Theory Into Practice

ISSN: 0040-5841 (Print) 1543-0421 (Online) Journal homepage: https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/htip20

Repositioning English Learners’ Funds of

Knowledge for Scientific Practices

Aria Razfar & Ambareen Nasir

To cite this article: Aria Razfar & Ambareen Nasir (2019) Repositioning English Learners’
Funds of Knowledge for Scientific Practices, Theory Into Practice, 58:3, 226-235, DOI:
10.1080/00405841.2019.1599231

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Theory Into Practice, 58:226–235, 2019
Copyright © The College of Education and Human Ecology, The Ohio State University
ISSN: 0040-5841 print/1543-0421 online
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/00405841.2019.1599231
Aria Razfar
Ambareen Nasir
Repositioning English Learners’
Funds of Knowledge for Scientific
Practices
For more than 3 decades, education researchers
have called on teachers to use funds of knowledge
(FoK) as a way of creating more culturally rele-
vant, responsive, and sustaining pedagogies. This
is particularly important in the domains of science,
technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM)
education, specifically mathematics and science.
FoK research in this area has addressed how
teachers have made connections to STEM, planned
curriculum, and the challenges of integrating
funds in STEM education. There remains
S ince the advent of Next Generation Science
Standards (NGSS), teachers of English lear-
ners (ELs) have been encouraged to draw on the
funds of knowledge (FoK) approach to connect
science learning with EL’s everyday cultural
Aria Razfar is Professor of Education and Linguistics
at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Ambareen
Nasir is Teaching Professor and Instructional specia-
list at Loyola University of Chicago.
Correspondence should be addressed to Aria
Razfar, Department of Curriculum and Instruction,
University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago. E-mail:
arazfar@uic.edu
226
a dearth of research on the process of gathering,
selecting, planning, and implementing science-
funds in particular. In this article, we conceptua-
lize how FoK research can move toward more
dynamic and hybrid forms of teaching and learn-
ing through positioning theory. Positioning theory
provides a valuable framework for how teachers
can gather, select, plan, and implement English
learners’ science-funds to teach the science stan-
dards by repositioning the role of language, non-
school funds, and interaction in the classroom.
practices. According to NGSS: “Effective tea-
chers ask questions that elicit students’ funds of
knowledge related to science topics. They also
use cultural artifacts and community resources in
ways that are academically meaningful and cul-
turally relevant” (NGSS, 2013, p. 7).
EL students are currently not served by the
predominant practices in science, technology,
engineering, and mathematics (STEM) instruction
because teachers are not adequately prepared to
gather, select, plan, and implement curriculum
based on students’ FoK. EL students‘ learning is
enhanced when teachers draw upon their lives
outside of school to design activities that foster
Razfar and Nasir Repositioning English Learners’ Funds of Knowledge for Scientific Practices

an expanded view of what counts as science Gathering FoK

(Razfar, 2013). For educators, this means consid-
More recently, many FoK researchers have
ering how they will gather a variety of FoK (e.-
steered away from a household unit of analysis,
g., popular culture, family practices) and requires
and have provided more expansive methods to
purposeful decision making to select FoK for
access funds that are not rooted in studying the
developing scientific meaning. We define science-
geographical space of homes. FoK has often
funds (SFs) as nonschool cultural practices that
reified static and dichotomous assumptions of
can be used to develop formal scientific knowl-
knowledge in terms of in-school and out-of-
edge, practices, and dispositions. Although gather-
school (Gonzalez, 2005); however, positioning
ing is necessary, it is not sufficient for effectively
theory serves to foreground the in-between and
drawing on SFs to learn formal science. In addi-
hybrid nature of scientific practices in schools
tion, teachers of ELs must be proficient in gather-
and beyond. How central are students’ FoK to
ing, selecting, planning, and implementing science
the learning goals of schools? For example,
standards through SFs. Our research has investi-
framing a mathematical word problem around
gated how teachers use students‘ background
ethnic foods versus exploring the deeper social,
experiences to develop scientific literacy, includ-
political, historical, and economic disparities in
ing best practices in evaluating scientific claims
housing policies. Positioning foreground the sta-
and evidence, and we offer demonstrations of
tus ascribed to what counts as knowing and who
what we‘ve found. In contrast to background
is knowledgeable. Thus, repositioning is
knowledge, FoK offers a more central role for
a change in the status of whose knowledge
how to think about students’ out-of-school experi-
counts and who is knowledgeable.
ences and learning. Our research has shown how
One major nuance in adapting FoK is gather-
teachers (re)positioned the role of language in
ing funds from in-school contexts, specifically
developing scientific literacy while leveraging
student classroom discourses (Bouillion &
EL’s SFs to develop scientific practices such as
Gomez, 2001; Fraser-Abder, Doria, Yang, &
claims and evidence. Hence, positioning theory
De Jesus, 2010). For instance, as a participant
and FoK serve to make these connections, per-
observer, Hedges, Cullen, and Jordan (2010)
spectives, and challenges more explicit in the
situated defining funds as popular culture and
classroom. After reviewing the research, we pro-
interests and used an interpretivist methodology
vide examples from our research of practicing
(Flick, 2006) to document children’s funds dur-
teachers using these theories to guide their instruc-
ing informal and formal class discussions.
tion and benefit students.
Upadhyay (2005) studied funds as lived experi-
ences and accessed students’ funds through
science classroom discussions. Riojas-Cortez
and Belinda (2009) learned adult funds by
Gathering and Selecting FoK: Connections,
audio and video recording workshops at
Perspectives, and Challenges a family literacy institute. Furthermore, Smythe
and Toohey (2009) exhibited funds through
FoK research related to science and math
community spaces defined as a 2–3 km radius
education reveals how teachers make epistemo- around the school. Methods to access community
logical connections, generate new perspectives, funds included community scans both quantita-
and encounter challenges when gathering and
tively via socioeconomic and demographic data,
selecting funds of knowledge for the purposes abstract mapping, and qualitatively through con-
of STEM learning. crete mapping.

