Reading and Writing Like Scientists: Toward Developing Scientific Literacy in Project-Based Science

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Reading and Writing Like ScientistsToward
Developing Scientific Literacy in Project-Based
Science

• Elizabeth Birr Moje
• LeeAnn M. Sutherland
• Joseph Krajcik
• Phyllis Blumenfeld
• Deborah Peek-Brown
• Ronald W. Marx
• National Council of Teachers of English
• Annual Meeting
• November 19, 2004

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Acknowledgement

• This report is based upon work supported by the
  National Science Foundation, under Grant No.REC
  0106959 Amd 001. Any opinions, findings, and
  conclusions or recommendations expressed in this
  material are those of the authors and do not
  necessarily reflect the views of the National
  Science Foundation.

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http//www.umich.edu/moje http//www.hi-ce.org

• For more information

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Purposes of the Project

• To engage middle-school students in developing
  scientific explanations of phenomena they
  investigated in project-based curriculum units
• To engage students in the processes and practices
  involved in data analysis and representation
• To engage middle school students in reading
  across multiple text types and genres
• To study the effects on students
• conceptual knowledge of science,
• scientific literacy skills and practices, and
• general reading skills and practices.

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Theoretical and Empirical Perspectives

• Socioconstructivist and sociocultural theories
• Discourse theories
• Content-area/disciplinary literacy theories
• Project-based learning (Project-Based Science)

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Curriculum Design

• Project-based units around driving questions
• What affects the quality of air in my community?
  (air quality/chemistry)
• How can good friends make me sick? (communicable
  disease/biology)
• What is the water like in our river? (water
  quality/chemistry/ecology)
• How can I make new stuff from old stuff
  (chemistry)

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Overall Scientific Literacy Curriculum Design

• Explicit focus on some conventions of
  scientific communication, emphasis on written
  communication of explanations
• Emphasis on data representation and analysis
• Emphasis on scaffolded multiple text genres

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Curriculum Design Explanations

• How to write a good scientific explanation
• Make a claim about the problem.
• Provide evidence for the claim.
• Provide reasoning that links the evidence to the
  claim.
• Use precise and accurate scientific language.
• Write clearly so that anyone interested in
  science can understand the explanation.

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Curriculum/Research Design Explanations
Level 1 Level 2 Level 3
Makes a claim about the problem. Does not make a claim OR makes an inaccurate claim. Makes a claim that reveals partial understanding. The claim may include both accurate and inaccurate details, or it may omit important details. Makes an accurate claim.
Provides evidence for the claim. Does not provide evidence OR provides inaccurate evidence for the claim. Provides some accurate evidence for the claim, but it is not sufficient evidence OR may include both accurate and inaccurate evidence for the claim. Provides accurate evidence and sufficient evidence for the claim.
Provides reasoning about scientific principles or what we know in science that links the evidence to the claim. Does not provide reasoning OR provides inaccurate reasoning. Provides partial reasoning that links the evidence to the claim, but the reasoning is not sufficient OR may include both appropriate reasoning and reasoning that does not link the evidence to the claim. Provides explicit reasoning that links the evidence to the claim. The scientific principle or what we know in science is described and used appropriately.
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Conclusions Implications of the Explanation Work

• Explicit attention to the conventions of
  scientific communication is related to the
  improvement in students content knowledge and
  scientific literacy abilities
• ..Quant Findings Explanations 2004.ppt
• ..\Pre Post Student Explanations.ppt
• Explicit attention to conventions MAY lead to
  reifying conventions
• ..\Student Explanations Across Discourse
  Communities.ppt
• Explicit attention to conventions requires
  concomitant attention to the nature and
  appropriateness of conventions in different
  discourse communities

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Curriculum Design Data Representation and
Analysis

• Collecting data systematically and rigorously
• Representing what one is observes in data
  collection
• Translating first-level representations into
  other forms of data representation
• Interpreting and synthesizing data from different
  representations
• Using data in making written explanations (see
  explanation writing)

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Curriculum Design Scaffolded Multiple Text
Genres

• Scaffolded integration of multiple text genres
  and forms of representation around single
  concepts
• Constructed expository text
• ..\IRA\EXP TEXT from reader.pdf
• Constructed narrative text (i.e., case studies)
• ..\..\Textual Tools Study\Rust Case Nov 04.doc
• Real-world texts
• ..\NSF\Rust article with call outs NSF 2004.doc
• Visual images
• Hands-on (firsthand, see Palincsar Magnusson,
  2001) experiences

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Where are we going next?

• Development of and research on learning
  activities designed to engage students in
  conversations about conventions of explanations
  in different communities
• Development of and research on reading activities
  designed to support students engagement with and
  production of science texts
• Design of pre/post formal and informal reading
  diagnostics designed to assess changes in
  students ability to read science text