Meeting Fifteen (17th July): Literacy in Science

The title is not a typo; we will not be dis­cussing sci­en­tific lit­er­acy, a theme we have dis­cussed sev­eral times (but if you want more, I strongly rec­om­mend Alice Bell’s refresh­ing sug­ges­tion that this one isn’t just for teach­ers to worry about.)

Rather than an aca­d­e­mic paper, these two arti­cles dis­cuss the effec­tive use of lit­er­acy skills in sci­ence class­rooms. Based on research and expe­ri­ence with young Amer­i­can stu­dents in the equiv­a­lent of Key Stage 2 and early Key Stage 3, the authors empha­size the need for much greater delib­er­ate teach­ing of sci­en­tific vocab­u­lary. Between the two short arti­cles, sug­ges­tions are made for teach­ing both con­tent knowl­edge and the ways in which we jus­tify our knowl­edge, highly rel­e­vant for sci­en­tific method work.

Ross, D., Fisher, D., & Frey, N. (2009). The art of argu­men­ta­tion. Sci­ence and Chil­dren, 47(3), 28–31. Down­load .pdf

Grant, M., Fisher, D., & Frey, N. (2009). Sci­ence lit­er­acy is > strate­gies. Clear­ing House, 82(4), 183–186. Down­load .pdf

1. These papers are focused on younger stu­dents. How do the ideas apply to the age groups you teach?
2. Do you already pro­vide writ­ing frames or tem­plates to pro­mote dis­cus­sion of sci­en­tific meth­ods and the use of rea­soned argu­ment? If not, how would you adapt the exam­ples given for dis­tri­b­u­tion to stu­dents or as dis­plays in your lab?
3. Do you use any spe­cific texts or sources when pro­vid­ing wider read­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties to stu­dents? How do they respond to this? How do you assess their progress?
4. Do we take too much for granted in terms of stu­dents’ lit­er­acy devel­op­ment? How can this be addressed at a class­room, depart­ment and school level?

Tues­day 17th July at 7.30, to be mod­er­ated by @teachingofsci.