Integrating Literature, Literacy Strategies, and Technology to Enhance Science Learning in an 8 th Grade Classroom
"The most important thing that we learned as a class was to appreciate the environment through the readings of the novels."--Student’s quote from interview
This article explores the joint roles of language and science skills in the learning environment, and the reciprocal benefits of developing those skills together. Particularly, it focuses on how effective language skills contribute to making students’ science thinking more comprehensible.
Extended and deliberate planned reading and writing are by and large a neglected activity in science classes. This is unfortunate due to the fact that reading and writing can be an important scientific activity. One reason for making reading and writing a key part of a future science curriculum is to train young learners to read carefully and critically, a vital component of scientific literacy. In an effort to train students to become critical readers, expository and narrative literature should be part of the science curriculum and be selected from different sources including but not limited to textbooks, newspapers, the Internet, magazines, journals, advertisements, and trade books.
Clearly, there is a belief among many individuals including administrators, content area teachers , as well as politicians , that once children learn to read and write at the elementary level, they develop their literacy abilities in the middle and secondary levels automatically. Contrary to this belief is the awareness that content introduced in classrooms can present unique demands that may place even good readers at risk. Students may lack prior knowledge for content reading assignments, which can then become counterproductive and sometimes interfere with optimal learning (Seda, Liguori, & Seda, 1999). In this article, several reading strategies will be highlighted that support higher order thinking and serve to develop student prior knowledge as a foundation for the science education curriculum. Mrs. C, a middle school teacher, provides an account of implementing a program she developed in her science classroom after participating in a literacy and science education professional development summer institute.
Mrs. C’s school district continues to be one of the state’s fastest growing school districts composed of 29 school campuses and three support facilities. The district has a total enrollment of 26,711, with over 68 percent considered economically disadvantaged, 91 percent Hispanic, 7 percent white, and 2 percent members of other minorities. The district estimates that 32 percent of the students have Limited English Proficiency.
Approximately 29 students were involved in this project, ranging in age from 13 to 15 years old. Roughly 30 percent of the students were designated as second language learners (ESL). The rest of the students were either fully or functionally bilingual in Spanish and English with a slight majority being English dominant. Only one student was monolingual English and 37 percent were identified as gifted and talented. Students worked in teams of two or three. ESL students were teamed with at least one fluent bilingual student.
The term “constructivism” in educational circles applies both to learning theory and to epistemology—how people learn, and to the nature of knowledge. Some recognized features that characterize constructivism include the following:
…learning is active; learning is the interaction of ideas and processes; new knowledge is built on prior knowledge; learning is enhanced when situated in contexts that students find familiar and meaningful; complex problems that have multiple solutions enhance learning and learning is augmented when students engage in discussions of the ideas and processes involved. (Collins, 2002, p. 9)
Mrs. C aimed to use constructivist principles as a foundation for developing her students’ learning environment as well as to guide her pedagogy.
Science is a highly valued content area, and students and teachers often perceive it as difficult. However, Mrs. C is concerned that her students access and develop an understanding of content in the most effective way possible. McKenna and Robinson (1990) defined content area literacy as “the ability to use reading and writing for the acquisition of new content in a given discipline” (p. 184). Expository texts, generally found in content areas, create difficulty for students who lack prior knowledge, positive attitude, interest in the subject, and understanding of the organizational reading text patterns (Roe, 2000). One way to overcome these difficulties is through the use of technology, which can help students develop a more complete understanding of concepts being presented. In addition, technology may stimulate students to perform better on student projects by applying technological tools, such as incorporating animated images. Graphic images may provide visual and auditory input that improves student academic performance (“Study Shows,” 1997).
