When you picture a typical science class - what comes to mind? Think about any of the movies and T.V. shows, and even cartoons that you watched growing up that may have shown students in a science or math class - what did you see? Usually, such classes are depicted as having the teacher standing in front of the chalkboard (most shows from my recent memory were pre-whiteboard, let alone Smart Board), while students are staring, head in hands, with a dazed look on their face (probably unceremoniously jerked awake by their own snore?). The teachers always seem to be droning on monotonously, writing pages of equations and formulas on the board as students squint in their general direction, allowing the content to skim over their heads. Why is it that this is how STEM classes always seem to be depicted? I can think of one show that really challenged the stereotypical depiction of children’s school experiences - The Magic School Bus is one that really got it right. The students in Miss Frizzle’s eclectic class were always excited (except maybe Arnold), engaged, and undoubtedly learning a lot. And although the tiny addition of a magical bus with supernatural capabilities that could transport students into the heart of whatever scientific system they were learning about that day certainly aided in the engaging factor of the show, the science itself took centre stage. And isn’t that what learning should be all about? Teaching and pedagogical reasoning for developing best practices has evolved significantly in the last several decades as teachers incorporate exciting visuals, fun experiments, use new technologies, and ignite that spark for learning in their students. In Alberta, this is a named component of the Program of Studies - the Nature of Science. Understanding the Nature of Science (NOS) is more complex than it seems, but when you have a grasp of what it means to teach from a NOS perspective, you end up with classes as exciting as Miss Frizzle’s - without the never-ending sea of field trip waivers that she was undoubtedly swimming in 24/7… There has been tremendous research done on the topic of NOS and its inclusion in the classroom. McComas and Kampourakis state: “Starting more than 50 years ago with a trickle of interest and scholarship, the field has matured to the extent that virtually all would argue for a role of NOS across the science curriculum from the elementary level to courses designed to educate future scientists.” (McComas & Kampourakis, 2015) How can NOS be defined? It seems that there are various takes on the meaning of NOS, but that, at its heart, NOS encompasses a curiosity, eagerness for learning and understanding how the world works. McComas and Kampourakis further describe “…NOS [as] the area of study in which students learn how science functions, how knowledge is generated and tested, and how scientists do what they do.” (McComas & Kampourakis, 2015) My understanding is that the theme of NOS seems to imply that NOS is more than a thing; rather it is a process through which students are introduced to some of the key aspects of science. How this process is introduced/incorporated is another thing entirely, but the results of research on the topic have shown, among other things, that: “Conceptions of NOS are best learned through explicit, reflective instruction rather than implicitly through experiences with simply “doing” science.” (Lederman, 2007, as referenced by McComas, 2017) I interpret this to mean that doing science for the sake of doing science only goes halfway there; the process of considering the meaning of findings and deliberating on the results of experiments is where the learning lies. This opens a clear pathway for incorporating more aspects of literacy into science. As the first post in a series centred around the topic of STEM literacy, I will hold off on providing extensive lists of strategies at the moment. However, it is important to draw the connection between incorporating NOS into the classroom and the possibilities for honing literacy skills that this creates. If the crucial aspect of NOS revolves around the continual process of reflection, then a simple way to ensure that students are beginning to practice their literacy skills is to provide them that very opportunity - incorporate reflection into daily practice. Work towards changing the idea that writing is only for Language Arts and Social Studies, and model what you’re looking for so that students can get a sense of what it is you want. Using some of the strategies that I will discuss in subsequent posts, you can have students continue to think critically, but also document their thinking so that they are subsequently working on communication skills. Changing the STEM classroom narrative to one that also includes a regular literacy component - however that may look in your classroom - is a good first step towards building crucial communication skills. Then, if you want to kill the metaphorical ‘two birds’, choosing to make that literacy component relate to reflection and contemplation in accordance with the Nature of Science will do just that. So if I may be so bold as to amend the words of our favourite cartoon science teacher, I would say: “Take chances, make mistakes, and get writing!” ReferencesAlberta Education. (2005). Revised 2014. Program of Studies: Science 10. Retrieved on December 30, 2020 from https://education.alberta.ca/media/3069384/pos_science_10.pdf
McComas, W.F., 2017. Understanding how science works: the nature of science as the foundation for science teaching and learning. School Science Review. 98(365): 71-76. McComas, W.F. and Kampourakis, K., 2015. Using the history of biology, chemistry, geology, and physics to illustrate general aspects of Nature of Science. Review of Science, Mathematics, and ICT Education. 9(1): 47-76.
