Workshop Presented at the

1

• Workshop Presented at the
• California Reading Association Annual Meeting
• Sacramento, CA, October 16, 2008

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The Context of Our Work

• Seeds of Science/Roots of Reading is a curriculum
  and research program focused on science-literacy
  integration
• Housed at UC-Berkeleys Lawrence Hall of Science
• Funded by the National Science Foundation

3
Getting Started

• What is challenging about content-area vocabulary
  learning?
• What helps students learn content-area vocabulary?

4
Reconceptualizing Vocabulary in Content-Areas

• Traditional positioning of vocabulary in
  content-area instructiona long list of words to
  memorize.
• Our approach
• Thinking instead about words as labels for
  concepts
• Using content-area instruction as a rich context
  for the development of academic language

5

• shoreline
• model
• organism
• seaweed
• algae
• predator
• prey
• near shore
• beach
• kelp wrack
• muddy
• sandy
• pebbly
• stream
• river

• food
• shelter
• plant
• algae
• animal
• rock
• mineral
• properties
• observable
• earth material
• erosion
• weathering
• transport
• composition
• formation

• people
• inference
• evidence
• organism
• survival
• behavior
• structure
• growth
• reproduction
• resources
• oil
• spill
• pollution
• prevent

How would you select words to teach? What
criteria would you use? How many would you select?
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Choosing Words to Teach

• High utility in the discipline
• High utility in school science
• Necessary for understanding the topic or domain
• Connected to each other

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Teaching Content-area Words

• How much and what types of knowledge do you want
  students to have about these words?

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Shelter
Water
Food
Light
Habitat
If we wish to maintain a terrarium in our
classrooms, we should establish conditions that
are consistent with the organisms natural
habitats.
Habitat
Desert
Forest
Shoreline
Habitat the place where an organism gets the
food, water, light, and shelter that it needs to
survive

• A habitat has everything an animal needs to
  survive.
• The grassland habitat is windy with few trees.

• All living things exist within habitats and have
  adaptations that allow them to survive in those
  habitats. No one habitat can support all living
  habitats.

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Teaching Words as Concepts

• Provide multiple and meaningful exposures
• Wed language to experience
• Teach as related networks

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Concept Mapping

• A concept map is a diagram showing relationships
  among words and concepts
• Constructing concept maps helps learners actively
  construct knowledge and represent what they know
  in personally meaningful ways.
• Constructing concept maps allows students to
  trace their learning as they add new ideas.
• Students can follow the growth of their own
  understanding as they add new concepts to the map
  over time.

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Concept Map Example
Materials
Properties
Wood
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Concept Map Example
Properties
Materials
clear
hard
wood
glass
paper
smooth
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Teaching Words as Concepts

• Through the integration of concept mapping,
  reading, discussion and other activities, the
  words property and material have been used
  purposefully
• During these short instructional segments
  students have
• Grappled with the concepts
• Thought about properties of different materials
  and what makes them good for particular purposes
• Had exposure to them before reading during a
  class discussion
• Had exposure to them after reading
• The ways in which these words are being used is
  becoming quite sophisticated because of these
  multiple, meaningful encounters.

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Teaching Words as Concepts

• Provide multiple and meaningful exposures
• Wed language to experience
• Teach as related networks

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Language and Experience

• What are the properties of a good glue?
• Which materials might make a glue that has
  particular properties?

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Science/Everyday Words

• Connects conceptually important science words to
  students everyday language
• Helps students build their command of academic
  language.

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Applying Conceptual Knowledge

• How can we create a glue that will be sticky?
• What other properties do we want a good glue to
  have? 

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Revisit Concept Map

• Based on what you the new information you have
  learned about properties and materials, revise
  your concept map to reflect your new thinking.
• Add connecting phrases to show the relationships
  between words

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materials
Is an example of
property
are different for various
Dries quickly
Is an example of
Is an example of
Is an example of
wood
sticky
flour
is
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Teaching Words as Concepts

• Provide multiple and meaningful exposures
• Wed language to experience
• Teach as related networks

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Further Exploring Materials and Properties

• As you skim the text, think about...
• The material's properties.
• How the material is made.
• Where the material comes from.
• Turn to page 9 
• At the top of the page, list words or phrases
  that describe the material's characteristics
• Sort words into categories

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List, Group, Label Examples
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Teaching Words as Concepts

• Activity draws attention to hierarchicalrelations
  hips between words 
• multiple correct ways to sort, each way
  reinforces differences between examples and
  non-examples
• supports comparing and contrasting
• targets conceptually core words and an
  organizational scheme that connect them
• provides a context through which increasingly
  sophisticated word knowledge can be built
• provides the context for building knowledge about
  properties and materials in a wide array of
  contexts

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Closing Thoughts

• Importance of content-area language
• Word knowledge is essential not just for content
  area reading, but for participation in the ideas
  and practices of a discipline
• Access to academic discourses is important for
  continued learning in schools
• Content-area discourses should be taught as
  functional form of communication

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Posing More Generative Questions
Write two questions you have about
meadows/forests.
Posttest Response
Pretest Response
What kind of shelter is there in forests? I
wonder how spiders survive in the winter?
Why are meadows beautiful?
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Providing More Comprehensive Explanations
What is a habitat?
Posttest Response
Pretest Response
A place where an animal lives, finds food, gets
moisture, gets protection, and gets shelter.
A place where animals live.
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Demonstrating More Understanding