In Mrs. C’s science classroom, one of the follow-up activities her students complete after the introduction of a topic or concept is to utilize concept-mapping software (Inspiration, 1999) to brainstorm ideas and organize their thinking. This software can be used as a tool to tap students’ creativity as they create concept maps. Concept maps are visual aids or graphic organizers that can help learners understand a concept more completely by the use of a diagram. These are useful tools in curriculum planning and instructional design. Novak and Gowin (1998) stated that
…concept maps work to make clear to both students and teachers the small number of key ideas they must focus on for a specific learning task. A map can also provide a kind of visual road map showing some of the pathways we may take to connect meanings of concepts… (p.15)
As students begin their research, they are encouraged to look at books from the classroom library or school library as well as to search the Internet. The Internet can provide new resource opportunities for content area teachers and their students. For example, Mrs. C’s students utilized the Internet by searching for information to compare and contrast the Arctic and desert animals as well as to study about how they adapt to their own environments. Some of the websites they used are
http:// www.state.ak.us/kid s /; http:// ww w.jason.org; http://volcano.und.nodak.edu/vw.html; http://www.polarbearsalive.org/; http://www.vims.edu/bridge/archieve0401.html/
In this project, Mrs. C set out to find a cohesive approach that would create a context for conceptual learning and help her science students attain higher order cognitive thinking. She began by attending a summer professional development workshop for teachers, Institute for Science Integration (ISI). The ISI project was funded by the Eisenhower Grant Program (2001-2002) to enhance teacher understanding of content and pedagogy that serves to support best practices in teaching. Science content specialists worked with pedagogy and curriculum specialists to develop awareness and practices that will move teachers towards reform-oriented learning environments. Multicultural and language education, special education , and literacy education were integrated with science during the summer institute. The curriculum was presented in a way that modeled an inclusive way to teach science (Beane, 1997). The following components were identified during the institute. Teachers may use them to develop student critical thinking skills.
Help students integrate their prior knowledge using techniques such as the What I know, What I want to know, What I learned (KWL).
Read children’s literature and have literature circles to discuss the readings .
Engage their imagination in exploring environments different from their own .
Provide them with a clear purpose for each activity.
This approach was designed to increase students’ writing and imaginative repertoires through exposure to varied literary forms (Seda et al., 1999). The following section provides background information and describes the approach the teacher followed in her science class. Her first-hand account offers reflections on student needs, planned curriculum, implemented classroom activities, research, and observations of classroom events.
The bell rings and students walk in, put their book bags down and move quickly to collect their journals and novels, sit in their groups and begin answering the questions on the board about their novel in their journals. Each group has a different question and the room is buzzing with discussion on the novels. Some students are talking about what ice conditions are best for ice travel; others are talking about how wolves survived the winter on the snowfield. And still, others are discussing what they will write in their stories about snowflakes and how these snowflakes will become part of the glacial ice on Vicky’s iceberg. The media specialist walks in and takes a group of students to the library to continue their discussion while another group asks to go to the school “book nook” to continue reading their novel. I work with each of the three groups left in turn, asking questions about the story, reading aloud sections we all enjoyed from the novel and discussing answers to journal questions. On first glance this may not seem too unusual for a language arts classroom in our school, but this is a science classroom .
As an eighth grade science teacher, I often found it difficult to motivate my students, as probably other middle school science teachers have. This is an age in which students usually either dislike or love science. My task then , (Delete comma) became to give those that loved it more to investigate and to get those students who disliked it to understand how science relates to their everyday lives. I knew constructivist methods would be the best way to plan lessons but was unsure of how to identify the “big questions or curriculum focus” and adapt the curriculum to best address students’ questions and needs. While wrestling with this issue, I learned about the Institute for Science Integration (ISI) being offered at a mid-size university in the southwest.
It was an intensive four-week program in which we learned how to identify the big questions and how to go about integrating reading, mathematics, social studies , and special education strategies into the science curriculum. The course was taught using constructivist strategies by the science professor who also brought in other colleagues and lecturers as well as took us on various field trips. Field trips can be a vital and interesting part of the curriculum. We kept journals on our readings and thoughts as we worked through the program. The reading/literacy professor introduced us to a repertoire of reading and writing strategies to use with our students dealing with science. These strategies will be described in a later portion of this article. Electronic concept maps also were used as pre and post assessments. This program did not end after four weeks; the science professor continued to meet with us regularly over the next school year to discuss our progress as we began to use a more constructivist approach to our planning of lessons. The reading/literacy professor made periodical visits to meet with the teachers at their school sites to observe and explore the literacy aspect of the curriculum being taught.
