steve bernhardt kirkpatrick chair in writing, university of delaware june 2014
TRANSCRIPT
Writing in STEM Classes
Steve BernhardtKirkpatrick Chair in Writing, University of DelawareJune 2014
What do we know?
Writing is the one skill students most want to improve
Writing increases the amount of time students spend on courses, their intellectual challenge, and their level of interest (Light)
Short, frequent writing activities (and oral discussion) improve content learning, course satisfaction, and persistence (various research)
What’s new from NSSE?
Meaning-constructing writing significantly improves all important measures of engagement: increased higher-order thinking, integrative learning, and reflective learning
When do your students write?
What do your students write?
Informal or Formal?
Exploratory questioning tentative (WAC)
Free writes, learning issues, notes, questions and confusions, brainstorming, clustering, exit tickets
Polishedpublished
delivered (WID)
Plans, progress reports, task maps, mini-themes, learning logs, discussion, Q/A, reporting out
Written exams, lab reports, solutions, summary/response, cases
Reports, presentations, posters, publications, proposals, research studies
WAC or WID?
WAC = Writing to learn
Emphasis on the ways writing improves instruction, enhances learning, engages students
WID = Learning to write
Emphasis on professional skills, language of the discipline, thinking and communicating (like a nutritionist or accountant)
At your table: WAC or WID?
WAC = Writing to learn
Identify several writing activities
How would you (do you) stage and use?
(Math example)
WID = Learning to write
Identify several specific genres you might use in your classroom.
How would you assign, provide feedback, and evaluate?
What do (go0d) writers think about?
What’s my purpose? What do I want to do?
Who is my audience? What do they want? What’s the situation? What’s the genre? What’s the medium? Can I find a model?
Good WID assignments
Require students to construct meaning
Suggest a purpose, audience, situation
Vary in genre, length, formality Stress process as well as product Provide good models Offer multiple opportunities for
success
Create real/realistic assignments
Problem-based learning Field studies Case studies Project-based learning Service learning Active learning Team-based learning
Professionals-in-Training (WID)
Students consistently had difficulty, across
all disciplines: gathering sufficient specific
information constructing the audience and the self stating a position (taking a stance) using appropriate discipline-based
methods managing complexity & organizing
information
Walvoord & McCarthy: Thinking and Writing in College
Make writing public
Take time to talk through assignments
Use rubrics so standards are shared Describe your writing process—have
students discuss theirs Use peer review Use forums or other posting apps Share models
Where do we go wrong?
Not providing a rhetorical context Spending time on post mortems Editing instead of responding Loading on big papers at end of term
Help!
WAC Clearinghousehttp://wac.colostate.edu/
Steve Bernhardt Writershelp.com