227
(Re)Positioning Language and Literacy within Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Schooling Communities

Selecting Funds With Mathematics and a “connected-science” curriculum bridging stu-

Science dents’ funds to solve the problem of pollution
nearby their community river. The findings from
The research shows how funds can connect to
the study reflect a bidirectional partnership with
the (language) learning of mathematics and science.
local organizations, where the (language) learn-
For instance, Conant, Rosebery, Warren, &
ing experiences of students are enriched and the
Hudicourt-Barnes (2001) show how FoK is
organization benefited from students’ science
a legitimate source for teaching science. Conant
experiment findings. When a connected-science
and colleagues showed how implementing an inno-
curriculum is repositioned at the center of learn-
vative curriculum that interconnects Haitian stu-
ing activities in schools, the status of such
dents’ knowledge on drum rhythms to the science
knowledge and what counts as mathematics and
of wave sounds. Students generated sound waves
science is redefined (Razfar, 2013). An example
from computer software to develop inscriptions as
of this comes from mathematics education,
a resource to analyze and compare different sounds,
where Kahn and Civil (2001) drew on gardening
thus illustrating how children’s ideas and ways of
funds, with the assistance of parents’ gardening
knowing outside the classroom are scientific.
expertise and students’ interest to design
Similarly, Andrews and Yee (2006) showed how
a Navajo weave, to connect the mathematics
mathematical connections are made through FoK.
objectives of area, perimeter, and graphing. The
Their study found students’ demonstrating mathe-
teacher in the study recognized that identifying
matical practices, such as managing money, in their
continued mathematics problems in gardening
out-of school knowledge. They provided vivid
that was relevant to the lives of the community,
descriptions of out-of-school mathematical learning
allowed the curriculum to develop and build
that was rarely acknowledged in their formal school
deeper mathematical understandings. Therefore,
spaces. They also argued that when educators
connecting funds to a single problem (i.e., design
attempt to connecting funds to mathematics, they
a weave) can evolve to multiple mathematics
need to consider the dynamic nature of funds chan-
problems to solve (i.e., area of irregular shape).
ging as new learning and new interests emerge over
As early FoK research emphasized making
time. However, topics such as money may be more
connections to out-of-school learning and the
apparent for teachers to identify mathematics in
decentering of dominant perspectives (e.g.,
students’ funds, but topics such as drums may be
Eurocentric approaches to geometry), more
difficult to readily view as scientific. For instance,
hybrid manifestations of FoK emerged (Barton
Conant et al. (2001) briefly identified that the tea-
& Tan, 2009; Moje et al., 2004). The research of
cher initially did not see the science in drums.
Barton and Tan (2009) examined hybrid spaces
Therefore, even though these studies affirm the
to bridge cultural knowledge and experiences to
nature of funds can be scientific and mathematical,
academic knowledge. The researchers studied
there still needs further analysis on how teachers
students’ funds as they emerged in the classroom
come to see these funds as mathematics and science.
discourse and transformed three hybrid spaces
Static ideologies of mathematics and science inhibit
for learning: physical, political, and pedagogical.
alternative stances (Razfar et al., 2015).
The physical space changed to resemble the
Making the connections visible is not only
environment that students’ were familiar with
imperative for teachers, but for students as
in their out-of-school lives, such as the class-
well. Bouillion and Gomez (2001) described
room being similar to a kitchen setting. The
a dual problem where students may not see
political space shifted as students became the
how science in school connects to their lived
experts and the teacher a facilitator.
experiences and, subsequently, schools may not
Pedagogical practices also transformed as stu-
see how students’ experiences have scientific
dents became coplanners to their curriculum.
value and learning. The authors proposed

