Distance Learning: Digital STEM Resources for Multilingual Learners

Welcome to the second part of our series on Free Digital Resources for Multilingual Learners. This time the focus is on Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) for distance learning.

The Rutu Foundation curated a series of free online resources specifically designed for multilingual learners to support schools, children, and parents in this difficult period. We will be sharing them during the next weeks, so check back often or subscribe to our newsletter to make sure you don’t miss anything.

Our first part with a list of Resources for Reading can be found here.

#LearningNeverStops

Free Digital STEM Resources for Multilingual Learners

STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. These topics can pose extra challenges when your school language is not the language you use at home. Fortunately, there are many free resources available for multilingual learners (and their parents) who need some extra help or are interested in learning about these subjects. Just choose the language you want to learn in. Our own AVIOR bilingual materials are suitable for young learners (4-8 years).

Children

Binogi – Produced in Sweden, Binogi contains a wonderful selection of videos and quizzes on a range of subjects, including Mathematics, Chemistry, Biology, Technology, English-learning, History and Geography. Students can choose between speech and subtitling in Arabic, Dari, English, French, Somali, Swedish and Tigrinya. Freely available for a limited time. Here are some examples:

Khan Academy – Khan Academy is one of the best known online platforms that provides children with multilingual content organized by subject and level of instruction. Here, you can find different courses in elementary and advanced Maths, Science, Computing, Economics & Finance, as well as Art and Humanities. Courses are adapted to every country’s curriculum and subjects change according to the country/language you select. Here you can find some examples:

CODE – Code provides computer science courses for students in many different languages. No computer at home? There are also options for smart phones. During the corona-crisis, CODE also offers weekly free online courses for all ages. Courses are divided in 3 categories: Grades K-5, Grades 6-12, Grades K-12. Here are some examples:

 

Esa Kids – Esa Kids is an online platform offered by the European Space Agency. Children can learn about the Universe, Earth, Technology and Life in Space. Together with online lessons, the platform also offers multimedia resources, a selection of activity and games to do at home and a collection of news and articles about the topics that it covers. It is available in Dutch, English, French, German, Italian and Spanish:

3D Bear – Available in English, Swedish and Finnish, 3D Bear is an app offering education materials for children. It includes lesson plans and challenges through which children can amuse themselves and keep learning. Courses cover a great variety of topics, among which Science, Math, Creative Storytelling, Reading & Writing and many others. Download it on your phone and check it out!

LIVEWORKSHEET – Here you can find free worksheets to practice a wide variety of topics in many different languages. Teachers can also make their own worksheets and sign them up for their students. After completing a worksheet, students can email the worksheet to the teacher or view the results themselves. For example:

Edraak – Specifically for Arabic speaking children, Edraak provides K-12 education courses, mainly on Math and English.

Quizlet – If you want to try something more dynamic and playful, Quizlet is what you need! Children can learn using study sets on several school topics (including STEM subjects). They can also make their own flashcards and quizzes. Quizlet is an app that you can easily download on your portable device and bring it with you. It is available in many languages, just scroll down to the bottom of the page and choose your language.

Quizizz – Another similar platform is Quizizz, which offers hundreds of quizzes on different subjects generated by teachers: including Science, Technology, Maths, Computer Science etc. Once registered, you can access your own learning space and start doing a quiz either alone or challenging some friends. Teachers can also assign a quiz to their students. Quizizz is available in Dutch, English, French, Indonesian, Russian, Spanish and Polish. Try it and get ready to have some fun!

Multilingual Distance Learning Maths

StoryWeaver – Besides  a great website where you can find amazing illustrated stories in many different languages, StoryWeaver also offers a selection of storybooks devoted to STEM, particularly to Maths and Science&Nature. Some examples:

Advanced Learners

Coursera – Coursera is one of the most famous platforms worldwide providing online education for advanced learners. Here you can find a huge variety of resources, from online programs to masters’ degrees, covering different fields such as Social Sciences, Humanities, Science, Business, health etc. The majority of courses are available in English but options in other languages are also accessible. Moreover, through a paid version of the platform, you have the possibility to obtain personalized certificates. Since our focus is on STEM resources, these are some of the courses offered by Coursera in the field:


Multilingual Distance Learning STEM

Alison – Alison is a platform that provides advanced learners with several types of online courses, from certificates to diplomas in different fields of expertise: Humanities, Social Sciences, Maths, Technology, Economics etc. The majority of courses are available in English but you can also find programs in Spanish, French, Italian and Portugues. Here you can find some examples of STEM-related courses :

edX – Another online resource for advanced learners. It includes more than 2500 online courses from 140 institutions. Although the majority of courses are in English, some of them are also available in Spanish, French, Chinese, Mandarin, Italian, Russian and other languages. Here are some examples of STEM courses:

Edraak – For Arabic speakers, Edraak is also very interesting for advanced learners providing free online resources on topics related to:

Distance learning for multilingual STEM

AVIOR Bilingual Materials

AVIOR is a European funded ERASMUS+ project. Together with partners in six European countries, the Rutu Foundation developed and translated quality bilingual materials for early literacy and numeracy (age 4-8) in over 10 languages. For mathematics, you can choose from:

  • Maths, Naturally! For basic numeracy practice (numbers, adding, subtracting);
  • with Maths Cards, practicing comparisons (bigger, smaller) becomes a game that the whole family can enjoy.

The materials can be freely downloaded in different language combinations, such as Dutch-Polish, Dutch-Turkish, German-Arabic, Italian-Arabic etc.