Armed with this newfound knowledge, I felt more confident after attending the ISI summer institute. Integrating literacy and science through a more constructivist approach in my teaching was a major goal for me. Since Antarctica was the main topic of the lessons, I began by having my students create individual KWL charts to find out what they already knew about the subject. After a class discussion, I was able to activate their prior knowledge on the subject; they also provided me with information about what they wanted to learn about Antarctica. At the end of the learning experience, my students filled out the last column of the KWL chart on the facts learned through the readings and research they had performed. I decided that by using the JASON Project (Ballard, 2002), a science program that was already in place at my school, my students would be provided with a real world setting for learning science and would be allowed the freedom to explore different topics.
The JASON Project provides the opportunity for integrating science into other curricular areas and exposes students to leading scientists who work with them to explore the biological and geological development of planet Earth. The JASON Project was named in the spirit of the Greek myth. JASON is not an acronym but refers to Jason and the Argonauts of Greek mythology. Throughout millennia, “Jason and the Argonauts” have become synonymous with “adventures on a quest.” While still basically a science curriculum, the JASON Project offers a wide variety of activities integrating math and social studies. In an activity titled Global Greenhouse,” students were provided with a graph of global temperature changes over the past 120 years. They were asked to examine the emissions of four different greenhouse gases, and then compare them to the temperature plot and look for trends. Other activities taught students about the lives of Native Americans in Alaska by exploring their cultures and languages. In one activity, students learned how to construct a kayak.
Many of my students have never lived outside of our hometown and find the exotic locations they can explore with JASON tremendously exciting. Each year several books are selected to help students understand the cultural heritage of the indigenous people as well as the environment. I decided I would use several reading/literacy techniques learned through the summer institute such as literature circles, read-alouds, concept mapping, journaling, KWL, Venn Diagrams, and Survey Question Read Recite and Review (SQ3R) to help my students better understand the concepts being presented. This range of activities allowed me to accommodate for gifted and talented students, English as second language learners (ESL), and students with special reading needs. In particular, I like the read-aloud approach due to the fact that it encourages students to think, question, and apply their prior knowledge obtained from the reading to their science projects (Richardson, 2000; Moore, Moore, Cunningham & Cunningham, 2003). With the read aloud approach my students seem to be more motivated to continue reading the piece of literature independently. This approach also provides positive links to vocabulary development, general language development, and reading comprehension. It is specifically helpful to second language learners as well as students with special needs in reading because of the scaffolding provided to student learning (Vygotsky, 1978; Freeman & Person, 1998).
This year, the students at our middle school explored the Arctic and Antarctic regions with JASON XIII Frozen Worlds through experiments, technology projects, novels, an online-gated community, video presentations, and a live tele-presence from Alaska. Over streaming video, our students were able to watch researchers in real time as they conducted experiments in Alaska. Simultaneously, students and scientists were able to watch and collect data pertaining to a tiny worm living on glacial ice. They watched as the ice worms moved through the ice and recorded their observations. In addition, students conducted similar experiments in the classroom with earthworms. Students designed experiments and tested the reaction of earthworms to light, different food sources , and types of soil.
Scientists in Antarctica and Alaska also shared, via live video feed, adaptations of animals living in a sub-arctic marine ecosystem. My students took notes during the broadcast and then used the information to begin identifying adaptations found in animals in our local Chihuahuan Desert. After researching the animals of our desert, students then began to make comparisons between the two groups of animals. Students began by using Inspiration 6 software to create concept maps to show me what they knew about the Arctic and Antarctic. They also created Venn diagrams showing the similarities and differences between the Chihuahuan Desert and sub-artic marine ecosystems. From these maps, I was better able to design and choose the best lessons for my students. For instance, when students were unclear about how animals were adapted for living in a sub-arctic environment, I selected an activity from the JASON curriculum in which we designed and constructed models of three endothermic animals using different types of materials for insulation. In their journals they recorded observations and the answers to questions such as “What effect does a layer of insulation have on the body temperature of an endothermic animal?” and “Eventually, the body temperature of all the model animals will return to room temperature. How would real endothermic animals maintain their internal body temperatures?” My gifted students then decided they wanted to create models in which they were able to cool hot water to room temperature the fastest to simulate how desert animals release excess heat from their bodies. Since the JASON project focus changes from year to year, the entire campus is able to work on the same topics at the same time, which allows for cross grade level activities and planning among the science department staff.
