Science and Literacy: Exploiting the Synergie

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Science and Literacy Exploiting the Synergies
P. David Pearson, GSE Elizabeth Stage, LHS UC
Berkeley
Slides and LOTS OF OTHER STUFF available at
WWW.SCIENCEANDLITERACY.ORG
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Goals

• Acquaint you with our approach to integrating
  science-literacy-language in the Seeds and Roots
  program at Lawrence Hall of Science
• Illustrate the principles that underlie our work
• Give you an opportunity to participate in some of
  our grade 2-3 activities

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Useful PDFs

• Cervetti, G., Pearson, P. D., Barber, J.,
  Hiebert, E., Bravo, M. (2007). Integrating
  literacy and science The research we have, the
  research we need. In M. Pressley, A. K. Billman,
  K. Perry, K. Refitt J. Reynolds (Eds.), Shaping
  literacy achievement (pp. 157-174). New York
  Guilford.
• Cervetti, G. N., Barber, J. (in press). Text
  in hands-on science. In E. H. Hiebert M.
  Sailors (Eds.), Finding the right texts. New
  York Guilford.
• Tilson, J. L. (2007). Discourse circles
  Promoting scientific language use in elementary
  classrooms. Connect, 21(1), 5-7.

Pre-Print available at WWW.SCIENCEANDLITERACY.ORG
Ppearson_at_berkeley.edu
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Some preliminaries

• I am not a science educator
• Literacy and language do their best work--for
  themselves and their curricular cousins when they
  are de-center
• More like learning
• Less like science or social studies
• Tools to support knowledge acquisition and
  inquiry processes
• Means not ends

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Some more preliminaries

• Legitimate threats to science education from
  literacy dominated curricula
• Text domination
• Word domination
• Well take care of it for you

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Science educators are rightfully suspicious of
literacy, especially text-driven science
curriculum.

• Apprehensions about text
• Declarations of fact not the scientific
  enterprise
• Misrepresentations
• Eclipse inquiry

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Many science educators are apprehensive about
vocabulary instruction

• Apprehensions about vocabulary
• Science as memorizing words (N 3500)
• Words as the final goal
• How words get in the way of concepts

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Well take care of it for you!

• Well teach the students how to decipher content
  area texts
• Not your responsibility as a science teacher.

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Learning from our predecessors

• Integration is promising
• Can travel both ways
• Lead with literacy, follow with science (Guthrie
  and CORI)
• Lead with science, follow with literacy
  (Palincsar Magnusson)
• Making a virtue out of the Second and First Hand
  Investigations Palincsar Magnusson
• Literacy can gain from science Romance and
  Vitale
• Tackling the discourse issue head on (Moje)

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Context for Our Work

• NSF-funded Seeds of Science/Roots of Reading
  Project
• Collaborators UC-Berkeleys Lawrence Hall of
  Science and Graduate School of Education
• Revision of GEMS units to integrate literacy with
  firsthand science
• Curriculum development and research

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Our Entire Seeds and Roots Team

• Literacy
• Marco A. Bravo
• Gina Cervetti
• Megan Goss
• Elfrieda Hiebert
• Carolyn Jaynes,
• Dvora Klein
• P. David Pearson
• Lisa Sensale
• Jennifer Tilson
• Jill Castek

• Science
• Jacqueline Barber
• Josiah Baker
• Lynn Barakos
• Kevin Beals
• Lincoln Bergman
• Mary Connoly
• Jonathan Curley
• John Erickson
• Catherine Halversen
• Kimi Hosoume
• Suzanna Loper
• Carolyn Willard
• Suzy Loper

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Progress to Date

• Built a model of science-literacy integration
• Applied that model to the development of 3 units
  for 2nd-3rd grade students and assessment system
• Applying it to another 9 units at grades 2-5
• Built a model of text accessibility
• Developed and produced 27 non-fiction student
  readers that embody this model
• Another 56 are in various stages of the editorial
  process

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Topics

• 23s Gravity and magnetism
• 23s Designing mixtures
• 23 Soil Habitats
• 23 Shoreline Science

• 34s Digestion and body systems
• 34s Variation and adaptation
• 34 Light energy
• 34 Weather and water

• 45s Chemical changes
• 45s Models of matter
• 45 Aquatic ecosystems
• 45 Planets and moons

S short (4 wks) already trialed
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Progress, continued

• Developed and integrated an approach for
  accommodating language learners
• A national, quasi-experimental research study
  involving 87 classrooms in 21 states
• Planning a new national field trial in 160
  classrooms in even more states
• Engaged in several separate research studies
  regarding science-literacy integration
• Genre (narrative and straightforward
  informational)
• Lexical and syntactic complexity
• Spontaneous use of new vocabulary in writing
• Nature of the discourse in a lesson that cooks

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Guiding Principles and Curricular Guidelines
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Three Pillars of Integration

• Engage students in firsthand and text
  investigations
• Employ multiple modalities
• Capitalize on synergies between science and
  literacy

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Firsthand and Text Investigations

• Premise Text and experience can play a set of
  dynamic roles in the inquiry process and the
  learning cycle.

