What happens when writing is incorporated into the science curriculum?
Phase one: 1st writing acitivity (Tuesday Nov. 5th) Atmosphere writing activity: I initially had again been so excited by student's writing, but as I began to look deeper and analyze their work, I realized there were some significant challenges. Since writing in science was relatively new to students, I decided to revisit these first essays in our first phase one writing activity in order to purposefully teach expectations for writing in science based on the new student/teacher created creative writing rubric. For my students to truly write about science using content information learned from their science lessons students need to understand that science uses certain vocabulary to show understanding. I listed vocabulary from the atmosphere science lesson on the board and brainstormed with students new terms they had learned. I proceeded to explain to students that we will be re-doing the Atmosphere writing lesson to see if we can improve on our ability to write about science based on the new creative writing rubric they helped make. I graded the student writing samples from the introduction atmosphere writing lesson and the student sample in my introduction received a 5 strong overall grade on my creative writing rubric located in my action and assessment section. I found that most students received a 2 emerging or 1 beginning overall grade on the writing based on the creative writing rubric. These writings had a lack of a central idea, scientific content, and missing structure. I shared the creative writing grading rubric with students. I proceeded to share my teacher example with the class, and we continued to discuss certain vocabulary and content about the Earth's Atmosphere that would assist us in our writing. I made a word bank with the vocabulary words to assist students. I passed out the prompt and students began to write for a forty-five minute time frame. At the end students came to the front of the class to read their writing and we would clap for students who shared! My teacher observation notes are below:
"Today Tuesday Nov. 4th is going great for writing in science time. Most students are very engaged and excited to improve on their writing. During my instruction students had many ideas about how to improve on their writings, for example, using more descriptive vocabulary and more ideas from their textbook in their writing! I am excited to see how much progress and improvement is made!"
I choose the following work sample because this student had one of the lowest scores on their first Atmosphere Writing activity of a 1 beginning but on the second time after instruction time learning how to write more like a scientist and having the rubric as a guide the student gained a score of 4 proficient! Notice the content vocabulary and the structure of the writing is easy to follow.
Phase one: 1st writing acitivity (Tuesday Nov. 5th) Atmosphere writing activity: I initially had again been so excited by student's writing, but as I began to look deeper and analyze their work, I realized there were some significant challenges. Since writing in science was relatively new to students, I decided to revisit these first essays in our first phase one writing activity in order to purposefully teach expectations for writing in science based on the new student/teacher created creative writing rubric. For my students to truly write about science using content information learned from their science lessons students need to understand that science uses certain vocabulary to show understanding. I listed vocabulary from the atmosphere science lesson on the board and brainstormed with students new terms they had learned. I proceeded to explain to students that we will be re-doing the Atmosphere writing lesson to see if we can improve on our ability to write about science based on the new creative writing rubric they helped make. I graded the student writing samples from the introduction atmosphere writing lesson and the student sample in my introduction received a 5 strong overall grade on my creative writing rubric located in my action and assessment section. I found that most students received a 2 emerging or 1 beginning overall grade on the writing based on the creative writing rubric. These writings had a lack of a central idea, scientific content, and missing structure. I shared the creative writing grading rubric with students. I proceeded to share my teacher example with the class, and we continued to discuss certain vocabulary and content about the Earth's Atmosphere that would assist us in our writing. I made a word bank with the vocabulary words to assist students. I passed out the prompt and students began to write for a forty-five minute time frame. At the end students came to the front of the class to read their writing and we would clap for students who shared! My teacher observation notes are below:
"Today Tuesday Nov. 4th is going great for writing in science time. Most students are very engaged and excited to improve on their writing. During my instruction students had many ideas about how to improve on their writings, for example, using more descriptive vocabulary and more ideas from their textbook in their writing! I am excited to see how much progress and improvement is made!"
