Writing FORCES thinking, about the unknown, as well as the known. This forces ACTIVE learning. Writing strengthens understanding, allows connections with prior learning, increases retention, and helps develop vocabulary. Since this is all accurate, why are we not having our students, even those science students, writing every single day?
Writing is writing, but it should be pertinent to the subject matter being taught and reflected upon. Science writing is objective, logical, and precise. Writing in science can take on many faces.
- Lab reports
- Writing prompts to summarize
- Writing text to explain graphs
- Analyzing
- Writing journals to outline procedures and findings
- Writing to evaluate lectures and seminars
Summarizing in informational texts should not be a problem if students have strategies to use.
- One-sentence summaries
- Cornell Notes
- Big Picture Questions
- Synthesizing
- RAFT: Helps writing appear more authentic
Creativity has a place in science writing, as well. Examples:
- First Person account of a major volcano
- A story describing food’s journey in the body
- A child’s book explaining a scientific concept
- You get the idea…
Writing is the perfect way to see what our students are actually learning.