228
Razfar and Nasir Repositioning English Learners’ Funds of Knowledge for Scientific Practices

These hybrid spaces reflected students’ increase Challenges to Conceptualize Math and
in participation to talk and act in scientific ways. Science With Funds
merging literature on FoK shows that explor-
ing funds can reposition science and mathematics
within the classroom and beyond. Gonzalez,
Teachers’ Perspectives on a Curriculum With
Andrade, Civil, and Moll (2001) identified the
FoK
“discourse of mathematicians have not included
perspectives on the situated nature of knowledge,
The literature on FoK in mathematics and
nor on the language of power” (p. 258). The
science also addresses teachers’ perspectives on
finding from their study reveals challenges to
planning and instructing a curriculum grounded in
uncover mathematics in everyday life situations.
funds. Upadhyay (2009) researched a case study of
For instance, a parent exhibited mathematical
a teacher learning to integrate Hmong culture into
practices of sewing skirts, but was unable to pro-
science instruction. The findings indicate balancing
vide mathematics logic for how and why she cut
cultural tension between Hmong students and non-
the proportions. This points to the importance of
Hmong students when implementing lessons. For
more academic, generalizable, and vertical modes
instance, the teacher negotiated ways to activate
of learning. On the other hand, the mathematics
connections simultaneously between funds from
researcher, Marta Civil, explained, “My training
non-Hmong and Hmong students’ connections
in academic/school math may make it harder to
when teaching the objective of mixtures and solu-
see other forms of mathematics” (p. 259) such as
tions. The teacher recognized the need to cross
mathematics in sewing. Conceptualizing mathe-
both cultures and navigate terms (i.e., gasoline in
matics meant to explore the tension between con-
the United States vs. petrol in Hmong) that are
ceptualizing everyday mathematics in funds
familiar to all students. Furthermore, teacher-
versus academic notions of mathematics from
researcher Sandoval-Taylor (2005) described the
formal schooling. Additional research from
problem of how much advance planning to do to
Hammond (2001) explains challenges to perceiv-
develop a mathematics curriculum with construc-
ing science between parents and architects. The
tion funds. Balancing the teachers’ academic
authors framed conceptualizing science from
objectives and students’ interests was resolved
a multicultural perspective to “multi science” (p.
when the teacher recognized coconstructing minia-
986) framework, which includes integrating indi-
ctivities in the unit that would be student-led, based
genous science, personal science, and Western
on topics they wanted to explore. The teacher also
modern science. The study researched building
accounts negotiating what the assessment would
a Mien-American house, where parents, students,
include, because topics like construction were not
and architects assisted in the science construction.
a common theme to work with and fewer resources
However, the researchers found conflict between
were accessible to teach with. However, the author
what materials would work best from Western
advocated that pursuing a curriculum grounded in
building materials, advocated by the architect,
funds requires negotiating curriculum, and search-
and/or Mien building materials, such as saplings.
ing for alternative resources to relinquish teacher-
The intercultural tension arisen revealed to be an
directed instruction. Both of these studies reflected
additive learning experience as various ideas
how teachers navigate curricular tensions, such as
about science, technology, and problem solving
teaching to multiple students’ diverse funds and
emerged. Therefore, the study implications show
coconstructing curriculum with students’ funds.
how different perspectives on science, rooted in
However, further analysis is needed on teachers’
funds and culture, can make negotiated meanings
negotiating curricular tension that doesn’t occur in
in the context of solving problems. However,
single-instances, but evolve longitudinally through-
Hammond (2001) acknowledged that parents’
out the school year.

