Science and Literacy: Exploiting the Synergies

Science and Literacy: Exploiting the Synergies

P. David Pearson, Suzy Loper, Megan Goss

UC Berkeley

Slides and LOTS OF OTHER STUFF available at WWW.SCIENCEANDLITERACY.ORG

Overview of goals for this morning

Acquaint you with our perspective in the Seeds and Roots at Lawrence Hall of Science

Illustrate how the principles that underlie our work can be applied in any setting and program

Give you an opportunity to apply some of these principles to your own programs and classrooms

Useful paper

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

Pre-Print available at WWW.SCIENCEANDLITERACY.ORG

Ppearson@berkeley.edu

What’s the difference between primary, secondary, and college teachers?

Their kids Their subject matter Themselves

Some preliminaries

I am not a science educator Literacy must de-center

More like learningLess like science or social studies

Knowledge acquisition tools Means not ends

Some more preliminaries

Legitimate threats to science education from literacy curriculaText dominationWord dominationWe’ll take care of it for you

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

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

We’ll take care of it for you!

We’ll teach the students how to decipher content area texts

Not your responsibility as a science teacher.

Many have thought through the commonalities in cognitive processes: For example

Carin and Sund (1985). Teaching science through discovery, 5th Ed. Columbus, OH: Merrill.Many intellectual skills in common

Predicting Classifying Interpreting

Thinking as a common core

Baker, L. (1991). Metacognition, reading, and science education. In C.M. Santa and D.E. Alvermann (Eds.), Science learning: Processes and applications (pp. 2-13). Newark, DE: International Reading Association Formulating conclusions Analyzing critically Evaluating information relevance Establishing relationships Applying information to new settings

Existing Research: Conceptual accounts of relationships

Empirical work at the science and literacy interface

Guthrie: Concept-Oriented Reading Instruction (CORI).

Palincsar & Magnusson: Guided Inquiry Supporting Multiple Literacies (GIsML).

Romance & Vitale: In-depth Expanded Applications of Science (IDEAS)

Anderson, et al: Wondering, Exploring, and Explaining (WEE).

Pappas, Varelas, Barry, and Rife: Dialogically-Oriented Read Alouds

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

Today’s Report

Description and illustration of the principles that guide our work

Along the way…talk about the legitimate role of text in inquiry based science

Context for Our Work

NSF-funded Seeds of Science/Roots of Reading Project

Collaborators: UC-Berkeley’s Lawrence Hall of Science and Graduate School of Education

Revision of GEMS units to integrate literacy with firsthand science

Curriculum development and research

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

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

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

Built a model of text accessibility Developed and produced 27 non-

fiction student readers that embody this model

Planned and are currently authoring another 56

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”

Guiding Principles and Curricular Guidelines

Three Pillars of Integration

Engage students in firsthand and text investigations

Employ multiple modalities Capitalize on synergies between

science and literacy

Firsthand and Text Investigations

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

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.

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

Applying multiple modalities

Apply it to all activities/synergies Vocabulary

Use is the ultimate standard Knowledge Inquiry-Comprehension

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

Synergy #1: Words are fundamentally conceptual

Definitions don’t 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

Lots of visual and verbal activity

Shelter

Habitat

Water

Food Organisms

Shoreline

Desert Forest

Transmit

Transparent

Translucent

Photo

Photograph

Photosynthesis

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

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

Promoting Scientific Language

Everyday Language Science Language

I saw I observed

I wrote I recorded

I think I predicted

I looked I Investigated

proof Evidence

home Habitat

Apply the multi-modal filter

At every opportunity in every part of the curriculum.

Read it Write it Talk it Do it

Synergy #2: Capitalizing on the cognitive synergies between inquiry and comprehension

Check the appropriate box

Cognitive Activity Literacy Science Both

Summarizing

Searching for information in a text

Engaging in discourse

Posing questions

Making explanations from evidence

Writing reflections

Making/reviewing predictions

Drawing inferences/conclusions

Some Shared Strategies

Activating Prior Knowledge

Establishing Purpose/Setting Goals

Making and Reviewing Predictions

Drawing Inferences and Conclusions

Recognizing Relationships

D

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

Shared Strategy CommonQuestions

Example in Science Example in Literacy

Activating priorknowledge

What do I alreadyknow?What do I knownow that I didn’tknow before?

