Agenda

19 March 2025 (4.30-5.30 pm CET)

Translanguaging in Dutch science museums with primary-
school children: Challenges and opportunities

Mirona Moraru & Lucía Beatriz Chisari, Utrecht University

"The webinar is part of the International Webinar Series “Transformative Plurilingual Education through Museums and the Arts” organised by the MILE research group in collaboration with Laboratorio Itals and Laboratorio LaDiLS.

Abstract: Translanguaging can be a promising approach to promote the participation of migrant multilingual children in museums. In this presentation, we explore the challenges and opportunities involved in adopting such an approach in two Dutch science museums within the Multi-STEM project. Both studies draw on design-based implementation research (Fishman et al., 2013), a collaborative method which involves researchers co-designing interventions with practitioners. Data from the two studies includes fieldnotes; semi-structured interviews with museum educators and children; and artefacts. We conducted a reflexive thematic analysis. The first study focuses on Teylers, a science, art and history museum. The intervention consisted of a set of translanguaging strategies that were enacted by two museum guides in ten guided visits for primary-school newcomer children. The strategies involved the use of multimodal tools (gestures, pictures), establishing an inclusive language policy for the visit, and providing the children with language support/scaffolding. The main challenges were effectively establishing an inclusive language policy where all languages could be used and diagnosing children's understanding during the visit. Despite these challenges the participants interacted around the museum topics using a variety of multimodal and linguistic resources. The second study focuses on STEM Room [pseudonym], which offers science and technology workshops for children between 6 and 10 years old. The intervention involved a series of four workshops focused on the creation of multilingual object labels and a multilingual exhibition. Some of the challenges referred to the wide range of linguistic and literacy competences and an initial mismatch between children’s expectations from the regular museum activities and the proposed activities. Some opportunities involved the resources to provide individual support for children; using multilingual templates; and using the linguistic landscape as scaffolding for tasks. These two studies provide insights into the less explored challenges and opportunities of adopting a translanguaging approach in museums.   

Registration for the webinar is kindly required by completing the google form at this link: https://forms.gle/kRqASCzv36jdiXBo6

Participation in the webinar series is free. For questions, please contact mile@unive.it