229
(Re)Positioning Language and Literacy within Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Schooling Communities
building funds were privileged and students’
funds needs to be explored further to contextua-
lize their learning. Although what counts as
mathematics and science is contested in these
studies, further research needs to pay attention to
how teachers’ position mathematics and science
in students’ funds to lesson plan and teach, so that
students’ can become aware of theorizing mathe-
matics and science in their lived experiences.
Positioning Theory and Funds of Knowledge
There has been a push for a more hybrid and
dynamic form of FoK theory by incorporating
tenets of positioning theory (Gonzales, 2005).
Positioning theory is about how people locate
themselves through discourse of all types, because
“it is with words that we ascribe rights and claim
them for ourselves and place duties on others”
(Moghadam and Harré, 2010, p. 3). Positioning
theory foregrounds the role of power and privi-
lege in locating one’s identity as with us or
against us and has the potential to constrain the
types of allowable contributions within interac-
tions (Harré, 2012). Epistemologically, this can
play a crucial role when trying to integrate non-
school knowledge within school spaces.
Individuals have the ability to hold seemingly
contradictory positions simultaneously. As stu-
dents makes sense of tasks within classroom inter-
actions, teachers focus on the complex array of
choices being made by seemingly contradictory
demands (Sosa & Gomez, 2012). This type of
FoK is similar to constructivist frameworks that
seek to determine what information and experi-
ences students bring into the classroom that are
relevant to learning scientific principles and build-
ing scientific models. These types of “folk the-
ories” and phenomenological primitives are
essential starting points for developing formal
understandings of scientific concepts (diSessa,
Gillespie, & Easterly, 2004). However, rather
than position these dominant perspectives as
“inarticulate explanatory primitives” (diSessa
et al., 2004, p. 846), which can be construed in
a lower status vis a vis “articulate” forms of
230
knowing, positioning theory argues for a more
conscious and egalitarian stance.
Positioning and repositioning allows educa-
tors to be purposeful in the places (e.g., homes)
and spaces (e.g., pop culture and media) they go
to gather FoK. As the drums example showed,
positioning and repositioning expands how we
select what counts as science funds beyond pre-
defined topics derived from standards. The stan-
dards do not need to be the starting point for
gathering and selecting funds. Rather funds of
knowledge should guide how we plan in relation
to state standards.
Positioning theory has planted the seed for more
dynamic understandings of how out-of-school
funds can drive in-school learning. They provided
an alternative method for connecting funds beyond
an isolated curriculum topic and into how learning
was socially organized. As teachers move into the
planning and implantation phase, they need to con-
sider how FoK shape the physical, political, and
pedagogical spaces of their classrooms (Barton &
Tan, 2009). In addition, positioning theory helps
expands these connections to values, beliefs, and
even contested ideologies (e.g., Sosa & Gomez,
2012). This combination emphasized the multipli-
city of beliefs and values as they are instantiated in
everyday teacher practice.
The rise of ELs throughout the United States
has prompted many researchers to consider more
dynamic forms of FoK and the curriculum (Lee
& Buxton, 2013). In our professional develop-
ment work, we have been leveraging SFs with
teachers of ELs in a large urban context for more
than a decade (Razfar et al., 2015). In one of our
case studies (Poplar Elementary), we examined
three self-identifying Spanish/English bilingual
teachers with varying degrees of expertise in
science, as well as alignment with using FoK
(Troiano, 2012). Table 1 reflects the Poplar tea-
chers’ variation in their science education back-
ground according to their years of teaching,
education degrees, and grade taught.
Vanessa was a veteran teacher with 15 years of
experience. Her academic specialty is in early
childhood education but she has shifted to
become a middle school educator for the past
Razfar and Nasir Repositioning English Learners’ Funds of Knowledge for Scientific Practices

Table 1.
Participating Teachers.
Teacher Ethnicity Languages Grade Years of Teaching Education Degrees
th
Vanessa Mexican English 5 15 yrs Masters in early childhood
Spanish
Anna Mexican American English 6th 5 yrs Bachelors of Arts
Spanish
Mona Mexican American English 4th 3 yrs Bachelors of Science
Spanish Pursuing science endorsement

4 years. Additionally, she self-identifies as because it is not an everyday language.”

