Teachers must engage students of different cultures

[Harold F. Schiffman]

Science should not be read from a textbook, a Florida education professor
said Monday during a lecture on diversity and science education. Students
have to be engaged in hands-on activities, especially when teachers are
presented with language barriers in the classroom from students who dont
speak English, said Okhee Lee to an audience at Miami
University-Middletown. There are several things teachers can do to reach
non-English speaking students, said Lee, of the Univeristy of Miami. The
first thing to do is be open and respectful to the student. The second
thing is to use body language, graphics and drawings. According to the
U.S. Census, more than 20 percent of U.S. residents speak a language other
than English at home, which Lee said is a trend not likely to go away.

The faces of the U.S. population is changing, she said. We must integrate
the subject area, English language and their home language and culture.
Students who do not speak English should not be dismissed from science
classes, she said. Rather, it is the teachers job to find creative ways to
engage these students and to find ways to test these students, other than
using text, to allow the students to demonstrate their knowledge of the
subject and not their knowledge of English, Lee said. The test items
should use diagrams and drawings, not just reading. If it is about
science, it should not be a reading test, said Lee, who currently is
investigating science learning among English language learners in a
high-stakes testing policy environment.

Lees visit to Miamis Middletown and Oxford campuses this week was
sponsored by the Institute for Integrated Science.

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