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In the previous post, the focus was on the Nature of Science, and how this is important to not only ensuring that students are thinking critically about the content they are learning, but also how this could become a gateway into other methods of increasing scientific literacy in STEM classrooms. This post will continue to explore some of those other methods. Although literacy is a term most commonly associated with reading and reading comprehension, it encompasses much more than that. According to Alberta Education, literacy can be defined as “…the ability, confidence and willingness to engage with language to acquire, construct and communicate meaning in all aspects of daily living.” (Alberta Education Fact Sheet) This is certainly a broad definition. Alberta Education continues to provide examples of what literacy looks like throughout curriculum. Some examples for Mathematics from the Fact Sheet include:
Similarly, some examples Alberta Education provides from the Fact Sheet of literacy in Science include:
There are, most definitely, other ways that literacy is involved in Mathematics, Science, and other STEM subjects, but in this post, I will focus on aspects pertaining to writing in particular. Check out this post of mine if you are looking for aspects pertaining to communicating research, or, if you are wanting information and resources pertaining to presenting/oral literacy, check out this post. As writing/communicating through written word is crucial throughout all aspects of our lives then, just as any other skill, the best way to hone it is to practice it. We cannot expect students to be experts in writing about science or math if they have never practiced it before. While most skills from humanities courses certainly transfer (sentence/paragraph structure, writing conventions, spelling, punctuation, articulation, etc.), the methods of communicating are different between different subjects. For example, in descriptive writing, students are practicing their abilities to include describing words and phrases. In persuasive writing, voice is of utmost importance - can you take a stance and convince your reader? In scientific writing, the goal is to communicate thoroughly yet succinctly. In mathematical writing, you need a mix of both descriptive and succinct writing: you want to communicate enough so that your process is clear, but not so much that your paper becomes an entire book. Since these processes differ from processes learned in other courses, then students need the chance to learn and build these skills, just as they learn how to write a persuasion piece or a short story. In a 2013 article from The American Biology Teacher, Balgopal and Wallace outline the literacy process of ‘Writing to Learn’ (or WTL, for short), which revolves around the importance of the thinking process, rather than on creating a perfect written piece. (Balgopal & Wallace, 2013). They further go on to state that: “…iterative WTL activities can support students’ developing scientific literacy skills, especially if they involve engaging in socio-scientific issues,” (Balgopal & Wallace, 2013) and that: “Asking students to explore relevant scientific issues through multiple perspectives allows them to gain a better understanding of the concepts.” (Wallace et. al., 2004, as cited by Balgopal & Wallace, 2013). The good news is that there is no end to the abundance of ways that you can include a writing component in a STEM class that your students will enjoy. Check out the following page as a starting point for some ideas of activities and resources that you can implement in your class.
Some of my favourite ideas for getting students writing are described below.
I wrote for my university newspaper as an Undergraduate student for two years, and it never ceased to be a thrill when I unfolded the newspaper and eagerly flipped to my column to see my article in print. There is a sense of pride knowing that your work is seen by a larger audience than just your classroom teacher (and perhaps classmates), which inspires you to put my very best work forwards each month (at least, it did for me!). This method is actually a great one for a number of reasons: students are regularly practicing their writing and researching skills, they are learning new and exciting STEM concepts, they are (hopefully!) passing their excitement on to their peers, and they have the opportunity to receive peer feedback on their work as it is read by many each week/month. What I would suggest: provide students with a rough outline of what subject they have to write about each iteration. This could be in synchronous alignment with the content being covered in class, or it could pertain to current events/celebrations (Earth Day, etc.), or even just giving a broad subject (like: marine life). Then, leave the rest of the topic open for students to choose (and check with their teacher/editor beforehand!). You could also use this as an opportunity to incorporate more of the WTL process involving socio-scientific issues, outlined by Balgopal and Wallace, above. This strategy also ties into the Nature of Science discussed in the last post; giving students the freedom to wonder about things in the natural world, and research about something that interests them is a great way to foster engagement, and (hopefully) each article won’t feel like a chore! Students will love seeing their work shared with others! 