14 strategies writing

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A C C E S S I B I L I T Y

Writter\ presentations of their work allow scientiststo share and publicise their findings, get credit fortheir work, and, as a result, claim the benefits oftheir successes.

Written descriptions ot planned work enable scien-tists to obtain funding to continue their often-ex-pensive work.

Written summaries of their ideas allow scientists to sharethe importance of their work with nonscientists.

W hy we need to teach writingin science classesAny science teacher who wants his or her students tobe engaged in real science is going to engage them inreal science writ ing. Students do not intuitively know

Encourage studentsto use rich details

with leadingqjuestionS) such

is: What kind ofevidence are wegoing to look for?

Where are we likelytofindevidence?

ho w to do such writing, nor is instruction in scietific writing necessarily or even likely going to occin other school subjects. This writing instruction cserve two purposes. It can increase science understaning and engage students in activit ies that are usefulthe assessment process in science itself. Montgome(2005, p. 28) points out that student writ ing providthe teacher with "a tangible demonstration of learniand gives students the oppor tuni ty to connect thpersonal exper iences to the con ten t . " Montgomegoes on to say that well-crafted, thoughtfully plannwriting assignments require the student to do a "deanalysis of subject material ."

Well-designed science writing assignments essentiahave three critical attributes:1. They provide authentic purposes for writing.2. They motivate students to want to write and to "do" scienc3. They help students plan and structure both their writi

and their science activities.These attr ibutes are inextricably and symbiotically rlated. They combine to make the writing assignmecomprehensible, authentically important, and feasibMatsumura and his colleagues (2002) found that tcognitive challenge of the writing assignment hadsignificant effect on the quality of students' final drafT h a t is, when students felt that assignments were conitively challenging and satisfying to complete, thworked more effectively in producing a finished writiproduct. Writing experiences should help students fegood about their own writing.

Wri t ing in science should begin with clear, imagintive writing purposes and stimuli that are t hen scfolded in such a way that students are able to findorganizational structure for their writ ing. Writing fency is often enhanced and supported by experienclike brainstorm ing or free writing.Writing assignments thatwork in science classesWriting in The American Scientist, Gopen and Swan (19asserted that, "The fundamental purpose of scientific dcourse is not the mere presentation of infotmation athought, but rather its actual communication" (p. 550). course, much of the public and many scientists would quetion this idea because they often think that scientific cocepts, data, and analysis are extremely complex, difficuand abstract. However, like Gopen and Swan, we wouargue that what matters most in scientific writing is thamajority of the reading audience accurately perceives wh


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solid science learning and review.Writing hypothetical lettersOften scientists share theirobservations and questions as well as their differences

Blueberry, hy Simon James. In this book, James

person should believe in the power of evidence even

s, can share observations about some the me or topic.

nce teachers.Process steps analysisAfter observing and/or tak-ing part in a demonstration of a scientific process,

Identifying critical attributesSmall groups of stu-dents are asked to look at something. This can be

they believe to be the critical attributes of what theyhave seen. The lists are shared with the whole class,and students attempt to match the correct item withthe critical attribute list. If accurate matching is notpossible, students are encouraged to revisit and revisetheir lists.

4Collaborative writing of scientific storiesThe teacherbegins by reading (or baving the students read) ascience-related trade book. Fiction books, such as HowGroundhog's Garden Greuj (Cherry 2003), and nonfic-tion books, such as One Tiny Turtle (Davies 2001), canhe used effectively for tbis activity. After students havehecome familiar with the story, the teacher needs tostart a discussion focusing on the scientific content orprocess described in the book. Once the teacher is sat-isfied that students understand the science of the book,he or she has the class sit in a circle on the floor. Threeclipboards with paper are given to students positionedat equal intervals around the circle. Each student hold-ing a clipboard is asked to think about the science de-scribed in the book and then writes one sentence thatdescribes the first event in the book. They then passthe clipboard to the right. Students are instructed thatwhen they receive a clipboard, they need to read whathas been written up to that point on the paper andthen write an additional sentence describing the nextevent in the scientific process described in the story.Each paper will, in the end, contain a complete retell-ing of tbe story in the sequence it occurred. (Tbreepapers are used to provide a means of keeping studentsactively engaged and to document student understand-ing of various parts of the content/process.)5 Chain of evidenceB ecause most studen ts havewatched many television shows dealing with foren-sic evidence in criminal investigations, those observa-tion experiences can be used as the basis for writingactivities. First, the teacher identifies a crime that theteam will investigate. Appropriate possibilities couldinclude robberies, kidnappings, acts of vandalism, orsimple crimes that happen around the school every day.(Avoid scenarios involving violent or graphic crimes.)Begin with a brainstorming session. Have the class cre-ate a detailed summary of the chain of evidence lead-ing to the arrest and trial of a suspect in their inventedcrime. Encourage them to use rich details with leadingquestions, sucb as: What kind of evidence are we go-ing to look for.' Where are we likely to find evidence?How do we distinguish evidence related to the crimefrom what we would normally expect within tbe crime