My students and I decided to compare the extreme environments found in Alaska and Antarctica to the extreme environment of the Chihuahuan Desert, which is found outside our school doors. This allowed students to use lived experience as a source of comparison which serves to place new learning within a familiar context. This helped to contextualize the science experience and provided opportunities to understand the issue from a broader perspective.
Students used the computer lab to research the Arctic and Antarctic environments through Team JASON online. As they completed their research, students were able to access a virtual tour of an ice cave in the Permafrost Tunnel tour and explore sea and pack ice. As the research took place, students were required to keep a journal. They were able to keep their notes in online journals as well as a journal notebook that was kept in the classroom. The online journals are part of Team JASON online in which students were able to keep notes and reflect upon the activities. They also engaged in digital labs that were completed on the computer. I was later able to review the journals and provide appropriate comments as well as uncover what students had learned and address questions they still had. However, since we did not always have access to the computer lab, I also had students keep a second journal in which they wrote their questions and reflections about classroom activities and the novels that they were reading.
The literary aspect incorporated into their development of science understanding is an important component of this approach. In order for students to understand the difficulties of surviving in extreme environments, we formed literature circles and read the JASON recommended novels, Call of the Wild by Jack London, Troubling a Star by Madeline L’Engle, Antarctica, Journey to the Pole by Peter Lerangis, Julie’s Wolf Pack by Jean Craighead George, and Black Star, Bright Dawn by Scott O’Dell to help students begin to understand an environment so different from their own. Students selected the book they wanted to read by conducting a book preview. I asked students to select three of the five books and preview them for reading difficulty and story line. They were then asked to rate the books from one to three in order of interest level. Each student was assigned his or her first choice book and, in fact, after several days a group of students in one class asked to change the book they were reading because it did not appeal to them after all.
I had three or four different book discussions in each of my six classes with 4-8 students per group. I asked the students to read and record their thoughts and answers to questions in their journals. Questions generally related to factors in the environment and how the characters were able to solve problems or survive in such a harsh environment. For the book Black Star, Bright Dawn one question was “What factors might affect the population of bearded seals near Bright Dawn’s village?” For Troubling a Star one question for the student journals was “Why is Vicky concerned about human impacts to the environment of Antarctica? Are her fears justified? Explain.” I met with each group and spent a few minutes reading a section aloud to them before discussing their journal entries. I then engaged them in discussions about the characters’ responses to certain problems, which they had to face in a harsh and unforgiving world. I also asked them how they might handle a similar situation in our own equally harsh desert environment. In addition, I asked students to keep a log of words they did not understand, which we discussed when meeting together as a group.
I had most of my ESL students in one class and this proved particularly helpful to them. Students read their novels silently; the group went to a “reading nook” at our school. While I read to a group of students and conducted discussions to clarify misunderstandings, others read in pairs to each other. We conducted literature circles once a week. Up to this point, I had difficulty moving away from the notion that my primary task was only to present science content. Using the JASON curriculum allowed me to integrate literacy and science since it drew science information from the novels.
As student questions arose, I selected appropriate lessons to address some of their questions. For example, we conducted experiments in class on insulation properties of various materials. Discussions were conducted on how a character in the novel had spent time making a pair of boots for her father or another activity that explored convection currents as a character drifted off as a part of the ice pack broke. So students could understand the very different environments, we used ecosystem modeling. In the ecosystem modeling activity students used simulated data to predict changes in populations of organisms when one of them is removed from the closed ecosystem of Bathtub Bay, an imaginary ecosystem.
Students also read the JASON Project research articles ; Frozen Features: Past, Present and Future; Monitoring Changes in Marine Ecosystems; and Arctic and Antarctic Species and Ecosystems using the SQ3R method for quick study. They surveyed the article by reading the titles and subheadings. They learned to pay close attention to graphics, maps , and diagrams in each article. Also, students turned the boldfaced headings into questions so they could look for answers as they read the articles. Next, my students read the articles slowly by carefully indicating the main points of the articles. Students were then asked to recite silently, or to a partner, the important points covered in each section of the article. Finally, they reviewed the articles by skimming back over the sections making sure all questions had been answered. Students also used this method to research Arctic and Antarctic animals and learn how each was adapted to living in its environment. The SQ3R reading strategy is effective for my students because they monitor their comprehension before and during reading; after reading they summarize and review the content read.