I choose the following work sample because this student had one of the lowest scores on their first Atmosphere Writing activity of a 1 beginning but on the second time after instruction time learning how to write more like a scientist and having the rubric as a guide the student gained a score of 4 proficient! Notice the content vocabulary and the structure of the writing is easy to follow.
I was very excited to see an increase in scientific content in my students work that translated to higher scores on the creative writing rubric. I felt that students also were able to gain more of a voice in their writing by being more confident in their ability to write about science topics. I want students to be able to take this improvement in science writing into the other writing genres as well.
Phase one: 2nd writing activity (Thursday Nov. 7th) Astronaut writing activity: The second writing genre is creative writing that students will complete in science. On Thursday Nov. 7th I taught students about astronauts in our space unit including Sally Ride and Neil Armstrong and the challenges they faced to become astronauts. We learned about the characteristics and qualities that make a great astronaut and discussed qualities that students share with astronauts. I had students write down three qualities that they have that would make them a good candidate to be the first student astronaut in space. We brainstormed our ideas and shared with the class. I explained the prompt to students on what it means to make an argument in your writing. Explaining that you need to persuade the third party reader of your stance or argument while using supporting scientific evidence claims to back up your argument. I gave examples of claims that I used in my teacher example writing that I shared with the class. I gave students forty-five minutes to write at the end of the science lesson and students shared their writings with the class applauding them afterwards. During this time I observed in my teacher observation notes:
"Today Thursday Nov. 7th: Students have great ideas for what they feel would make them a good candidate for an astronaut but are having difficulty communicating their ideas into a sound argument. Is it because they have yet to write in this way in fifth grade? Up to this point they have only written narrative writing pieces. They are having trouble with how to actually write down claims to support their argument, what structure to use, and many are having trouble coming up with a main arugment"
The following is a student work piece from the astronaut lesson:
Phase one: 2nd writing activity (Thursday Nov. 7th) Astronaut writing activity: The second writing genre is creative writing that students will complete in science. On Thursday Nov. 7th I taught students about astronauts in our space unit including Sally Ride and Neil Armstrong and the challenges they faced to become astronauts. We learned about the characteristics and qualities that make a great astronaut and discussed qualities that students share with astronauts. I had students write down three qualities that they have that would make them a good candidate to be the first student astronaut in space. We brainstormed our ideas and shared with the class. I explained the prompt to students on what it means to make an argument in your writing. Explaining that you need to persuade the third party reader of your stance or argument while using supporting scientific evidence claims to back up your argument. I gave examples of claims that I used in my teacher example writing that I shared with the class. I gave students forty-five minutes to write at the end of the science lesson and students shared their writings with the class applauding them afterwards. During this time I observed in my teacher observation notes:
"Today Thursday Nov. 7th: Students have great ideas for what they feel would make them a good candidate for an astronaut but are having difficulty communicating their ideas into a sound argument. Is it because they have yet to write in this way in fifth grade? Up to this point they have only written narrative writing pieces. They are having trouble with how to actually write down claims to support their argument, what structure to use, and many are having trouble coming up with a main arugment"
The following is a student work piece from the astronaut lesson:
The student received a 2 emerging overall score on the writing piece and this was the most common score with my students. The scientific ideas are cluttered by irrelevant detail, lack of structure, lack of intro/conclusion, and unclear argument. I feel that the writing did not have students dive deep enough into scientific writing instead only touched the surface. I felt the piece was very creative and the student had a voice in the paper, but there was not much scientific content. I want students in the future to really dive deeper into using scientific evidence to support a claim and become familiar with the scientific literate learner characteristic of supporting scientific claims with evidence. I will try and have students write on prompts that allow students to take a more demanding scientific stance and support their stance with scientific evidence.
