A Learning Engineering Approach to Transforming Teacher Practice Through Co-Designing Science Curricular for Multilingual Learners

This practitioner-focused paper describes the application of a learning engineering process to co-design a science unit on chemical and physical changes for 6th grade classrooms. In partnership with a group of science teachers and specialist from highly diverse urban schools, researchers facilitated a two-week summer institute, co-creating a unit anchored in a culturally relevant phenomenon. Drawing on the principles of collaborative design as professional development (Severance, 2022; Voogt et al., 2015), the study investigates how the co-design process can be structured and how it impacts teachers' perceived ability to support science learning of diverse learners. Data from co-design artifacts, classroom observations, and focus group teacher interviews revealed that the process fostered significant teacher agency and provided a powerful context for professional learning. The findings offer a replicable model for using learning engineering to create culturally and linguistically relevant science instruction.