Chapter 3: Reflections Of Eight Latinas And The Role Of Language In The Middle School Science Classroom

Language use in the science classroom is often thought of as a rather complex series of vocabulary words that describe scientific entities or phenomena. There are numerous studies that examine the student use of languageto express scientific ideas or to better understand students’ thinking about science (Banquet, 1994; Brown& Ryoo, 2008; Lee& Fradd, 1998), however, what we often fail to recognize is the affective role that nonscientific language use, in this case in both Spanish and English, plays in students’ interaction with school science.

This chapter is situated within a 9-month study that shares the science stories of eight Latinas of Central American descent. Ivette, Maricela, Belinda, Claudine, Teresa, Erica, Coni, and Sophie were 7th- and 8th-grade Latina students attending Rockland Middle School, an urbanized middle school in the Mid-Atlantic region. Each Latina consented to work with me over an academic year so that I could better understand their experiences with middle school science. My study was informed by the understanding that for decades, scientific literacy for all students has been an educational goal in the United States, but despite our educational community’s verbiage reaching every student, we continue to leave behind large groups of students, particularly Latino/as and English language learners.