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scene? What are some different ways of reconstructingthe crime based on the evidence? What possibilitiesdoes the evidence suggest?As an alternative to providing students with onlythe hypothetical crime, the teacher could also providea list of "suspects" with a brief introduction to each.Students might then choose a "guilty" suspect and cre-ate a well-reasoned written explanation of fictionalclues and evidence that could lead to the suspect'sarrest. Students then have to learn the difference be-tween being reasonably sure that someone is guilty andhaving sufficient evidence to bring them to trial, andthen having enough evidence to convict. Students canassume the roles of judge and jury in response to oneanother's assembly of evidence, ultimately deciding ifthe w ritten chain of evidence is sufficient to lead to atrial and subsequent conviction.

6 Accident report\n this activity, a teacher createsan accident scene by either using photos or actuallystaging an accident. Examples of cases might include alunchroom mishap such as spilled trays; a playgroundincide nt such as a fall from a piece of equ ipment, some-one being hit by a ball, or a collision between two run-ning students; or a classroom situation such as stacks ofpapers falling on the floor and getting mixed together.After examining the accident scene and gatheringevidence, the accident scene investigators are asked towrite reports based on their observations. In very smallgroups, students then read each other's reports, notinginconsistencies or missing details.7 Label analysisThe teacher first organizes studentsinto groups and then provides each group with anempty package or label for some product. The productscan be foods, medicines, household cleansers, or any-thing else with a label that lists its ingredients. Eachgroup then writes a description of what they knowabout the product based on the list of ingredientsinother words, what the contents list tells you, and whatit doesn't tell you. For example, if something adver-tised as a juice product has little or no actual fruit juicein it, what does that mean? What does the label tellyou about nutrition? What are the risks and benefits ofusing the product?8 Technical directionsThe teacher begins by givingstudents toys or models that require some assembly.Students are then asked to take the role of the market-ing staff at the product's manufacturing company. Stu-dents must first practice assembling the toy or model.

carefully noting the quickest, most efficient stepsassembly. Then, they are responsible for writing therections that will be included on the package. Finastudents attempt to assemble other groups' toysmodels using the new directions.

9 Scientific directionsThe teacher organizes the into small groups and assigns each group a familocation within a short distance from the school. Egroup then discusses the best route to the assigplace and writes directions for getting there using lamarks based on scientific ohservations taken along route. For example, the directions could include scriptions of plants, geological formations, or envirmental cues. As a follow-up, have students see if tcan navigate to a spot using others ' directions."I r\Scientific reporting After a discussion of X V-/essentials of accurately reporting scientific servations, students are organized into groups. Egroup is given a video recording of a scientific expment and asked to create a detailed list of observatithat someone could use to recreate the experiment. Tgroup is allowed to view the video as many timesthey Uke to ensure that their observation list is accurand complete. {See Resources for recommended vicollections.)

1 1 Proposal writing-The basic function of aX posal is to describe and pitch to others ideas projects, papers, and research studies. Proposal writis an essential activity for many scientists and the skneeded to write proposals should be developed as eaas possible. Instead of simply assigning projects andsearch reports, teachers can provide general paramefor the intended assignment (e.g., research relatedrock formation or a project depicting a food chaProposal writing activities can begin with a simbrainstorming for project ideas. The fundamental qution is. What do we want to do? After generating a of ideas, the teacher can then lead students throuthe process of selecting and refining a single idea frthe list. The next step is to create a proposal outliTo help students with this the teacher may have a of specifications or even provide a simple outline suas the following: Title (a proposal...) Abstract or summary An introduction giving background and explainthe situation


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A statement of the project problem to be solved Some suggestion or suggestions about solutions tothe problem Some explanation of how you will solve the problem An outline describing the proposed project outcome Step-by-step description of your research methods ConclusionsAfter the outline has been created, assign a differ-ent group to write a draft for each part. Finally, piecetogether the proposal, editing each part so that it isconsistent with the test. The combined class effort canthen serve as a model for small groups or individualstudents to develop their own proposals.

