Literacy in the ScienceClassroom

Strategies that increase students’comprehension

Lauren DesautelsLDesautels@jacksonschool.org

Pre-teach ScientificVocabulary

• Stoplight vocabulary• Concept maps• Word squares• Use two vocabulary words in one

sentence

Stoplight Vocabulary

XdensityXvolume

XmassXmatter

I’ve never seen itI’ve seen it, but I’mnot quite sure whatit means

I know it and canuse it in asentence

Concept maps

http://www.ascd.org/publications/books/107023/chapters/Using-Projects-and-Performances-to-Check-for-Understanding.aspx

Word Squares

http://parr-class.tripod.com/id6.html

Focus on Inquiry

Engage students in the scientific thinkingprocess by keeping a Scientist’s Notebook.

A Scientist’s Notebook is a record of all theresearch and investigations a student hasgained during the course of a unit.

The Scientist’s Notebook is organized in way tomake students more aware of non-fiction textfeatures.

Setting up the Notebook

The first page is the Tableof Contents.

Students record eachlesson along with thepage number.

The back of the notebookis a Glossary for keyterms.

Components of a Scientist’sNotebook

• Each Scientist’s Notebook entry may containsome or all of these components.• Focus question• Prediction with explanation• Data collection• Claims and evidence• Conclusion• Reflection

Focus Question

• Should relate to solvingthe problem presented

• Student generated--withteacher guidance at first

• Allows students toexplore the topicdeeper--NOT a yes orno question

Focus Questions

• Examples of focus questions:• “How are ______ and ______

different?”• “What would happen if…”• “How could we…”

How do Focus Questions helppromote literacy?

Encourages students to integrate knowledgerather than memorize facts.

Develops higher-level thinking by askingstudents to focus their investigation

Students’ overall comprehension improveswhen they generate questions for a text theyare reading