Phase one: 3rd writing activity (Tuesday Nov. 12th) Science Myth writing activity: On Tuesday Nov. 12th for our science lesson I taught students about solar eclipses and how they happen. We completed an experiment in which we used a flashlight, tennis ball, and a basketball to demonstrate how a solar eclipse works. We watched a video, and took cornell notes on the topic of solar eclipses. I wanted to see if the progress made in the creative writing atmosphere activity could be built on in another science subject like solar eclipses. I explained the creative writing rubric to my students and how voice and organization is very important in writing. I proceeded to read my teacher example to the class and explain how I used scientific content in a clear and creative way to make writing fun! We had learned in our social studies lesson what a myth is so students were familiar with this. I passed out the prompt and students had forty-five minutes to write their paper. We shared our writing with the class and applauded students after. The following is a student work sample that received a score of 3 developing based on the great voice and creativity used, but writing was hard to follow and lacked some scientific content that we just learned about.
Phase one: 3rd writing activity (Tuesday Nov. 12th) Science Myth writing activity: On Tuesday Nov. 12th for our science lesson I taught students about solar eclipses and how they happen. We completed an experiment in which we used a flashlight, tennis ball, and a basketball to demonstrate how a solar eclipse works. We watched a video, and took cornell notes on the topic of solar eclipses. I wanted to see if the progress made in the creative writing atmosphere activity could be built on in another science subject like solar eclipses. I explained the creative writing rubric to my students and how voice and organization is very important in writing. I proceeded to read my teacher example to the class and explain how I used scientific content in a clear and creative way to make writing fun! We had learned in our social studies lesson what a myth is so students were familiar with this. I passed out the prompt and students had forty-five minutes to write their paper. We shared our writing with the class and applauded students after. The following is a student work sample that received a score of 3 developing based on the great voice and creativity used, but writing was hard to follow and lacked some scientific content that we just learned about.
Students then answered the questions how did you like writing in science? What would you change about writing about science lessons? The following are student responses to the questions:
The responses were very interesting in that they did relate directing to my subquestion of how students would be engaged in writing in science, and through the responses students liked writing in science. The main thing is students are having fun at this point and I can see an increase in student participation!
Phase one: 4th writing activity (Thursday Nov. 14th) Weather report writing activity: On Thursday Nov. 14th students learned about the Earth's weather and how to measure atmospheric conditions. I did a pre-exit slip in which I had three questions for students to answer on an index card: 1) What are the three types of clouds? 2). What weather conditions are associated with a cumulonimbus cloud? 3). Name two instruments used by meteorologists to measure weather? I collected the slips and the class average was 72%. Students learned about the three main types of clouds and what conditions dictate each cloud to meteorologists. Students took cornell notes on cloud types, and weather conditions, including measurement instruments used by meteorologists to measure atmospheric conditions. We watched a Bill Nye video on weather and how to show weather conditions on a map. I showed students a weather report by Fox 5 San Diego. We discussed what the meteorologist was saying in the weather report and brainstormed a work bank on the board to use in our writing. I read the creative writing rubric to the class and explained that students need to use at least three scientific claims to support the claim in your report to the city's residents of what the weather will be. I passed out the following prompt, "Suppose that you are a meteorologist who just spotted a cumulonimbus cloud moving toward a city. Write a weather report for the city's residents." I explained that I wanted students to use the three answers to the questions that they should know now from the lesson in their papers to support their claims.
Most students were also able to use their answers in their writing in support. I did a post-exit slip with the same questions and the class average rose to 97%. In my teacher observation notes I wrote:
"Today Thursday Nov. 14th: Students are helped my being able to know what constitutes evidence and how they need to use at least three in their paper. This scaffolding to students what they can use as evidence helps in writing science papers. Scores are higher for students on this creative writing assignment because the prompt is more focused on using specific evidence. Students are engaged and having fun!"
Findings
I feel that the writing in science lessons of phase one had many strengths and weaknesses that directly related to my question of what happens with writing is incorporated into the science curriculum?
