is a quality or feature that
makes something different.
Característica es la condición o cualidad que
distingue una persona o cosa de sus semejantes.
The characteristic that makes zebras different
from horses is their
_________________________.
Picture
Sketch
Word-Learning Strategies: Nominalization
Word-Learning Strategies: Irregular Plurals
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Word-Learning Strategies: Cognates
Student Chart 6.4A
Warm-Up
English Word
English Meaning
Spanish Word
Necessary
Necesario
Flexible
Flexible
Pie
Pie
Spanish Meaning
Student Chart 6.4B
Work with a partner to find all the cognates in the paragraph. There are
nine more.
The Chemicals of Life The cells of all living things are composed of chemical substances.
The most abundant chemical substance in cells is water. Other chemical substances called
carbohydrates (kar boh HY draytz) are a cell’s main energy source. Two other chemical
substances, proteins (PRO teenz) and lipids (LIP idz), are the building materials of cells,
much like wood and bricks are the building materials of houses. Finally, nucleic (noo KLEE
ik) acids are the genetic material—the chemical instructions that direct the cell’s activities.
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Word-Learning Strategies: Cognates
Student Chart 7.4B
Spanish
English Cognate
sustancias
substances
químicas
[chemicals]
célula
[cells]
compuestas
[composed]
abundante
[abundant]
energía
[energy]
carbohidratos
[carbohydrares]
proteínas
[proteins]
lípidos
[lipids]
materiales
[materials]
finalmente
[finally]
ácidos
acids
nucleicos
[nucleic]
genético
[genetic]
instrucciones
[instructions]
dirigen
[direct]
actividades
[activities]
Letter(s) in Spanish,
not in English
Cognate
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Word-Learning Strategies: Cognates
Student Chart 7.4C Identification of Sound Differences
Using the ELMO, show students the following Likert Scale. Explain
to students that some of the cognates sound more alike than others.
Direct students to identify how alike or not alike the sets of cognates
sound on a scale of 1 to 4.
Sounds completely
Sounds slightly
Sounds exactly
Sounds similar
different
different
alike
1
2
3
substances /
1
4
substancias
2
3
4
3
4
3
4
chemical / químicas
1
2
cell / célula
1
2
compose / compuestas
1
2
3
4
abundant / abundante
1
2
3
4
3
4
3
4
energy / energía
1
2
protiens / proteínas
1
2
carbohydrates /
1
carbohidratos
2
3
4
3
4
3
4
lipids / lípidos
1
2
materiales / materials
1
2
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Language Rich Environments
• Shared interactive reading
– Turn to Student Chart 2.10.
– Listen to the Guiding Questions:
• How are weathering, erosion, and deposition
related?
– As the text is read aloud, read along silently in
your Student Chart and be prepared to answer
the questions.
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Language Rich Environments
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Language Rich Environments
weathering
chemical
erosion
deposition
mechanical
wind, water
and gravity
chemical
reactions
physical
change
sediment
Use the words below to fill in the concept map:
Deposition; Erosion; Weathering; Chemical;
Mechanical; Physical; Physical change; Chemical
reactions; Wind, Water and Gravity; Sediment; Land
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Earth
land
Language Rich Environments
Comprehension Strategies Embedded in
Interactive Reading
Incorporation of L1 Language and Culture
• Definitions provided in Spanish
• Students allowed to answer in L1
– In whole class context
– During partner work
• Opportunities for overlapping talk
– In partners and small groups
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Partner Work #2
• Turn to your partner.
• Share what you have learned about developing
language and literacy in content instruction.
• Note strategies and activities that you would like
to bring back to your classroom.
• Discuss methods you currently use to scaffold
content.
• What would you like to learn from the
presentation to help you scaffold content?
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Scaffolding Content
• Review and reinforcement
• Using graphic organizers
• Partner work pairing ELLs with more proficient
speakers
• Active Learning
• Throughout
–
–
–
–
Using visuals and multi-media
Teacher modeling
Clear written instructions and examples of what
students have to produce independently
Assessment
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Review and Reinforcement: Genetics
1. Which of the following is true?
a.Recessive traits occur more often.
b.Offspring created through asexual
reproduction are genetically different from
their parent.
c.If the offspring has both the dominant and the
recessive alleles (Bb), it might have the
recessive trait.
d.Offspring created through asexual
reproduction have the same genetic material as
their parents.
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Review and Reinforcement (cont.)
2. Circle the organism that will have the most
genetically diverse offspring.
a planarian
male
female
potato sprout
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Review and Reinforcement (cont.)
Choose from these words to complete the
sentences below: asexual reproduction,
chromosome, DNA, genes, requires, sexual reproduction
chromosome is a structure in the cell nucleus
3. A _____________
that carries genes.
Asexual reproduction a type of reproduction in
4. ____________________is
which a new organism is produced from one parent
and has the same DNA as the parent.
DNA
5. ________
is made up of two chains of molecules that
are twisted together in a spiral and hold the genetic
material of all organisms.