As they acquired knowledgeable facts and developed their understanding about the topic, students were next asked to create another Inspiration 6 concept map to show what they had learned about both the Artic and Antarctic regions. Students were asked to create Venn Diagrams comparing and contrasting them. Students then created a new concept map showing what they knew about the Chihuahuan Desert. In the concept map, students began by identifying plants and animals of the Chihuahuan Desert and providing information about how the organisms were adapted to living in an extreme hot and dry environment. Students began to create food webs of the desert ecosystem. They worked on their concept maps and asked questions about different plants and animals from our desert such as, “Why do the bushes have such tiny leaves and thorns?” “Did you know the creosote bush leaves give off a smell like rain when you rub them on your hand, why?” and “Why do jackrabbits have such big ears?”
We then researched our own desert environment using both the library and computer lab as well as a walk out into the desert behind our school. Students selected and researched how animals adapted to living in the desert. All this information was then put together to create a PowerPoint presentation of an Arctic or Chihuahuan Desert animal. These presentations included slides on habitat, food sources , and habits of the animals while other students created Inspiration 6 concept maps comparing desert and arctic animals or creating food webs for a marine sub-arctic or Chihuahuan Desert ecosystem. Other students prepared Microsoft Publisher pamphlets on Alaska or Antarctica. Students researched the area of interest and created travel pamphlets for visitors or informative pamphlets on endangered wildlife. In their pamphlets, students added maps, information on local tourist attractions, climate and weather, and plant and animal life of the area. Still other students created presentations on topics they learned about as part of their research. One student decided to learn more about the ozone hole over the Antarctic and created a PowerPoint presentation to inform her classmates.
By using the JASON Project, I was able to begin integrating literacy and science together with the other content areas by using activities from the curriculum guide. I needed to carefully listen to my students’ ideas and interests to decide which lessons to choose and when to move off into an entirely different area. All of my students, including those with special talents, special needs , and learning English as a second language, found areas of interest in which they could excel. By taking what I had learned in the ISI summer institute and applying it to the JASON Project curriculum, I was in a position to provide lessons relevant to my students that incorporated reading and learning strategies to help them activate prior knowledge, master vocabulary, and make sense of unfamiliar environments.
The experiences and views of students within a classroom environment are at the forefront of learning and teaching. The literacy and science professors observed Mrs. C’s students socially interact in her classroom as they made connections from their prior knowledge to new knowledge. Our initial interest was to conduct a focus group session to collect data through a diverse group of students as they reflected on their learning experiences during two years of science. A representative group of twelve students participated in the focus group session, which took place on the school’s campus. Their teacher, Mrs. C, was not present during the interview.
The scheme of questions is based on a focused conversation method using the acronym ORID (Nelson, 2001 ). The significance of the acronym is as follows: O – Objective – W hat happened? R – Reflective – How did you feel about it? I – Interpretive – W hat did it mean? D – Decisional – W hat will you do next? Through this descriptive research project, we were able to obtain responses from the students. Vacca (2000 ) states that “students have much to contribute to their own learning as they negotiate meaning and socially construct knowledge through learning situations that require discussion and writing” (p. 193). As students built experiences by participating in different projects and utilizing literacy techniques during this time period, we were interested in their overall perceptions. The following statements reflect students’ perspectives on the nature of the learning experiences.
Can you describe or tell me from the beginning the way you prepared for this project?
The response below was noted since a number of students had similar responses.
This project first started when we were in 7 th grade with the JASON Project.
We were studying the main course that Mrs. C had us do [which consisted] of
[several] projects. We built a lava tube. We also did a lot of research on the Hawaiian environment and lava tubes so that we could understand what to put inside our model of the lava tube and [how] it would work. This year is about the Arctic and Antarctic circles.
The following statement reflects a number of students’ perspectives:
This year we also have done some research for a PowerPoint presentation on certain animals. We also did a brochure on the PowerPoint presentation so we did learn a lot. As we did the search on the Internet and looked at all of the sources, we did a bibliography after we looked at magazines, books, or anything that would give us facts about what we were looking up which was about the Arctic and Antarctic areas.