1). Increase in overall engagement:
One strength of the particular action plan taken in phase one was the direct increase of engagement and fun in the classroom during science time. There was a direct correlation between the survey and participation I recorded in my introduction and the answering of the sub question, What is the impact of incorporating writing on students’ attitude toward and engagement with science? Also, students who told me in their earlier discussion questions they disliked science are now coming up to me excited about what they will get to write about next in science! The following are examples of student responses to the survey I administer after every writing in science lesson asking did you enjoy writing in science? What would you change for next time? This survey is very important in guiding my action plan for phase one and two. The following are student responses:
"Today Thursday Nov. 14th: Students are helped my being able to know what constitutes evidence and how they need to use at least three in their paper. This scaffolding to students what they can use as evidence helps in writing science papers. Scores are higher for students on this creative writing assignment because the prompt is more focused on using specific evidence. Students are engaged and having fun!"
Findings
I feel that the writing in science lessons of phase one had many strengths and weaknesses that directly related to my question of what happens with writing is incorporated into the science curriculum?
1). Increase in overall engagement:
One strength of the particular action plan taken in phase one was the direct increase of engagement and fun in the classroom during science time. There was a direct correlation between the survey and participation I recorded in my introduction and the answering of the sub question, What is the impact of incorporating writing on students’ attitude toward and engagement with science? Also, students who told me in their earlier discussion questions they disliked science are now coming up to me excited about what they will get to write about next in science! The following are examples of student responses to the survey I administer after every writing in science lesson asking did you enjoy writing in science? What would you change for next time? This survey is very important in guiding my action plan for phase one and two. The following are student responses:
2). Writing scores have room for improvement
The writing rubric scores are not as high as I would have liked and students have room to improve in their writing in science. The findings show that my prompts for creative writing need to improve to have a more defined argument that students can make and allow for more scientific content. I need to show students what real science writing is and have more familiarity in using claims to support arguments. Below is a chart of week one to week two scores on the creative writing activities for phase one:
3). Higher science test scores
The strength in my phase one action plan could be a final result of higher test scores below. The blue is the test taken in science by the class before my phase one action plan on 9/28 and the red indicates the scores on the science test on 11/18. There is an increase in the scores shown on the graph below that could be related to the writing in science during phase one.
The strength in my phase one action plan could be a final result of higher test scores below. The blue is the test taken in science by the class before my phase one action plan on 9/28 and the red indicates the scores on the science test on 11/18. There is an increase in the scores shown on the graph below that could be related to the writing in science during phase one.
4). Need for more "real" scientific writing
I thought that it was particularly interesting student one said, "it felt real when writing on science but was really fake." Many of the creative writing prompts were things in science that were not real like falling through the atmosphere or a myth about a solar eclipse. While these things are fun to write about he/she would like to write about more things that are real in science, like the meteorologist writing for example. This was a weakness in my phase one because it is not really showing what a real scientist would write about, a real scientist would do experiments and write about the findings.
I choose student two's response because he/she brought up a great weakness in phase one that there were not any experiments that we wrote about. This student even goes as far as to give an example of an experiment using sand and saltwater to make freshwater and then writing an expository piece about what occurred. I thought this was very interesting because going forward I would like to have more writing like a scientist would do with experiments and hypothesis. I choose student three's response because he/she says that "writing is writing and science is science" and this student (along with many in my class) don't yet see the connection that I want them to see in writing and science going hand and hand. This student also echos many other students in wanting to write about more experiments and things that are real-world. Student four brings up the same idea of writing about the water cycle, for example, in an expository piece. I feel exploring how non-fiction writing can be fun in phase two might be interesting as well.
