Date of Award
1-1-1992
Document Type
Dissertation - NSU Access Only
Degree Name
Doctor of Education
Department
Child and Youth Care Administration
Advisor
Georgianna Lowen
Keywords
Administrators, Minorities, ESOL, Classroom Teachers, Teachers of Bilingual Teachers.
Abstract
This practicum was designed to determine if additional services to bilingual Hispanic fourth graders would increase their academic achievement in process method physical science curriculum. Each day 21 bilingual Hispanic boys and girls received 15 minutes of intensive tutoring which concentrated on reviewing the concepts of the previous day and introducing the vocabulary and ideas of the next lesson. During these sessions the students were encouraged to put their understanding into oral and written language. In addition. an effort was made to determine and correct misconceptions about the topics in physical science as soon as they appeared. Toward this objective students were encouraged to think outloud during extensive formal verbalization. Structure and an opportunity for increased expression of scientific concepts was incorporated in student portfolios-another avenue for determining misconceptions. The writer produced a science video with a bilingual student scientist that reviewed the topics in Spanish. Analysis of the results revealed that the interventions had a positive effect on the bilingual students. More minority students mastered the physical science curriculum, these boys and girls responded with increased comprehension to the student portfolios, the formal verbalization, the bilingual video, and the multi-level evaluation that included hands-on demonstrations.