Multi-STEM is a research project that aims to promote the participation of multilingual children in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education.
Subprojects
Children with a migration background can encounter obstacles in Dutch education.
Developing multilingual strategies for STEM education
Multi-STEM wants to ensure that multilingual children feel seen and heard, and that they can fully participate in education.
Multilingual children possess knowledge and skills in their home language that are lost in a monolingual Dutch environment.
That’s why Multi-STEM is developing an approach where both Dutch and home languages can be used.
Allowing a child to use all of their languages not only improves school performance, but also ensures that the child feels seen and involved.
Recent Blog Posts
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Grist to the mill of multilingualism: a connection between language and content
There are many ways to incorporate home languages in school. Perhaps the most important lesson is that a focus on cultural and linguistic diversity at school does not have to be cumbersome. On the contrary, in the video below we see teachers having fun with it, which will certainly be contagious for many children.
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‘Can I have the ‘skin-color’?’
Multilingual children may experience a reduced sense of belonging if the linguistic landscape of their school is not representative of their own linguistic and cultural resources. The linguistic landscape of a school refers to all the visible written signs and objects found inside a school, such as in the hallways and in classrooms. By enriching the linguistic landscape, the school could be a more inclusive place for multilingual children.
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Becoming a multilingual museum: three ideas on where to start
Becoming a multilingual museum can seem rather daunting. Thanks to examples from museums who have been working on this and technological tools, we now have more ideas on how museums can start working on becoming (more) multilingual. See this blogpost for some inspiration!