Students use an anticipatorychart to monitor theirgrowing knowledge ofshorelines and the organismsthat live on shorelines.

Before reading a bookabout earthworms, studentsdiscuss what they havelearned from their hands-on observations ofearthworms.

Establishingpurposes-goals

Why am Ireading/doing this?What am I trying tolearn?What informationam I seeking?

Before engaging in guidedinvestigations of theirshoreline organisms,students write about whatthey want to learn throughtheir investigations.

Having investigated theeffects of oil spills througha series of hands-onscience activities, studentsdiscuss what they still wantto know before reading thebook, Black Tide.

Making-reviewingpredictions

What do I think isgoing to happen?

Students continually make,review, and revise theirpredictions about what willhappen in a worm bin—andthey document the growingevidence that soil is beingmade.

Students make predictionsabout what a habitatscientist is and does beforereading the book HabitatScientist; they review andrevise those predictionsduring and after reading.

Drawinginferences andconclusions

What does thismean?How do I explain x?

Students gather evidencefrom a bucket of beach sandto answer the question,“What is sand made of?”

Students use a scientists’sand journal to makeinferences about theorigins of sand samples.

Makingconnections-recognizingrelationships

What caused x?How are x and yrelated?How is x like/unlikey?

Students compare theadaptations of differentisopods.

Students use a referencereader about substances toselect ingredients that willhelp them make paint withparticular properties.

Can the same rubrics be used to evaluate student performance in both domains?

D

Making Predictions

1. Makes prediction with no apparent reasoning

2. Provides prediction supported by unrelated evidence

3. Provides prediction supported by related evidence

4. Is able to revise prediction to take into account additional evidence

5. Assesses the nature and quality of evidence

D

Evidence-based Explanations

1. Explanation does not refer to evidence2. Cites some evidence to support explanation3. Cites multiple pieces of evidence to support

an explanation4. Synthesizes evidence to create explanations

beyond what the students have been taught5. Assesses the nature and quality of the

evidence

D

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

Synergy #3: Science is a Discourse

Science is all about language…but 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

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).

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

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?

Writing: Writing as Scientists Do

Observing and recording

Writing reports to communicate findings

Writing procedural texts

Writing descriptive texts QuickTime™ and aTIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor

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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

Text roles

Text can Support Inquiry Science

Providing Context Delivering Content Modeling Supporting Second-Hand Inquiry Supporting Firsthand Inquiry

Authenticity in Science

Deliver Content

Provide Context

Modeling

Supporting Second-hand Investigations

Supporting Firsthand Investigations

Scientists read to acquire new knowledge etc.

Scientists read to situate research in broad social themes

Scientists replicate others’ procedures and experiments

Scientists read and interpret others’ data and findings

Scientists use reference books to do their own work

Students learn about the natural habitat of butterflies

From the Trade Literature

Providing Context

From FOSS

Interview with chemist connects the students' work with mixtures and solutions to what chemists do

Providing Context

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

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From the Seeds and Roots

Students seek out information about internal and external structures of the bat

G

From the Trade Literature

Delivering Content

From FOSS

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

Delivering Content

Delivering Content

Deliver science informationAll About Roots

Provide information and explanation about unobservable phenomenaSolving Dissolving

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From Seeds and Roots

Students read a model of systematic observation and recording over time

From the Trade Literature

Modeling

Modeling

A story about two students doing an investigation: models important aspects of the inquiry process like questioning, measuring carefully, etc.

From FOSS

Modeling

Model inquiry processesMy Nature Notebook

Model literacy processesSea Otter Report to their own reports

Model nature of scienceHabitat Scientist/Jellybean ScientistBiographical sketches of scientists at

work

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From the Seeds and Roots

Books can also model different genres of writing for student writing

Modeling

From Student Work

Students draw conclusions about the function of specific animal structures

From the Trade Literature

Supporting Secondhand Inquiry

Supporting Secondhand Inquiry

Data from the same investigation used as the "Modeling" example, for students to analyze and draw conclusions.