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First and second hand investigations

• Conduct Snail investigations about preferred
  environments and food
• Read a plausible narrative in which other
  students conduct similar investigations
• Compare results and account for discrepancies
• Mirrors what scientists do when they build on
  the scholarly traditions within which they work.

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Multiple Modalities

• Science-Only (GEMS)
• Learn from first hand experiences and reflection
• Doing
• Talking

• Science/Literacy (Seeds/Roots)
• Learn through multiple learning modalities
• Doing
• Talking
• Reading
• Writing

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Applying multiple modalities

• Apply it to all activities/synergies
• Vocabulary
• Use is the ultimate standard
• Knowledge
• Inquiry-Comprehension

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Synergies

• Science knowledge/conceptual vocabulary Words
  are fundamentally conceptual
• Science inquiry/reading comprehension Science
  and literacy share core meaning-making strategies
• Nature and practices of science/oral and written
  discourse Science entails a discourse about the
  natural world

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Synergy 1 Words are fundamentally conceptual

• Definitions dont make it
• Context of use helps, but not always
• Words are surface labels for semiotic potentials
  words are not the point of words (ideas are!).
• Concentrate on the conceptual context--how does
  this concept relate to all of its siblings?
• Semantic networks
• Family resemblances

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Lots of visual and verbal activity
Transmit Transparent Translucent
Photo Photograph Photosynthesis
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Vocabulary

• Commit to a small set of core science words that
  together (and in combination with firsthand
  experiences and talk) help build a rich
  conceptual network
• Print-rich environment (both reading and writing)
• No gratuitous singletons
• Increasing depth of knowledge
• Awareness
• Acquaintanceship
• Ownership
• Use it and manipulate it
• Best accomplished by RWTD

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The language of science

• We have been able to identify, across a range of
  K-5 science texts, a set of high utility
  science words
• Words that while not highly frequent in general
  discourse, recur with great regularity in science
  texts
• We look for opportunities to use these words
  again and again in all of these language and
  experiential modes.
• We also promote the deliberate use of specialized
  science terms

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Promoting Scientific Language
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Apply the multi-modal filter

• At every opportunity in every part of the
  curriculum.
• Read it
• Write it
• Talk it
• Do it

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Synergy 2 Capitalizing on the cognitive
synergies between inquiry and comprehension
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Check the appropriate box
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Some Shared Strategies
Activating Prior Knowledge Establishing
Purpose/Setting Goals Making and Reviewing
Predictions Drawing Inferences and
Conclusions Recognizing Relationships
D
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How do we know that these are really similar
across science and literacy?

• First, we cede the point that the nature of the
  evidence is fundamentally different
• But
• Can we see a fundamental cognitive similarity
  between the processes widely used in science and
  literacy?
• Can you use the same rubric to score activities
  in science and literacy

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(No Transcript)
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Can the same rubrics be used to evaluate student
performance in both domains?
D
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Making Predictions

• Makes prediction with no apparent reasoning
• Provides prediction supported by unrelated
  evidence
• Provides prediction supported by related evidence
• Is able to revise prediction to take into account
  additional evidence
• Assesses the nature and quality of evidence

D
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Evidence-based Explanations

• 1. Explanation does not refer to evidence
• 2. Cites some evidence to support explanation
• 3. Cites multiple pieces of evidence to support
  an explanation
• 4. Synthesizes evidence to create explanations
  beyond what the students have been taught
• 5. Assesses the nature and quality of the evidence

D
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Operating Theory Comprehension Strategies are
Inquiry Strategies!!

• Comprehension and inquiry are the accepted
  meaning making strategies in science and literacy
• Comprehension and inquiry share goals and
  strategies

D
Constructing meaning from experience
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Synergy 3 Science is a Discourse

• Science is all about languagebut is more than
  words
• Instead of avoiding scientific terminology and
  register, need to embrace it
• Hands-on science is a venue for bringing the
  language of science to bear on experience

G
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Postman, 1979 quote

• Biology is not plants and animals, it is a
  language about plants and animals.
• Astronomy is not planets and stars. It is a way
  of talking about planets and stars" (p. 165).

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Teaching Discourse

• Environment rich in language of science
• Select generative vocabulary
• Use everyday language as a conceptual bridge
• Immerse students in investigations to bind
  language to activity

G
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Teaching Discourse

• Discourse circles
• talk about experiments
• Deal with challenging conceptual problems Is
  this sand old or new? What does the evidence tell
  us?
• a place to practice talking science
• A place to learn something about the nature of
  science
• Communicate with one another
• Disagreement can be functional
• Gather evidence to adjudicate competing claims
• Reflect on our learning
• How are we doing?
• How were we acting like scientists?
• How compelling is our evidence?
• What do we need to work on?