Mexican and considers her native language to be
Spanish. Anna refers to herself as Mexican
American bilingual woman in Spanish and
English. She is a self-contained sixth-grade edu-
cator with 5 years of science teaching experience.
Finally, Mona identifies herself as a Mexican
American, having only 3 years of experience
educating third graders. Furthermore, she was
the only teacher in her cohort with formal science
schooling experiences.
The Poplar teachers significantly varied in
how they viewed themselves as science educa-
tors. Figure 1 shows how the participants posi-
tion themselves as either expert, proficient, or
novice teachers based on how they viewed them-
selves on their level of scientific pedagogical
knowledge content and skills. For instance,
even though Vanessa had the greatest number
of years teaching science, she positioned herself
as a novice science teacher. Vanessa claimed she
was not proficient in English “to speak science
Consequently, her experiences with the language
of science in English were limited and contrib-
uted to science becoming her weakest subject to
teach. In contrast, Anna represents herself as
a proficient science teacher. Her science peda-
gogy draws on following a structure of proce-
dures predefined in a scripted science
curriculum, for example the Investigating Earth
Systems (IES). Anna saw herself bilingually pro-
ficient in the language of science, so she mod-
ified the IES to engage her students in bilingual
discussions in Spanish and English to make
scientific discourse accessible to her students.
Our final participant, Mona, identifies as an
expert in her scientific pedagogical content
knowledge. She considers herself to be
a scientist who “fell in love with science and
being an explorer.” Unlike Vanessa and Anna,
Mona often engaged in designing her own
science activities. Furthermore, she would pro-
vide academic Spanish for science instruction

Novice Proficient Expert

Vanessa Anna Mona

Especially the science is my
weakness…difficult for me to
speak science because it is not
an everyday language
For the past five years I follow a
scripted approach to
Investigating Earth Systems
(IES) curriculum
I have a strong science
background in chemistry, earth
science, and biology. I fell in
love with science and being an
explorer

(Focus Group)

Figure 1. Initial Teacher Identified Science Expertise.

