The goal of this study is to describe how elementary school teachers who work with bilingual students facilitate the learning of scientific concepts and skills through writing as they implement a science based interdisciplinary curriculum that uses a "sheltered constructivist" approach. The Bilingual Integrated Curriculum Project (BICOMP) uses a thematic approach in which a series of science inquiry lessons are scaffolded and then integrated with other areas of the curriculum.

In this paper, we examine how, through discourse processes, two bilingual elementary school teachers in three classrooms framed science as disciplinary inquiry. Through the use of particular discursive strategies that interactively introduce inquiry constructs and processes, these teachers provided opportunities for students to learn about ways of investigating in science.