READING SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL CONTENT

Preparing Your Students for the Common Core

PRESENTED BY:

Mark A. Van HeckeScience Educator and Training Professional

East China, MI

mvanhecke@comcast.net

CCSS ADDRESSED:

• CCSS.ELA.RST.9-10.1 Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of

science and technical texts, attending to the precise

details of explanations or descriptions.

• CCSS.ELA.RST.9-10.2 Determine the central ideas or conclusions of a text;

trace the text’s explanation of depiction of a complex

process, phenomenon, or concept; provide an accurate

summary of the text.

INSTRUCTIONS:

Click here to go to my website and download the worksheet that you may use after this presentation.

Once you complete the activities on the worksheet, use what you learned as a model to design similar activities for your students.

At any time, if you have any questions, send me an e-mail at mvanhecke@comcast.net

THE CCSSSCIENTIFIC-TECHNICAL TEXT

Preparing for the Common Core

SCIENTIFIC TEXT

Most text that students will encounter in their studies is either narrative or expository.

SCIENTIFIC TEXT

In science courses, much of the text that students will encounter is expository.

Students also generate their own knowledge in science and technical courses by the nature of the activity-centered learning found in such content areas.

SCIENTIFIC TEXT

You can find scientific/technical content in these and other publications:

Reference books Science fiction

Newspaper articles Scientific papers

Websites Article abstracts

Blogs Biographies

Editorials Magazine articles

Instruction manuals Lab reports

Direction sheets Field studies

SCIENTIFIC TEXT

Students often treat expository text found in science textbooks as just a listing of facts.

SCIENTIFIC TEXT

By first understanding the different ways in which scientific and technical information is presented in text, you can then develop strategies to enhance student understanding and comprehension..

SUMMARY

• Scientific and technical content is most often presented in an expository style of prose-that is-to convey information rather than to tell a story.

• Scientific and technical content is found in a number of publications including textbooks, magazine articles, abstracts and science fiction. The enormous presence and influence of science and technology in our world makes it important that students learn and better comprehend scientific and technical content.

• An understanding of the ways in which scientific and technical content is presented in text and other media is a good first step in developing strategies that will help your students master this genre.

THE CCSS: FEATURES OFSCIENTIFIC-TECHNICAL TEXT

Preparing for the Common Core

SCIENTIFIC TEXT

What are the features of scientific and technical content that students can be expected to find in reading textbooks and other media?

Frequent use of long descriptive sentences with many clauses

‘Ice storms in which precipitation falls from the sky as rain, but freezes on contact with the surface can be the most devastating form of winter weather, often causing power outages, automobile accidents and broken bones from slips and falls.’

2009 Science Olympiad Meteorology Event Training Handbook

SCIENTIFIC TEXT

Long complex noun phrases

‘A volcano is an opening in Earth’s crust through which lava, ash and gas are ejected.’

Pearson Environmental Science: Your World, Your Turn 2011

SCIENTIFIC TEXT

High incidence of content-specific technical vocabulary (jargon)

Neat lineQuadrangleMeridianParallelsTownshipRangeAzimuthBearing

Billow cloudMammatus cloudOrographic cloudPileus cloudSundogVirgaGraupelSleet

SedimentaryIgneousMetamorphicStrike/slip faultNormal faultDikeSillIntrusion

Map-Reading Meteorology Geology

SCIENTIFIC TEXT

In scientific and technical text, many words have specific Greek and Latin roots and affixes from which word meaning can be derived.

Arthropod from the Greek ‘arthr’ meaning jointed and ‘poda’ meaning foot.

Arthritis from the Greek ‘arthr’ meaning jointed and ‘itis’ meaning ‘belonging to’ which later became more the specific ‘inflammation of.’

SCIENTIFIC TEXT

Scientific and technical text often uses symbols, numbers and terms that are recognized internationally.

150lbs48°FSpeciationMethylene BlueAppendectomyPneumonia

Differential

NewtonKilometerµ127

GenusVoltBinary codeDNA

Main sequence star40mgLight yearParasiticMitochondriaGymnospermCarburetorMedulla

SUMMARY

GENERAL FEATURES FOUND IN SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL CONTENT INCLUDE:

• Long descriptive sentences that include many clauses

• Long, complex noun phrases

• High incidence of content-specific jargon that is not immediately recognized by most readers

• The jargon often uses Greek and Latin roots and affixes

• Internationally recognized terms, symbols and numbers

BROAD INFORMATION CATEGORIES

Preparing for the Common Core

SCIENTIFIC TEXT

BROAD CATEGORIES OF INFORMATION INCLUDE:

Qualitative InformationQualitative or descriptive information found in scientific and technical text refers to content that is often used to describe the results obtained in a scientific investigation or study. Descriptive text is often used to summarize the data that has been gathered..

SCIENTIFIC TEXT

Quantitative InformationQuantitative information found in scientific and technical text refers to data that is expressible in terms of quantity-how much, how long, what percentage, etc.