Other students added the following statements:
Last year, we did our research on Hawaii. We learned a lot about the environment that surrounded the tour as well as the language spoken in Hawaii. When we gave the tour, we also used, part of the time, the Hawaiian language so that we could make it more interesting to the people that participated in the tour. [Then,] we gave some tours to the 6 th graders. In this project, we learned about the plants and the kinds of trees that grow in the [Hawaiian] climate. These are plants that grow only in a certain place, that grow very tall, but the other plants surrounding them would eat off of them so they would be really short and would not get much growth.
As students contributed to the statement below, their facial expressions exhibited excitement:
When we did the lava tube it was life-sized—it was made out of black plastic bags, newspaper, construction paper, and utensils such as scissors and thingslike that. Since the lava tubes were life-sized, whenever we gave the tours we were able to go into the lava tube with flashlights. The project lasted for a whole six weeks. For me, it was very interesting because usually you do a mini-model but this one was a big thing. I thought, wow, this is pretty cool.
Students are making reference to significant and memorable experiences. “Hands-on” lessons move to a higher ground when students embark on projects that allow them to create and manipulate the learning environment while processing new information into newly created knowledge via literacy and other learning strategies. Contextualized curriculum integration seems to be a key component for meaningful learning from the students’ perspectives. The experiences students had in Mrs. C 's classroom were not discipline specific, but followed a contextual set of activities that were supportive and interrelated. The evidence seen here of students recalling specific examples shows how they placed new knowledge into long-term memory with the ability to show content understanding within larger contexts. The constructs were developed based on student input (imagination) and structured lessons based on and characterized by the constructivist features mentioned earlier in this article.
How do you feel about your experience with these projects?
Students contributed to the following response:
We really learned a lot of stuff like for example, how the penguins and all the different sea animals live in the Arctic. We also learned how the animals adapt to the coldness and about how long and deep are the glaciers.
Here students are sharing an understanding of adaptation (a science standard concept) at a high level of expertise whereby the knowledge flows effortlessly. Students have obviously moved from novice to expert. “Another important characteristic of expertise is the ability to retrieve relevant knowledge in a manner that is relatively ‘effortless’” (National Research Council [NRC], 2000, p. 49).
Other remarks made by the students on the reading that contributed to their knowledge background of the environment were the following:
This project was better than just a paper, pencil, and book kind of assignment because Mrs. C got us doing more into the project, therefore it was much better. When you look at the book, we would get the information but we would forget it in a week or two. By doing the project, we’re talking about what we did in the 7 th grade; this was over a year ago, I can remember everything perfectly.
We also read some novels; one of the novels was about a girl and her dad and how they live in the Arctic. The girl in the story tells about how rough she had it when her dad went hunting for a seal and the glacier broke away. She was trying all these superstitious things, like leaving the boots there so they could walk. Reading this story helped us understand more about the Arctic because when you read it you get a vivid picture in your mind of what the girl is doing and how she is telling the story, so we get a full effect.
In assessing this passage, evidence of teacher “best practice” resulting in student understanding emerges whereby the student’s learning is supported by providing practice in reading/telling stories. Providing opportunities for students to practice their reading/retelling stories has been found to be an impetus to growth of language skills and is related to early independent reading ( NRC , 2000).
The following statements reflect on the students’ perspectives with regards to the nature of the reading information :
The information learned from reading the novels is later applied to a project. When reading the novel we get to learn about the environment that exists within the place being studied.
[The novels] that come with the project have information about the environment on the Antarctic and the environment is a big piece of that story. The novel Black Star, Bright Dawn is about how the characters get lost in the Arctic as they are trying to survive the climate by having to adapt within. As we read and write, we find out more about where the actual location of the place that we are reading about.
[The project consists of doing] a booklet on the JASON Project. Mrs. C gives us questions concerning the material in the book. We write the questions and answers in the booklet and in the front cover we draw a picture.
We read about four novels. In this class we also have gifted and talented students. We get to read different and tougher books because they are more of a challenge but these books are all related to the project.
Were there any unexpected difficulties that occurred during the project?
The following views were representative of the students:
The power point was pretty hard. It was fun, but it was hard because it took us from one to two weeks to find the information, although, we had Mrs. C and the computer coordinator help us. [After finding the information] we were able to put the information on the slide for the presentation. For example, one of the slides would say, “What does the Arctic fox eat?” The fox mainly would eat rabbits because it is a carnivore that eats animals.