I' ^ Porqitois story writingPorquois stories are fic-Z^^tional explanations of natural phenomena.

They are usually based upon definitive descriptionsoi the phenomena themselves. One example is "Howthe Elephant Got His Long Trunk." A series of logicalplot actions are described, connecting the main char-acters in the story to the creation of the phenomena.Provide students with a list of natural phenomena andhave them create their own porquois stories for oneof these. Stress the importance of including scientificfacts in explanations. Examples of appropriate subjectsinclude why magnets attract, why we have tornadoes,why snakes shed their skin, why hens cackle and roost-ers crow, why owls hoot, how squirrels got their bushytails, and why volcanoes erupt.

DPreparing descriptive research through web quests.Web quests are designed to be structured inquiryactivities in which information is drawn from the inter-net. Web quests focus the learners' time on using infor-mation rather than looking for it, and emphasize think-ing at the levels of analysis, synthesis, and evaluation.Essentially, students are directed to a sequenced seriesof specific websites to solve a structured inquiry prob-lem. A number of websites provide examples of Web-Quests (see Resources). An example of a teacher cre-ated web quest might ask students to determine whichsimple machines would be most effective in performinga particular multistep task. The web quest would be de-signed to lead students to a series of websites that pres-ent verbal and/or pictorial information about simplemachines. Students would use the information to de-velop a written solution to the problem. Teachers canalso train students to develop their own web quests asan alternative means of demonstrating understanding ofparticular scientific content and/or processes.

H News dip o bservations^The teacher shows shortnews film clips without sound. These clips mayshow natural disasters, the effects of weather, destruc-tion brought about by human effort, or other science-related concepts. Students then write descriptions ofthe event based on their observations. After studentshave completed their descriptions, replay the film clipwith sound and ask students to compare the accompa-nying news commentary to what they wrote.Final noteA science class is not complete unless it helps studentslearn to think like scientists, and writing is an essen-tial part of such thinking. The 14 writing experiencesdescribed here for integrating meaningful, interestingwriting into science are not intended to be followedto the letter. Rather, they are all adaptable ideas. Nei-ther are they intended to replace traditional scienceinstruction. However, if we want our students to thinklike scientists, then it is only logical that we should askthem to observe, document, and write like scientists,as well. We believe that these and o ther thoughtfullystructured writing activities can be integrated intoscience classrooms in a way that addresses curriculum,provides alternative, authentic means of assessing stu-dent understanding, and motivates students to becomeactively involved in the learning process. ReferencesCherry, L. 2 0 0 3 . H ow groundhog's gardenffreui.New York: Blue

Sky Press.Davies , N. 20 01. One tiny turtle. Cambridge, MA: Candlewick

Press.Gop en, C D . , and J. A. Swan. 1990. The .science of scientific writing.

Th e American Scientist 78 (November-Decetuber): 550-58.Matsumura, L .C., G.G . Patthey -Chave z, R. Valdes, and H. Gar-

nier. 2002. Teacher feedback, writing assignment quality, andthird-grade students' revision in lower- and bigher-achievingurban schools. Elementary School]ournal 103 (1): 3-25.

Montgomery, M. 2005. Authen tic science writing. Principal Leader-ship: High School Education 5 (6): 28 -31 .

Penrose, R. 2 005. Eimtein's miraculous year: Five papers that changedthe face of physics. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

ResourcesWeb questsThe WebQuest Pagehttp:llivebqtiesi.sdsu.eduTeachno logy ww i^ .teach-nology .com/teachersllesson_plans/

computinglweb_quests/sdence/Science web questsuiUJiy.am-iio.com/uci/icI2-Icssons.html


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14 strategies writing

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