Multilingual pedagogies and digital technologies to support learning STEM in schools in France and Canada

ABSTRACT

For many years, French and Canadian schools have welcomed students from around the world. This article presents the Binogi/ESCAPE project, which supports the integration of a multilingual digital resource in the classroom that presents STEM content through a multilingual lens with associated animated videos and quizzes. The study aims to encourage the inclusion of multiple languages in STEM content in both language-based (FSL/ESL) and content-based (STEM) classrooms. Researchers collected data during the 2020–2022 school years through focus groups, interviews, logs, observations, and questionnaires. Study participants included 17 teachers in France and 18 teachers in Canada. The results show that opening up to languages through a multilingual resource works as a springboard, allowing teachers and their students to find innovative ways to include other languages. Teachers who have used the resource have also appreciated the use of Binogi for instructional differentiation. Binogi's multilingual features supported translanguaging activities in the classroom, linking STEM content to literacy activities. However, more research is needed to understand how to train teachers to use multilingual resources to better support newcomer students.

KEYWORDS:

• Digital education
• newcomer students
• plurilingualism
• translanguaging
• multilingual pedagogies
• STEM education

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada: [Grant Number 1069867].