One of the most interesting things for me to research has been science and literacy. At first I thought that there would not be very much in common between the two. I have always thought that science and literacy are two completely different subjects because of their nature. I knew that literacy is required in science because you need to be able to understand what you are learning about when you are reading about science.
However, I read an article called "Reciprocal Processes In Science and Literacy Learning" by Carolyn P. Casteel and Bess A. Isom. In this article, the authors argue the point that there are a lot of similarities between the way we read and the way we understand science. One of their points was that we the way we think about how to read should be the same way that we think about science. We need to be teaching students to think about their learning and how their learning is happening instead of just teaching them what to learn. The way students think through their reading strategies should be the same way that they are processing what they are reading in science.
One of the opening lines of the article is that if we teach students simply how to read what they are asked to learn in science, their hesitancy toward science will be greatly reduced. The article also said that teachers need to take a different approach to how they are teaching science in their classrooms. Science should be taught with motivating incentives. The authors described motivating incentives as practical experiments, thematic units, the use of technology and giving students opportunities to succeed in reading within the science curriculum will improve students abilities in science.
I really found it interesting to read about the integration of literacy and science. To me, this idea was such a foreign concept. However, after reading this article, I was strongly convinced of how it was possible to integrate the two, as well as how logical it was to integrate the two.
I am SOOO glad you wrote about this! This has come up in every topic that I have been writing about, but I have had no idea how to approach it. I commend your work here! My work on the STEM schools had me stuck on how they work with integrating literacy into their main topics of science, technology, engineering, and math. I loved how to you were able to answer my questions through our topic!
ReplyDeleteI really like the point you made about how "we need to be teaching students to think about their learning and how their learning is happening instead of just teaching them what to learn." As teachers, I think its important that we help our students become meta-cognitive thinkers and learners. Teachers should encourage students to pay attention to the process of their learning, not just the products. Be aware that often students adopt the values of their teachers, ask yourself what message you are projecting to your students. Are you teaching them to value the products (grades/results) more than the learning process? If so, perhaps you should redirect your focus.
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