Aside from providing students with meaningful content, appropriate rigor challenged students to take on new responsibilities and integrate technology into the curriculum. Notice that the students were interjecting knowledge of the food chain, which is a science content concept.
Students expressed their interest in making these presentations in lieu of taking a paper and pencil test :
The presentations were like a six-week test. It was fun. It was probably the most fun for a six-week test.
What do you think is the most important thing you have learned?
Students’ responses were expressed as follows :
The most important thing that we learned as a class was to appreciate the environment through the readings of the novels. During the JASON Project we learned that as technology improves and the way it changes things, the environment is also affected. For example, with global warming part of the glaciers are slowly beginning to melt but we also learned that the theory is aswe make things hotter that the Antarctic will get colder. Through the research involved, we learned to appreciate the environment, we also learned about animals that live there.
This commentary shows that, in this middle school classroom, students were offered academic problems that challenged them to grapple first with the “big ideas” and to discern for themselves, with mediation from the teacher, the parts that require more investigation (Brooks & Brooks, 1999). This knowledge transfer is a significant sign of meaningful learning for understanding rather than repetition of facts which plagues many traditional science classrooms.
Finally, what did you expect that didn’t happen?
Students contributed to the following response:
A lot of the work had to do with working in teams. When you are working on science projects, if you work by yourself it gets kind of boring; it feels like more homework everyday.
Utilizing collaborative activities can provide support for learner-centered classroom activities by encouraging a positive interdependence needed to carry projects to completion. Students are encouraged to develop the abilities associated with accurate and effective communication. These include “writing and following procedures, expressing concepts, reviewing information, summarizing data, using language appropriately…constructing a reasoned argument, and responding appropriately to critical comments” ( Century et al., 2002, p. 39 ).
These students’ responses support the notion that, in Mrs. C’s class, learning is a uniquely idiosyncratic endeavor controlled, to a great extent, by the students and not by the teacher. Students were encouraged to embark on a process of making personal meaning and to search for understanding in that pursuit of making them become thinkers and problem solvers. “ When students attain the ability to design investigations that inquire into complex issues that are relevant to and interesting to them, they will be able to navigate toward a deeper understanding of science content” (Hampton & Licona, 2001, p. 5). Research on how students learn highlights the importance of making classrooms learner-centered by taking into consideration student comfort level with collaboration versus individual work, while paying close attention to the individual progress of each student as appropriate tasks are developed ( NRC , 2000).
Science teachers are in a strategic position to influence adolescents’ uses of literacy for academic learning. Unfortunately, reading is generally a neglected activity in science classes ( Wellington and Osborne, 2001). The notion exists that science teachers often consider reading of marginal relevance to the learning of science. However, a visit to Mrs. C’s classroom dispels such a notion. This study describes an interdisciplinary model of the way literacy is interrelated to science because our belief is that language in science matters. “Blurring of the boundaries of science content areas can be accomplished through curriculum integration in a real world fashion so that students and teachers can move toward deeper understandings of science. This has the potential to increase science literacy as well as increase the ‘pool’ that produces scientists and engineers” (Hampton & Licona, 2001, p. 6).
Extended reading can be part of science lessons even though science is perceived as a hands-on subject. The novels read in the different projects contributed not only to student literacy development “in general” but more specifically to the understanding and learning of the environments in the Arctic, Antarctica, and Hawaii. Science textbooks contain expository language rather than narrative. For some students, expository reading might be less engaging and less motivating than novels that contain story lines that hold the reader’s attention. Further, the reading sources included in this study (e.g., the Internet, strategies, novels, magazines, interactive software, newspapers, and children’s books) encouraged careful thinking, provided support for student participation, and motivated creative decision making. Rather than teaching reading as a separate subject, it was used in a context where reading was meaningful and necessary towards the successful project accomplishments for all students.
References
Ballard, R.D. (2002). The Jason foundation for education. Retrieved 9/15/02from http:// www.jasonproject.org/about-us/about-us.num
Beane, J.A. (1997). Curriculum integration: Designing the core of democratic education. New York: Teachers College Press.
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