Next Steps - Phase Two
I will have a more detailed examination with students into what real science writing is using National Geographic articles, Time for Kinds, and various other publications. Take a closer look into what real scientists write about after conducting experiments. As a class we will conduct experiments and learn to write expository pieces on our findings. The results will help answer my sub questions on what a scientific literate 5th grader looks like. I want to show students that non-fiction writing can be fun and entertaining as well! Looking at Time for Kids magazines non-fiction pieces that are both fun and use scientific content. I want students to look at one of the prompts in particular, the opinion/argument prompt, "Do you think the recent measurements of Earth's temperatures are really evidence of global warming? Write a persuasive letter to the editor of a newspaper, requesting that your point of view be printed, be sure to include evidence." I want to teach students how to write a opinion/expository writing piece, and my hope is that looking at "Time for Kids" and National Geographic articles students will see examples of what real scientists write about. This writing prompt will be the only writing the students turn in for grading in phase two, and the three other lessons in phase two all scaffold for student on how to write a opinion/expository writing. These changes are directly from the findings in phase one described above. Below is the opinion/expository writing rubric that I will use in phase two. This rubric is from asking students to give me feedback on what a opinion and writing about an experiment paper should include. I also went through and researched the literacy common core state standards to create the rubric along with the 6+1 writing traits.
I thought that it was particularly interesting student one said, "it felt real when writing on science but was really fake." Many of the creative writing prompts were things in science that were not real like falling through the atmosphere or a myth about a solar eclipse. While these things are fun to write about he/she would like to write about more things that are real in science, like the meteorologist writing for example. This was a weakness in my phase one because it is not really showing what a real scientist would write about, a real scientist would do experiments and write about the findings.
I choose student two's response because he/she brought up a great weakness in phase one that there were not any experiments that we wrote about. This student even goes as far as to give an example of an experiment using sand and saltwater to make freshwater and then writing an expository piece about what occurred. I thought this was very interesting because going forward I would like to have more writing like a scientist would do with experiments and hypothesis. I choose student three's response because he/she says that "writing is writing and science is science" and this student (along with many in my class) don't yet see the connection that I want them to see in writing and science going hand and hand. This student also echos many other students in wanting to write about more experiments and things that are real-world. Student four brings up the same idea of writing about the water cycle, for example, in an expository piece. I feel exploring how non-fiction writing can be fun in phase two might be interesting as well.
Next Steps - Phase Two
I will have a more detailed examination with students into what real science writing is using National Geographic articles, Time for Kinds, and various other publications. Take a closer look into what real scientists write about after conducting experiments. As a class we will conduct experiments and learn to write expository pieces on our findings. The results will help answer my sub questions on what a scientific literate 5th grader looks like. I want to show students that non-fiction writing can be fun and entertaining as well! Looking at Time for Kids magazines non-fiction pieces that are both fun and use scientific content. I want students to look at one of the prompts in particular, the opinion/argument prompt, "Do you think the recent measurements of Earth's temperatures are really evidence of global warming? Write a persuasive letter to the editor of a newspaper, requesting that your point of view be printed, be sure to include evidence." I want to teach students how to write a opinion/expository writing piece, and my hope is that looking at "Time for Kids" and National Geographic articles students will see examples of what real scientists write about. This writing prompt will be the only writing the students turn in for grading in phase two, and the three other lessons in phase two all scaffold for student on how to write a opinion/expository writing. These changes are directly from the findings in phase one described above. Below is the opinion/expository writing rubric that I will use in phase two. This rubric is from asking students to give me feedback on what a opinion and writing about an experiment paper should include. I also went through and researched the literacy common core state standards to create the rubric along with the 6+1 writing traits.
Below is the out line for phase two with each implementation and my timeline to implement:
•Solar System Lesson: I will have students read National Geographic articles on the solar system. The specific article talks about how an asteroid has been found in New Mexico and we are using scientific evidence to make claims about space.
•Non-fiction and how scientists write: Students will read "Time for Kids" articles on science to see how non-fiction writing can be fun! Students will look in depth at how real scientists write and how non-fiction is interesting and fun!
