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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

  • Recommendations for designing diverse linguistic landscapes at schools: Input from our research partners in Sweden 

    Recommendations for designing diverse linguistic landscapes at schools: Input from our research partners in Sweden 

    A linguistic landscape or “schoolscape”  is the set of signs and objects visible in the space of a school  that contain text in any language/s. According to Hanna and Ylva, two master students who investigated the use of linguistic landscapes in Sweden, diverse linguistic landscapes can promote a sense of belonging in children as well…

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  • The Challenge of Multilingual Mathematics

    The Challenge of Multilingual Mathematics

    Learning mathematics means learning many new words, as well as manners of writing and talking about abstract concepts. This can seem challenging to any child, but can be an extra challenge for students who are still learning the language of schooling. Translanguaging can help multilingual students to access prior knowledge, understand cultural differences and connect…

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  • Collaborating with multilingual caregivers

    Collaborating with multilingual caregivers

    In March, researcher Erin Gail MacDonald collaborated with Lotte van der Goot and Marjon Smits to write a blog about collaborating with multilingual caregivers. Lotte and Marjon work for CPS, and we so appreciate that they bring both practical insights from the field and theoretical knowledge to our collaboration. You can find the blog here:…

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