Writing in Science Classrooms

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Many students (and teachers!) don’t see many connections between science and writing. But scientists are inveterate writers. They write down hunches and sketch possible arrangements of whatever they are studying. They observe carefully and write down their observations. They conduct experiments and write down what they think will happen as well as what they actually observe. Writing and sketching are important tools real scientists use to help themselves think. Here are some specific ways that science teachers use quick writes, journals, and lab reports to help students think and communicate.

Quick Writes

As previewing activities, science teachers ask students to

List as many different animals with backbones as you can in thirty seconds.
Draw and label the parts of a tomato plant.
List ways that chemistry is important to us in real-life activities.

To synthesize what was learned at the end of a class, you might offer students these prompts:

Define in you own words what an ecosystem is.
Your book says, _______. Write what that really means in English.
Use the words _______ and _______ and _______ to write a true sentence.

To help students self-assess understanding, attitudes, and so forth, you could offer these prompts:

What did you not understand about today’s lesson?
List one or more terms you cannot clearly define.
I have the feeling many of you are not “with me” on this topic. Write what you are feeling about what we are doing and if there is anything I could change to help you feel more involved and successful.

Journals

Journals call for more extended entries than quick writes and are most successful if used on a daily basis. Both high-structure and low-structure journals can be used in a science class. Here are some examples of high-structure journal prompts science teachers use:

Draw and label the parts of the digestive system.
Arrange the following words into a web that shows their relationships.
Analyze how you did with today’s experiment. Were you able to follow the directions? Did the experiment turn out as you had predicted?
Explain to a younger person (brother, sister, cousin) why it is important for everyone to understand about toxins in our environment.

In addition to content-oriented journal entries such as these, science teachers may want to use “personal history” journal entries early in the year to help students come to terms with their science “attitudes.” Many students have not had good experiences with science and in spite of all the recent efforts to have science classes be “hands-on” active learning environments, many students associate science with hard-to-read textbooks and big unpronounceable words to memorize. If students see themselves as inadequate and uninterested learners in science, their attitudes will affect their motivation, learning, and thinking. Science teachers can engage students and begin to alter self-concepts in a number of different ways, including having students reflect on their own personal science histories.

To use journal entries in this way, tell students that we all have personal experiences in all areas of our lives that affect how we feel about things. Use a few examples to which your students can relate, perhaps telling about some of your life experiences which helped you to feel positively about something and negatively about something else.