What does the research say about…



Reflection and Metacognition

• Reflection, often considered a component of metacognition, is an essential element to effective student learning.

• “A metacognitive approach to instruction can help students learn to take control of the own learning by defining learning goals and monitoring their progress in achieving them.” (NRC (National Resource Council), 2005)

• Studies have shown that teaching metacognitive strategies in context has been shown to improve comprehension in content and is more likely to lead to conceptual change over time. (Hartman & Glasgow, 2002; Mintzes & Leonard, 2006)

• Students will do better, in general, academically if they possess strong self-regulatory skills, including engaging in metacognition. (Zimmerman, 2001)

• Self-monitoring of student learning can lower students anxieties in the classroom and de-mystifies science. If students see the thinking process involved in learning science, they are less likely to think of science as an inherent ability. (Mintzes & Leonard, 2006)

Hartman, H. J., & Glasgow, N. A. (2002). Tips for the Science Teacher. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press, Inc.

Mintzes, J. J., & Leonard, W. H. (Eds.). (2006). Handbook of College Science Teaching. Arlington, VA: National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) Press.

NRC (National Resource Council). (2005). How Students Learn, Science in the Classroom. Washington, D.C.: National Academies Press.

Zimmerman, B. J. (2001). Theories of Self-Regulated Learners and Academic Achievement. An overview and analysis. In B. J. Zimmeran & D. H. Schunk (Eds.), Self-regulated learning and academic achievement: Theoretical Perspectives (2nd ed., pp. 1-38). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

Promoting Writing Practices in the Sciences

• It is important for our students to step away from the notion of “science as a noun” (a list of facts, static base of knowledge) to “science as a verb” (a process that changes and grows). Written communication helps students to make that connection. (Saul, 2004)

• Scientific language, oral and written, may be new to our students and it is something that needs to be explicitly taught (by modeling what scientific writing and talking look like). (ibid.)

• Writing is a meaning-making process. Our students learn when they need to construct ideas and formalize their thoughts. By writing science, they formulate their own ideas, it forces them to rethink ideas and expand on them as they write. (ibid.)

• Good science is not possible without strong language skills. Skill with language and skill with science cannot be separated. The more capable students are at language, the more they will be able to draw meaning from and into their science content. (Thier & Daviss, 2002)

• A small amount of time spent up front on helping students become proficient with literacy skills will benefit teaching by bringing up the level of discourse and content expectations within the classroom. (ibid.)

• Students are sensitive to the types of writing assignments given, those that are more meaningful and relevant are more likely to lead to deep content understanding and greater student satisfaction. (Wallace, Hand, & Prain, 2004)

Saul, E. W. (Ed.). (2004). Crossing Borders in Literacy and Science Instruction: Perspectives on Theory and Practice. Arlington, VA: International Reading Association & National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) Press.

Thier, M., & Daviss, B. (2002). The New Science Literacy: Using Language Skills to help Students Learn Science. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Wallace, C. S., Hand, B., & Prain, V. (2004). Writing and Learning in the Science Classroom (Vol. 23). Dordrecht, Boston, London: Kluwer Academic Publishers.

Oral Discourse in the Sciences (Promoting Student-Student Scientific Talk)

• “Talking science does not simply mean talking about science, it means doing science through a medium of language.”(Lemke, 1990)

• The typical way that communication occurs in the classroom (teacher-student-teacher questioning dialogue) produces the lowest quality of student participation and comprehension. Students need time and explicit modeling to best begin to understand the scientific way of talking. (ibid.)

• Talking enhances student sharing, clarification, and forming of ideas; writing is important for transforming those ideas into a coherent and structural format. The combination of the two enhances content retention over time. (Rivard & Straw, 2000)

• An interactive science classroom, in which students have opportunities to work with peers has been shown to be more beneficial for those with higher science anxiety. (Mintzes & Leonard, 2006)

Lemke, J. L. (1990). Talking Science. Westport, CT: Ablex Publishing.

Rivard, L. P., & Straw, S. B. (2000). The effect of talk and writing on learning science: An exploratory study. Science Education, 84(5), 566-593.

Mintzes, J. J., & Leonard, W. H. (Eds.). (2006). Handbook of College Science Teaching. Arlington, VA: National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) Press.

Supporting our Students to be Successful at Communication in the Sciences

• Providing clear and explicit performance expectations, makes it clear for a student exactly what is expected and can reduce anxiety over an assignment. (Thier & Daviss, 2002).

• Timely & relevant feedback are critical in helping a student understand where to improve and what they are doing well (only negative feedback will deter motivation to revise or write again). If there are no opportunities for revision from feedback, then there is little motivation to pay attention to the feedback. (Hartman & Glasgow, 2002)

• Support needs to be scaffolded (more support at the beginning, and then pulling away the support structures as students become more skilled at the desired tasks). For example:

o Written discourse or written support can include:

▪ Writing heuristics (e.g., a questioning strategy that helps them with what questions to ask as they proceed through an activity). (Wallace, et al., 2004).

▪ Grading rubrics, along with an ideal and non-ideal model text for students to get a better understanding of your grading expectations and to reduce anxiety. (Their & Daviss, 2002)

o Oral Discourse support can include:

▪ Interactive lectures & Think-Pair-Share strategies (e.g., McConnell et al., 2006)

▪ Small collaborative group activities can induce greater amounts of scientific talking (e.g., Kortz, Smay, & Murray, 2008)

▪ Jigsaw Activities will allow students to learn from one another and help them to see the larger conceptual picture. (Mintzes & Leonard, 2006)

▪ Model how students should be talking to one another. Start with a colloquial approach, then integrate the scientific language into colloquial speech, and finally talk fully scientifically. Explicitly point out to students how the language structure changed, ask them to replicate it with a new concept. (Lemke, 1990)

Hartman, H. J., & Glasgow, N. A. (2002). Tips for the Science Teacher. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press, Inc.

Kortz, K. M., Smay, J. J., & Murray, D. P. (2008). Increasing Learning in Introductory Geoscience Courses Using Lecture Tutorials. Journal of Geoscience Education, 56, 280-290.

Lemke, J. L. (1990). Talking Science. Westport, CT: Ablex Publishing.

McConnell, D. A., Steer, D. N., Owens, K. D., Knott, J. R., Van Horn, S., Borowski, W., et al. (2006). Using Conceptests to Assess and Improve Student Conceptual Understanding in Introductory Geoscience Courses. Journal of Geoscience Education, 54(1), 61-68.

Mintzes, J. J., & Leonard, W. H. (Eds.). (2006). Handbook of College Science Teaching. Arlington, VA: National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) Press.

Thier, M., & Daviss, B. (2002). The New Science Literacy: Using Language Skills to help Students Learn Science. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Wallace, C. S., Hand, B., & Prain, V. (2004). Writing and Learning in the Science Classroom (Vol. 23). Dordrecht, Boston, London: Kluwer Academic Publishers.

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