231
(Re)Positioning Language and Literacy within Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Schooling Communities
because her students are newly exited from the
transitional bilingual program.
Planning and Implementing Through
Repositioning Fok Narrative Events
Mona’s classroom was filled with an abundance
of FoK narrative events where she successfully
drew on these funds for teaching her science objec-
tives. When previewing Poplar school’s magazine
subscription to Scholastic News for Kids, Mona
found a connection to this reading with her FoK
curriculum. The article “Kids Who Care,” shared
how 11-year-old Ashley Imbrogno started her own
community service organization that sewed blan-
kets and distributed them to sick children and
senior citizens in hospitals during the holiday sea-
sons. Even though this article was not found in
a science journal, Mona transformed the purpose
for her students to read the passages through
a scientific lens. For instance, she developed
a scientific objective asking her students to com-
pare Ashley’s community service investigation
procedures to students’ own self-designed commu-
nity projects. First, students were to identify the
strategies Ashley used to design her community
service. Next, students were to formulate their own
questions based on community problems that they
wanted to investigate. Then, students would
develop a technological design for how they
could investigate a community problem. Also stu-
dents collected data by researching community
members using interviews and obtaining informa-
tion from online sources. Finally, students com-
posed a poster presentation to represent their
research on ways they would solve their commu-
nity problems.
Prior to reading the article, Mona had gath-
ered FoK from several lunch talks with her
students where she learned their older siblings
were required to obtain community service
hours in high school. Mona examined these
familial funds to plan asking a FoK question
related to the reading if community service
was fair or unfair. Maria expresses the envir-
onmental urgency to clean our world, through
232
community service acts, to prevent the world
from becoming a “ball of garbage.” Mona
leads the conversation by having them recall
what they remember about global warming.
Mona asks, “What’s happening with global
warming?” Initially, students chime in predic-
able responses such as “the ice is melting,”
“polar bears are becoming endangered,” and
“animals are going to die!” As Mona begins
to connect this to life-cycle themes discussed
previously, Jesse interjects (lines 1–2):
01 Jesse: and in 2012 the world is going to
end so all of this doesn’t
02 matter!
This was an idea that had been murmured before,
but Mona did not engage it during the lesson as it
seemed distal to the scientific learning goals.
However, in this episode she chooses to engage it
with the goal of developing the scientific discourse
practice of claims and evidence (lines 3–4):
03 Mona: Yes! You guys keeping saying in
2012 the world is going to end.
04 Where did you read about this?
At this point, Jesse reveals many of the house-
hold and community funds available to him say-
ing, “computer, my sister’s friend, library” and
even the “guy in the bar.” He also mentions that
he “went to a scientist” who confirmed that “the
world is going to end because there a lot of
problems going on.” As Mona pushes forward
with a question, “What problems are going on?”
A conversation about “the life cycle” in light of
recent environmental disasters like Hurricane
Katrina and Andrew follows (lines 6–12):
06 Jesse:The life cycle.
07 Jacob: The life cycle? Oh yeah, there’s
lot of tornadoes, hurricanes,
08 hurricane Katrina the one we read
about.
09 Chris: Hurricane Andrew
10 Melly:Even the Bible says it. It’s
going to happen.
11 Jesse: Yeah, and the Bible told me to
say it the world is going to end.
Razfar and Nasir Repositioning English Learners’ Funds of Knowledge for Scientific Practices
12 Maria:But we don’t know when it’s
going to happen.
Mona used these varying responses as an
opportunity to mediate science learning by creat-
ing a discourse on scientific claims and evidences.
For instance, she extends the conversation by
inviting Jesse to share scientific evidence when
she asks, “Where did you read this?” Jesse
responds by listing several sources such as the
“computer, his sister … guy at the bar and
a scientist.” Rather than immediately dismissing
these claims as nonscientific, Mona legitimizes
her students’ to draw on their funds to foster
a FoK narrative. By doing so, her students are
able to contribute to a scientific discussion
through sharing their funds. Also, Mona positions
herself as a learner to gather and select further
SFs to examine and mediate if there is a possible
connection to students funds and scientific prac-
tices. Therefore, she invited the class to elaborate
on problems contributing to the world ending to
find authentic evidence for students claim. The
students cited examples from in-class readings
about natural disasters occurring, such as
Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Andrew to
claim that the frequency of these examples will
result in the world ending. A normally nonparti-
cipating student, Melly chimed into the conversa-
tion providing a climactic point that the Bible is
a sound source indicating the end of the time.
Here, Mona acknowledged the religious evidence,
but also expanded how students’ FoK conflicts
with scientific standards of proof. Hence, Mona
returns the conversation back to the scientific
practice of claims and evidences (lines 14–16):
14 Mona: How she is asking you a question?
If you’re going to say
15 something, if you’re going to
say the world is going to end in
2012
16 you have to have proof. What is
the proof that you found?
Mona viewed this as an opportunity to teach
scientific practices and have Jesse think about
proofs for his claims. Jesse did not identify
a proof, but rather privileges the computer as
a credible source of information (lines 18–22):
18 Jesse: Look it up in the computer
19 Mona: Just because it has something on
the computer doesn’t mean it’s
20 true. Okay, Okay! Here’s a perfect
example of this. Your MySpace.
21 Maria has she is 16 years old. Is
Maria 16 years old?
22 SS: [No:oooo!
Mona was having students reflect that their
knowledge is important, hence she allowed them
to share their funds of knowledge, but in the
context of what counts as science there needs
to be a distinction between what counts as sub-
jective versus objective evidence (lines 23–34):
23 Mona: No. But it’s on the computer why
isn’t it true (mocks)? There’s a
24 difference between good research
(.) I’m sorry, I take that back,
not
25 good. But there’s a difference
between research that can be
proven
26 and research that people put up
there. People can put anything
they
27 want on the Internet you need to
know that for other projects you
28 do and other research projects
you do. You know how we use the
29 computer to do research pro-
jects? There’s only a certain
website I
30 go to because I trust that website
(.) That website is going to
31 tell me the truth about things
because it’s credible. It
means it
32 has like information that can be
proven. Now with other stuff that
33 we’ve gotten, I don’t like to
just Google whatever you want
because
34 a lot of different stuff comes up.
233
(Re)Positioning Language and Literacy within Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Schooling Communities
In this context, students and the teacher were
assessing the validity of scientific data. The tea-
cher drew on students’ funds derived from their
computer practices in a MySpace account to
make a connection and prove that not everything
in the computer counts as valid evidence. Mona
described how on the computer Maria wrote she
is 16 years old, yet her peers are all aware that is
not her true age. Because Mona identified that
some students may believe anything written on
the computer, she decided to take this as an
opportunity teach students how to conduct
research and provides implications for going
about researching their own community projects.
We have shown how FoK research has
evolved toward more hybrid and dynamic
forms of teaching/learning. We have also illu-
strated how positioning theory can help us
view FoK as hybrid and dynamic. Mona, in
particular, was an exemplary model of how to
mediate SFs for standards to create robust
learning environments that foster formal scien-
tific practices, knowledge, and dispositions
(e.g., claims and evidence). Although Mona
was the least experienced educator in terms of
time in the classroom, she was the most knowl-
edgeable in terms of scientific content. The
combination of scientific content knowledge
and a professional development model focused
on repositioning FoK and discourse provided
for activities geared toward higher order ques-
tions and the scientific method.
Funding
This work was supported by the U.S Department
of Education, Office of English Language
Acquisition, Grant No. T365Z120024.
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