From FOSS

Supporting Secondhand Inquiry

Provide text-based experience with dataSnail Investigations In the same unit, they also plot their

own data.

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From the Seeds and Roots

From second to first hand inquiry

From Student Work

Supporting Secondhand Inquiry

Students use this book as a field guide to identify evidence of animals they see on a

nature walk

From the Trade Literature

Supporting Firsthand Inquiry

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

Supporting Firsthand Inquiry

Provide information that facilitates firsthand investigations Handbook of Interesting

Ingredients Support students in making

sense of firsthand investigations Gary’s Sand Journal

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From the Seeds and Roots

After reading Jess Makes Hair Gel…they had to try it for themselves!

BackSupporting Firsthand Inquiry

From Student Work

Text and Inquiry CycleProvide context

Deliver content

Model Support secondhand

inquiry

Support firsthand inquiry

1 Explore the topic X X X X

2 Ask a question X X

3 Make an hypothesis X X

4 Plan and conduct an investigation

X X

5 Record and organize data

X X

6 Analyze results X X

7 Make an explanation based on evidence

X X X X

8 Ask a new question X X

9 Communicate results X

Text and Learning Cycle

Provide context

Deliver content

Model Support secondhand

inquiry

Support firsthand inquiry

Engage X X

Explore X X X

Explain X X X X X

Extend X X X X

Evaluate X X X

Creating authentic, supportive texts is no mean feat

We work very hard to…Be true to the range of texts

scientists and citizens use to communicate about science

Never to compromise the integrity of the information

Strive for access, but not at any cost When it is too hard, go back to the drawing

board, don’t chop it up or just substitute easy words

Bottom line

Difficult journey Well worth the effort

Improved literacy Improved science Increased efficacy for

Students Teachers

Integration is tough…What happens when you try to integrate reading and math? The evolution of mathematics

story problems during the last 40 years.

1960's

A peasant sells a bag of potatoes for $10. His costs amount to 4/5 of his selling price. What is his profit?

1970's (New Math)

A farmer exchanges a set P of potatoes with a set M of money.

The cardinality of the set M is equal to $10 and each element of M is worth $1. Draw 10 big dots representing the elements of M.

The set C of production costs is comprised of 2 big dots less than the set M.

Represent C as a subset of M and give the answer to the question: What is the cardinality of the set of profits? (Draw everything in red).

1980's

A farmer sells a bag of potatoes for $10. His production costs are $8 and his profit is $2. Underline the word "potatoes" and discuss with your classmates.

1990's

A kapitalist pigg undjustlee akires $2 on a sak of patatos. Analiz this tekst and sertch for erors in speling, contens, grandmar and ponctuassion, and than ekspress your vioos regardeng this metid of geting ritch.

Author unknown

2000's

Dan was a man. Dan had a sack. The sack was tan. The sack had spuds The spuds cost 8. Dan got 10 for the tan sack of

spuds. How much can Dan the man have?

Reading and writing are better when they are tools not goals If we don’t 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!

NY Times, Tuesday, March 28, 2006

This is the model I don’t like

Science Social Studies Math English Language Arts

A model I like: Tools by Disciplines

Science Social Studies

Mathe-matics

Literature

Reading

Writing

Language

Academic Disciplines………..

Lang

uag

e T

ools

Early: Tools dominate

Science Social Studies

Mathe-matics

Literature

Reading

Writing

Language

Academic Disciplines………..

Lang

uag

e T

ools

Later: Disciplines dominate

Science Social Studies

Mathematics

Literature

Reading

Writing

Language

Academic Disciplines………..

Lang

uag

e T

ools

Weaving

mathliterature

Social studiesScience

ReadingWriting

Language

So what is the bottom line in the science-literacy interface?

In any order and any combination…In every order and every combination!

Talk itWrite it

Do it

Read it

Talk itDo it

Write it

Read it

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

D

• Literacy doesn’t have to put science off the curricular stage-it can become a curricular buddy

Only a small phonological and orthographic shift…

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