Middle School Engineering Teachers' Literacy Instruction (Fundamental)

Ashley R. Strong; Amy Wilson-Lopez

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Conference: 2019 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Tampa, Florida
Publication Date: June 15, 2019
Start Date: June 15, 2019
End Date: June 19, 2019
Conference Session: Communication in Pre-College Engineering Education
Tagged Division: Pre-College Engineering Education
Page Count: 14
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--33106
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/33106
Download Count: 387

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Paper Authors

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Ashley R. Strong Utah State University

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Ashley Strong is a doctoral student at Utah State University.

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Amy Wilson-Lopez Utah State University

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Amy Wilson-Lopez, an associate professor in the School of Teacher Education and Leadership at Utah State University, studies culturally sustaining engineering pedagogies, including funds of knowledge-based pedagogies, and literacy-infused engineering with linguistically diverse students.

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Abstract

Literacy instruction, including instruction on how to read and write texts, has been shown to increase student learning outcomes across many academic disciplines, with even greater gains for students who speak English as an additional language. In the context of technology and engineering classrooms, literacy instruction might include comprehension supports for difficult information relevant to the design challenge, as well as writing supports that help students communicate their solutions to stakeholders. Although literacy instruction may lead to positive learning outcomes in engineering, more research is needed on how TE teachers conceptualize and implement literacy instruction as they participate in professional development on literacy instruction, in order to illuminate the factors that encourage or discourage TE teachers from providing literacy instruction. Accordingly, the purpose of this comparative case study was to identify the literacy-related perceptions and practices of two middle school TE teachers, both of whom taught English learners, as they participated in a year-long professional development on literacy-infused engineering instruction. Specifically, the professional development used a coaching model to support teachers in providing comprehension instruction on relevant texts (e.g., bilingual texts introducing the criteria and constraints of the design challenge) as well as providing writing supports (e.g., mentor texts that students could use as exemplars for their own writing). Data for this study included observations and interviews with each teacher, conducted periodically throughout the school year. A constant comparative analysis of this data indicated two distinct sets of perceptions and practices. One teacher viewed literacy as reading and writing, and largely as acts conducted by an individual. This teacher also saw literacy as something distinct from engineering. In accordance with this perception of literacy, this teacher tended to ask students to annotate and write texts individually, and without discussing with others. By contrast, another teacher viewed literacy as meaning-making that was integral to (not distinct from) engineering. This teacher considered literacy to include interpreting and producing multi-representational texts. Accordingly, this teacher focused instead on group discussions of diverse texts, such as different solutions to engineering design challenges. Students in this second class had more opportunities to share complex, multi-faceted design-related ideas. This study indicates that PD in literacy instruction can seek to foster a broader view of literacy--including the discussion of multimodal texts that are integral to (not distinct from) the design process--in order to foster teacher perceptions of literacy that map onto intellectually rich engineering practices.

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Strong, A. R., & Wilson-Lopez, A. (2019, June), Middle School Engineering Teachers' Literacy Instruction (Fundamental) Paper presented at 2019 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition , Tampa, Florida. 10.18260/1-2--33106

TY - CPAPER
AB - Literacy instruction, including instruction on how to read and write texts, has been shown to increase student learning outcomes across many academic disciplines, with even greater gains for students who speak English as an additional language. In the context of technology and engineering classrooms, literacy instruction might include comprehension supports for difficult information relevant to the design challenge, as well as writing supports that help students communicate their solutions to stakeholders. Although literacy instruction may lead to positive learning outcomes in engineering, more research is needed on how TE teachers conceptualize and implement literacy instruction as they participate in professional development on literacy instruction, in order to illuminate the factors that encourage or discourage TE teachers from providing literacy instruction. Accordingly, the purpose of this comparative case study was to identify the literacy-related perceptions and practices of two middle school TE teachers, both of whom taught English learners, as they participated in a year-long professional development on literacy-infused engineering instruction. Specifically, the professional development used a coaching model to support teachers in providing comprehension instruction on relevant texts (e.g., bilingual texts introducing the criteria and constraints of the design challenge) as well as providing writing supports (e.g., mentor texts that students could use as exemplars for their own writing). Data for this study included observations and interviews with each teacher, conducted periodically throughout the school year. A constant comparative analysis of this data indicated two distinct sets of perceptions and practices. One teacher viewed literacy as reading and writing, and largely as acts conducted by an individual. This teacher also saw literacy as something distinct from engineering. In accordance with this perception of literacy, this teacher tended to ask students to annotate and write texts individually, and without discussing with others. By contrast, another teacher viewed literacy as meaning-making that was integral to (not distinct from) engineering. This teacher considered literacy to include interpreting and producing multi-representational texts. Accordingly, this teacher focused instead on group discussions of diverse texts, such as different solutions to engineering design challenges. Students in this second class had more opportunities to share complex, multi-faceted design-related ideas. This study indicates that PD in literacy instruction can seek to foster a broader view of literacy--including the discussion of multimodal texts that are integral to (not distinct from) the design process--in order to foster teacher perceptions of literacy that map onto intellectually rich engineering practices.
AU - Ashley R. Strong
AU - Amy Wilson-Lopez
CY - Tampa, Florida
DA - 2019/06/15
PB - ASEE Conferences
TI - Middle School Engineering Teachers' Literacy Instruction (Fundamental)
UR - https://peer.asee.org/33106
DO - 10.18260/1-2--33106
ER -