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Writing Writing as Scientists Do

• Observing and recording
• Writing reports to communicate findings
• Writing procedural texts
• Writing descriptive texts

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With important discourse elements, including
vocabulary

• Read it
• Write it
• Talk it
• Do it

In any order and any combination
D
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The Authentic Roles of Text in Science
Scientists read to situate research in broad
social themes
Provide Context
Scientists read to acquire new knowledge etc.
Deliver Content
Scientists replicate others procedures and
experiments
Modeling
Supporting Second-hand Investigations
Scientists read and interpret others data and
findings
Supporting Firsthand Investigations
Scientists use reference books to do their own
work
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Providing Context
Students learn about the natural habitat of
butterflies
From the Trade Literature
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Providing Context
Interview with chemist connects the students'
work with mixtures and solutions to what chemists
do
From FOSS
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Providing Context

• Invite students to engage with the context
• What if Rain Boots Were Made of Paper?
• Introduce domain and/or context
• Walk in the Woods
• Connect to the world outside the classrooms
• Black Tide

From the Seeds and Roots
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Students seek out information about internal and
external structures of the bat
Delivering Content
From the Trade Literature
G
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Delivering Content
This page shows info about atoms and molecules,
including hydrochloric acid -- too small to see
and not safe to work with, so good use of text to
deliver content
From FOSS
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Delivering Content

• Deliver science information
• All About Roots
• Provide information and explanation about
  unobservable phenomena
• Solving Dissolving

From Seeds and Roots
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Students read a model of systematic observation
and recording over time
Modeling
From the Trade Literature
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Modeling
A story about two students doing an
investigation models important aspects of the
inquiry process like questioning, measuring
carefully, etc.
From FOSS
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Modeling

• Model inquiry processes
• My Nature Notebook
• Model literacy processes
• Sea Otter Report to their own reports
• Model nature of science
• Habitat Scientist/Jellybean Scientist
• Biographical sketches of scientists at work

From the Seeds and Roots
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Books can also model different genres of writing
for student writing
Modeling
From Student Work
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Students draw conclusions about the function of
specific animal structures
Supporting Secondhand Inquiry
From the Trade Literature
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Supporting Secondhand Inquiry
From FOSS
Data from the same investigation used as the
"Modeling" example, for students to analyze and
draw conclusions.
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Supporting Secondhand Inquiry

• Provide text-based experience with data
• Snail Investigations
• In the same unit, they also plot their own data.

From the Seeds and Roots
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From second to first hand inquiry
Supporting Secondhand Inquiry
From Student Work
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Students use this book as a field guide to
identify evidence of animals they see on a nature
walk
Supporting Firsthand Inquiry
From the Trade Literature
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Supporting Firsthand Inquiry
A reference-book like page about ways to classify
leaves, designed to use with a first-hand
investigation in which students classify leaves
From FOSS
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Supporting Firsthand Inquiry

• Provide information that facilitates firsthand
  investigations
• Handbook of Interesting Ingredients
• Support students in making sense of firsthand
  investigations
• Garys Sand Journal

From the Seeds and Roots
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After reading Jess Makes Hair Gelthey had to try
it for themselves!
Supporting Firsthand Inquiry
Back
From Student Work
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Bottom line

• Difficult journey
• Well worth the effort
• Improved literacy
• Improved science
• Increased efficacy for
• Students
• Teachers

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Reading and writing are better when they are
tools not goals

• If we dont realign the current curricular
  imbalances, science and social studies may
  suffer
• but ultimately reading and writing will suffer
• reading and writing are not about reading and
  writing in general
• they are about reading and writing particular
  texts that are grounded in particular experiences
• they both depend upon the existence, the
  acquisition and the utilization of knowledge
  (note the comprehension revolution!)
• not knowledge in general but knowledge of
  particular disciplines, domains of inquiry,
  topics, patterns, concepts, and facts
• In short, the very stuff of subject matter
  curriculum!

PDP, NY Times, Tuesday, March 28, 2006
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This is the model I dont like

• Science
• Social Studies
• Math
• English Language Arts

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A model I like Tools by Disciplines
Academic Disciplines..
Language Tools
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Early Tools dominate
Academic Disciplines..
Language Tools
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Later Disciplines dominate
Academic Disciplines..
Language Tools
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Weaving
Language
Writing
Reading
math
literature
Social studies
Science
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So what is the bottom line in the
science-literacy interface?

• Read it

In any order and any combination In every order
and every combination!
Write it
Talk it
Do it
Do it
Talk it
Write it
Read it
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How to Ease the Literacy-Science Tensions in the
Current Educational Context

• Literacy is eating up the school day-it has
  become the curricular bully

• Literacy doesnt have to put science off the
  curricular stage-it can become a curricular buddy

D
Only a small phonological and orthographic shift