SCIENTIFIC TEXT

QUALITATIVE INFORMATION

The vinegar began to bubble when the baking soda was added.

The arthropods in the sample were characterized as having jointed legs and segmented bodies.

QUANTITATIVE INFORMATION

Temperature inside Device A dropped 5°C in five minutes, while the temperature in Device B dropped 3°C in the same five-minute period.

Members of the Family Procyoindae feature a dentition pattern of 2/2 molars, 4/4 pre-molars, 1/1 canines and 3/3 incisors.

SCIENTIFIC TEXT

Inferential TextUse of statistical techniques to make inferences (judgments) about the data that was obtained

The average high temperature for the month of July in Marine City, Michigan is 80°.

The average high temperature for July 1988 in Marine City, Michigan was 92°

SUMMARY

Broad information categories found in scientific and technical content include:

• Qualitative or descriptive text

• Quantitative or expressive text

• Inferential text

SCIENCE PROCESS SKILLS Preparing for the Common Core

SCIENTIFIC TEXT

FIVE PROCESS SKILLS OFTEN FOUND IN SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL TEXT

• Generalization• Enumeration• Sequence• Classification• Compare and Contrast

SCIENTIFIC TEXT

GENERALIZATION

In generalization, a paragraph has a main idea. Other sentences in the paragraph are used to clarify the main idea by providing descriptive examples or through the use of graphs, tables, images and other visual illustrations.

In science, the findings of limited observations are used to explain or generalize what is likely to happen in similar situations.

SCIENTIFIC TEXT

RESULTS OF THE INVESTIGATION

In the five samples where surfaces were cleaned with a disinfectant, bacterial growth was found to be 85% less than those five samples in which the surfaces were not cleaned with a disinfectant prior to the sample being taken.

Subsequent testing of a wide variety of countertop surfaces substantiated these earlier findings.

DERIVED GENERALIZATION:

Countertop surfaces that are cleaned with a disinfectant will have less bacterial growth than those surfaces that are not treated with a disinfectant.

SCIENTIFIC TEXT

ENUMERATION

Enumeration is the ‘chunking’ of data into numbered, bulleted or listed text.

Characteristics of mammals

• Warm-blooded with four chambered hearts

• Young are born alive and fed milk• Are vertebrates• Have a hair or fur covering on their bodies• Have lungs to breathe air

SCIENTIFIC TEXT

SEQUENCING

A sequence describes a series of steps in a process

Reading from left to right, the illustration above describes the life cycle of a star.

SCIENTIFIC TEXT

CLASSIFICATIONItems are grouped into categories when they are classified

StomachLiverSmall IntestineLarge Intestine

Order ColeopteraOrder ThysanuraOrder SiphonapteraOrder Lepidoptera

AldebaranBetelgueseAntaresMira

Organs ofDigestive System

CommonInsect Orders Red Giant Stars

SCIENTIFIC TEXT

COMPARE AND CONTRAST

Compare and contrast is used in scientific and technical text to identify relationships between items.

When items are compared with one another, both similarities and differences are addressed.

‘Sundogs are not clouds, but appear as one or two light patches on either or both sides of the Sun giving the illusion of two or even three Suns in the sky. The photo at the right is associated with a cirrostratus cloud.’

2009 Science Olympiad Meteorology Event Training Handbook

SCIENTIFIC TEXT

COMPARE AND CONTRAST

When items are contrasted, only the differences between them are noted.

‘Sundogs are different from halos in that the preferential orientation of the ice crystals that light passes through is different. If hexagonal ice crystals are oriented in such a way that their flat faces are horizontal, a sundog is observed. If hexagonal ice crystals are randomly oriented, the a halo is observed.’

2009 Science Olympiad Meteorology Event Training Handbook

SUMMARY

• Science process skills usually found in scientific and technical text include generalization, enumeration, sequencing, classification and compare/contrast

• These process skills are used by the author to communicate the findings of the subject discussed in the textbook, scientific study, abstract, field study, etc.

TEACHER ACTIVITIES Preparing for the Common Core

TEACHER ACTIVITIES

• Go to my website at vanheckescience.com and download the Guided Reading Activity which may serve as a model for you to design similar activities for your students.

• Go to the next slide in this presentation for resource links that you might find useful in developing your own Common Core activities.

• Visit VanHeckeScience.com often for more CCSS scientific and technical content strategies and much more!

YOURS IN SCIENCETHANK YOU!!

CCSS RESOURCE LINKS

Mark’s Hot CCSS Links!

http://achievethecore.org/One of my favorite Common Core resource sites, it’s loaded with free downloadable resources on developing text-dependent questions, using close reading exemplars, and evaluating text

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/common-core-in-action-science-andrew-millerThis Edutopia article describes a field example of how the Common Core standards can be implemented.

https://sites.google.com/site/commoncoreinvermont/english-language-arts-ela-1/literacy-in-social-studies-science-and-other-technical-subjects/reading-strategies-for-content-teachersThis site from the Vermont Department of Education provides 10 strategies for implementing the Common Core and provides corresponding activities. The activities are ready go