Literacy in the ScienceClassroom
Strategies that increase students’comprehension
Lauren [email protected]
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