Dissertation Defense Announcement Ed.D. Program: Jeremy Lee “‘Using Quantitative Comparisons and Student Log Files to Examine the Efficacy of Scaffolds for Multilingual Learners’ Science Inquiry”

Multilingual learners (MLs) now account for over 10% of the total public-school enrollment of the United States. However, traditional deficit-oriented approaches to teaching MLs create barriers to meaningful engagement in STEM classrooms. To meet these rigorous standards, this research aims to increase opportunities for multilingual learners (MLs) to succeed by providing scaffolds in the Inquiry Intelligent Tutoring System (Inq-ITS), a virtual lab environment that assesses science inquiry practices as prescribed by the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS).

This defense focuses on a sub-set of the data that utilized a mixed-methods approach intended to: (1) gain a better understanding of the challenges MLs face when engaging in science inquiry practices, (2) examine how the scaffolds and translation document supported learning, and (3) determine how the scaffolds and translation document supported the learning of science inquiry practices 3-4 weeks later. The findings show how student log files generated in virtual lab environments can reveal fine-grained processes and behaviors that indicate development in students’ competencies. This research highlights the importance of designing equitable, language-inclusive supports to enhance MLs’ participation in science education, and how fine-grained analyses of student log files can provide evidence of MLs’ learning of science practices.