Premium
A Summer PhUn Week for English Language Learners
Author(s) -
Halpin Patricia A.,
Pugh R. Michael
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.31.1_supplement.576.23
Subject(s) - vocabulary , excellence , test (biology) , english language , mathematics education , psychology , subject (documents) , medical education , medicine , computer science , linguistics , library science , ecology , biology , philosophy , political science , law
Our ongoing hypothesis has been that PhUn Week activities can help students learn about science and build English Language skills at the same time. In the summer of 2016, twenty‐nine students in grades 7–12 who are English Language Learners took part in PhUn Week, an annual international physiology program that engages K‐12 students in physiology activities and introduces them to science careers. The participating students were enrolled in the EXCELL‐in‐STEM program (Educational Excellence for English Language Learners in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) at the University of New Hampshire, Manchester. This was the fourth summer in which the EXCELL‐in‐STEM students took part in this project. During PhUn Week, students perform an exercise physiology experiment, led by a physiologist, in which they learn about the heart and about the scientific method. As a group these young English Language Learners create their hypothesis: exercise increases heart rate and blood pressure. To test this hypothesis, they use monitoring equipment to measure their pre‐exercise heart rate and blood pressure; then they run a prescribed distance and take post‐exercise measurements. Selected students report their results to the group. After discussion, students each year have consistently agreed that their results support their hypothesis. In addition to exploring physiology as a subject and a career through this PhUn week activity, students learn science vocabulary and the appropriate English Language structures for stating a hypothesis, asking relevant questions, and reporting their results. This foundation in the scientific method in the first week of the five‐week program prepares the students for upcoming STEM/English projects and for participation in STEM courses in their schools.