6. Sexual reproduction requires
________ two parents.
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Review and Reinforcement (Review Game)
1. Each student gets 1 or 2 Zip-Around cards.
• Each card has an answer on one side and a question on the other side.
• Somebody in the room has a card with the answer to your question.
2. Take a minute to read your card to a partner and
listen to your partner as he/she reads their card to you.
Question: Who has the … Answer: I have the ……..
3. The teacher will call on a student who will stand up and read his/her question.
4. Listen to the question.
5. If you have the answer, stand up and read it. Then read your question to the class.
6. The game continues until the person with the first question that started the game has
read his or her answer.
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Graphic Organizers: Plants
_______________________
endoplasmic
reticulum
__
vacuoles
cell wall
cell membrane
nuclei
mitochondria
cytoplasm
Animal cell
chloroplast
Plant cell
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Graphic Organizers: Plants
Use the cell diagram in Student Chart 1.5 to compare animal and plant cells
in the Venn diagram. Write the names of the organelles in the appropriate part
of the Venn diagram.
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Graphic Organizers: Plants
Organelles
found in both
Animal cell
organelles
Plant cell
organelles
cell wall
nuclei
smaller
vacuole
cell
membrane
chloroplasts
mitochondria
cytoplasm
larger
vacuole
endoplasmic
reticulum
chlorophyll
•Animal cells are similar to plant cells because…
•Animal cells are similar to plant cells because they both have nuclei.
•Animal cells differ from plant cells because…
•Animal cells differ from plant cells because they have smaller vacuoles.
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Partner Work: Plants
Look at the picture and
discuss #1-3 with a
partner:
1. Which way do roots
grow?
2. How do they know
which way to grow?
3. Could you ‘trick’ a plant
into making its roots
grow up?
– Explain your thinking.
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Partner Work: Ecological Succession
1. Watch the video with your class. It is about
ecological succession. Listen for these words
and check them off as you hear them in the
video:
 stages
 species
 primary ecological succession
 pioneer species
 abiotic
 secondary ecological succession
 grow rapidly
 farming
 climax community
 biodiversity
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Partner Work: Ecological Succession
2. Watch the again video two more times with the
sound OFF.
• Each time the video plays, a partner will narrate.
• As you narrate, use as many of the words in
Student Chart 10.5 as possible.
• To describe each stage of ecological succession
use words like “first, second, next, then, finally.”
3. Watch the video one more time. A classmate
will narrate it for the class.
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Active Learning #1: Ecology
•
We will pretend that we are all living together in an ecosystem.
•
Each pair will be 1 type of organism:
a. insects
b. lichens
c. pine trees
d. grasses
e. oaks and maples
f. mammals
•
Each organism starts with 100 survival points.
•
Different events, like a volcanic eruption, will happen to change the ecosystem and each
organism will react differently.
•
Sometimes your organism will adapt positively and you will WIN points.
– I will tell you how many points to ADD.
•
Sometimes your organism will adapt negatively and you will LOSE points.
– I will tell you how many points to SUBTRACT.
•
You should keep track of your points in Student Chart 10.7 by adding or subtracting points to get
a new subtotal.
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Active Learning: Ecology
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Active Learning: Ecology
1. What caused your
organism to win points
or to lose points during
the stages of ecological
succession?
2. What did you learn
about the speed of plant
and animal succession
in an ecosystem?
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Active Learning #2: Ecology
1. We will be making food chains.
2. Read the name of the organism on your card to a
partner and decide if the organism is a producer, a
consumer, or a decomposer.
3. As the class reads the names of their organisms
aloud, think about how your organism is connected to
the other organisms.
4. We will use string to model
the connections between
organisms in a food chain.
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Active Learning: Ecology
1. Is this a perfect model of a food web?
2. What would happen if one of the
organisms was removed from the web?
How would this affect the biodiversity of
the ecosystem?
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Active Learning #3: Ecology
• During this activity you will be a travel agent for a
specific biome and try to convince or persuade the
class that we should visit your biome.
• You will each make a brochure or Power Point for
one biome and then you will present it to the class.
– Before creating your brochure, you will see a sample
brochure.
– You will also listen to a presentation that shows you the
kind of information that you should put in your brochure.
• During the presentations you will take notes on the
characteristics of all biomes and their organisms and
then you will decide which one you would like to
visit.
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Tundra brochure
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Tundra brochure
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Vocabulary Assessment
food chain is a simple model of
I 1. A(n) _________
__
how energy moves from producers to
consumers in an ecosystem.
C 2. _________
Biotic
__
describes the living parts
of the environment.
K 3. To _________
__
is to point out, find, or
identify
name something.
Science Assessment
Partner Work #3
• Share what you have learned from the
presentation about scaffolding content for
English-language learners.
• Note strategies and activities for scaffolding
content that you would like to bring back to
your classroom as a result of the
presentation.
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Contact CREATE
• Find out more about CREATE’s projects
and activities at www.cal.org/create.
• Subscribe to the email announcement list
to receive regular updates from CREATE:
www.cal.org/create/join.
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