From cultural awareness to scientific citizenship: implementing content and language integrated learning projects to connect environmental science and English in a state school in Colombia

ABSTRACT

Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) is an educational approach that integrates language learning with content teaching of subjects such as science. The CLIL approach regards culture a core component, however, science teachers often struggle to integrate a cultural component in their lessons. This study describes a pedagogical intervention using CLIL in a state school in Bogotá, Colombia. The first cycle of an action research project was implemented over the course of 1 year with 50 students (aged 15–19 years) and their teacher. Students used technology-enhanced CLIL-based environmental learning projects to integrate content (science) and a vehicular language (English). Questionnaires, a teacher's journal, artefacts, and interviews were used to collect data. The findings show students’ positive perceptions of CLIL and highlight the value of explicitly considering a cultural component in science lessons, framed through a lens of scientific citizenship. Implications for CLIL and science education are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• CLIL
• PBL
• bilingual learners
• scientific citizenship
• science

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributor

Edgar Garzón-Díaz is a member of the IUCN Commission on Education and Communication, a former professor at the Department of Foreign Languages and Cultures at La Sabana University and a Science teacher at SED Bogotá Colombia. He has conducted research on CLIL, Biology, and areas related to the use of ICT for academic purposes. Mr. Garzón-Díaz is currently a PhD candidate from Los Andes University. He holds a Masters’ degree in ELT from la Sabana University and an ICELT certificate from Cambridge University. His main research interests are CLIL, ICT, Action Research, Pluriliteracies, Bilingualism and Multilingualism, Biology, Environmental Science, and Global Environmental Change.