•Expository Writing: I will have students have water bottles, one will be cold and one warm, then put food coloring in the bottles. Students then writing an expository piece using the data/inquiry on why water is on the outside? What color? I will have students read a text of facts and highlight facts that can be observed versus things that cannot be observed. Students will perform a data gathering inquiry experiment, then use the results to look at writing a persuasive argument writing piece using scientific evidence from the experiment. I will focus on performing data/inquiry based science experiments during science lessons then having students write expository writing pieces following the literacy common core standards.
•Earth Lesson: Expository/Persuasive writing on the prompt, "Do you think the recent measurements of Earth's temperatures are really evidence of global warming? Write a persuasive letter to the editor of a newspaper, requesting that your point of view be printed, be sure to include evidence." This activity will be the final project students will be working up towards.
I will have completed the following literacy common core writing activities in science with my students in the following three genres of writing (creative writing, opinion/argument writing, and expository writing) within an overall conceptual framework outlined below allowing students to write in science across multiple genres in phase one and two. Research has shown that that conceptually grouping my writing activities under the three writing genres of creative writing, opinion/argument writing, and expository writing allows students to experience writing in all three genres of the common core state standards in literacy. The following outlines how the three genres of the common core literacy standards work together to form my philosophy on writing in science:
Creative Writing + Opinion/Argument + Expository = Writing in Science Genres
•Solar System Lesson: I will have students read National Geographic articles on the solar system. The specific article talks about how an asteroid has been found in New Mexico and we are using scientific evidence to make claims about space.
•Non-fiction and how scientists write: Students will read "Time for Kids" articles on science to see how non-fiction writing can be fun! Students will look in depth at how real scientists write and how non-fiction is interesting and fun!
•Expository Writing: I will have students have water bottles, one will be cold and one warm, then put food coloring in the bottles. Students then writing an expository piece using the data/inquiry on why water is on the outside? What color? I will have students read a text of facts and highlight facts that can be observed versus things that cannot be observed. Students will perform a data gathering inquiry experiment, then use the results to look at writing a persuasive argument writing piece using scientific evidence from the experiment. I will focus on performing data/inquiry based science experiments during science lessons then having students write expository writing pieces following the literacy common core standards.
•Earth Lesson: Expository/Persuasive writing on the prompt, "Do you think the recent measurements of Earth's temperatures are really evidence of global warming? Write a persuasive letter to the editor of a newspaper, requesting that your point of view be printed, be sure to include evidence." This activity will be the final project students will be working up towards.
I will have completed the following literacy common core writing activities in science with my students in the following three genres of writing (creative writing, opinion/argument writing, and expository writing) within an overall conceptual framework outlined below allowing students to write in science across multiple genres in phase one and two. Research has shown that that conceptually grouping my writing activities under the three writing genres of creative writing, opinion/argument writing, and expository writing allows students to experience writing in all three genres of the common core state standards in literacy. The following outlines how the three genres of the common core literacy standards work together to form my philosophy on writing in science:
Creative Writing + Opinion/Argument + Expository = Writing in Science Genres
Timeline for Phase Two:
December 2nd - 6th: Phase two: 1st activity (Tuesday Dec. 3rd) Solar System National Geographic article activity, 2nd activity (Thursday Dec. 5th) "Time for Kids" articles, how to write like a scientist making non-fiction writing fun! .
December 9th - 13th: Phase two: 3rd activity (Tuesday Dec. 10) Experiment expository writing, 4th writing activity (Thursday Dec. 12th) Opinion/Expository writing on Global Warming.
December 16th - 20th: Examine results from phase two
December 2nd - 6th: Phase two: 1st activity (Tuesday Dec. 3rd) Solar System National Geographic article activity, 2nd activity (Thursday Dec. 5th) "Time for Kids" articles, how to write like a scientist making non-fiction writing fun! .
December 9th - 13th: Phase two: 3rd activity (Tuesday Dec. 10) Experiment expository writing, 4th writing activity (Thursday Dec. 12th) Opinion/Expository writing on Global Warming.
December 16th - 20th: Examine results from phase two