2. Blogging This one is a very similar idea to the school newspaper, however, it is easier to implement on a class-wide scale, rather than a select few who may volunteer. Blogging provides a way for students to write about any number of things that they have learned in class. I would suggest the same framework as outlined above, giving students some freedom in the topic choice, but I think this method would work just as well if you gave students set topics to write blogs about. Here is a list of blogging tools from eLearning Industry that are good to use in the classroom. Be mindful and ensure that you look into whatever tool you choose, to check that you can moderate posts and security. Or, if you choose not to have students actually post their work online, they can still write their posts as if they would be displayed on a blog, but just email them to you instead. This would also be a good time to have a brief refresher with students about digital literacy - a great starting point for this is Media Smarts. Once again similar to the school newspaper, blogging allows students to share their work with a larger audience. Depending on the settings and configurations that you choose for the blog, students can either share their blogs with just the teacher, with each other, or with the broader school community, such as parents and friends! Check out this article from Emerging EdTech for more of the pros of blogging in the classroom. 3. Journalling Another option for getting students to flex their scientific/STEM writing skills is journalling. This is something that was used in one of my university math courses, and it was a great learning experience. Keeping a log/journal for a math/science class may feel strange at first, but as students continue to get used to the process, it likely won’t take long for them to embrace the idea. If your students are new to the idea of journalling, or if you are just introducing it for the first time, it is a good idea to include writing prompts, to give them an idea of where they should start. Over time, this will likely become a more natural process, but initially, they may need more guidance. Final Thoughts One thing to keep in mind is that whatever method you choose may be a new process for students - if they aren’t familiar with scientific or mathematical writing, they may need some ideas of what it should look like. Provide students with sample works, links to blogs or other articles so that they can get a sense of what is expected of them. If this is something new to the classroom, understanding that it will take time to get it right, and that what works for one teacher may not work for another. Happy writing! ReferencesAlberta Education Fact Sheet
Sriparna. (2018). Lesson plans: critical thinking and writing activities in the science classroom. Owlcation. Accessed on November 24, 2020 from https://owlcation.com/academia/Writing-in-the-science-classroom Balgopal, M., Wallace, A. (2013). Writing-to-learn, writing-to-communicate, and scientific literacy. The American Biology Teacher: University of California Press. Accessed on November 26, 2020 from https://online.ucpress.edu/abt/article/75/3/170/20659/Writing-to-Learn-Writing-to-Communicate-amp Pappas, C. 2013. How to use blogs in the classroom. eLearning Industry. Accessed on November 26, 2020 from https://elearningindustry.com/how-to-use-blogs-in-the-classroom Media Smarts. (n.d.) Digital and media literacy. Media Smarts. Accessed on November 26, 2020 from https://mediasmarts.ca/digital-media-literacy Thomson, M. (2018). Why your students should blog: 6 powerful benefits. Emerging EdTech. Accessed on November 26, 2020 from https://www.emergingedtech.com/2018/04/why-your-students-should-blog-6-powerful-benefits/ In last week’s blog, we covered the idea of including opportunities for students to practice scientific/STEM writing, which may be new to many. However, writing is such an important facet of literacy and communication, that it is a crucial skill to develop to ensure that students are adequately prepared if they plan to pursue a STEM related career in post-secondary education or otherwise. Along these lines is the idea of developing the student’s literacy toolkit to include proper research (and associated communication) skills. One thing that I noticed between the transition from high school to post-secondary was the expectation that students are (at least somewhat) familiar with academic articles and research. And I also know that I was not that familiar with either. Upon reading my first academic physics research article from a peer-reviewed journal, I was a bit overwhelmed. There were so many sections, fancy words and definitions (…what is an abstract, anyways?) that it was hard to understand what the article was even about. What I’ve learned from my experience is that there are a variety of skills associated with literacy in scientific research, not limited to: the research process itself, learning to pick out key information, summarizing what you’ve read, analyzing sources for legitimacy and content, paraphrasing, proper citations, and creating a bibliography. Some of these are skills that certainly are addressed at the high school level in other courses, such as learning about citations, or learning to identify important information in a written passage. Within science, math, or other STEM courses, these skills present another way to begin the process of increasing literacy. Throughout my education degree, I have learned so much about creating rich tasks for assessment, differentiating the learning process, providing multiple modalities and unique ways for students to show you evidence of their learning. With this in mind, I believe that there are many ways in which aspects of STEM research literacy could be included in the classroom, as instruction or as assessment. Some of these are explored in more detail, below:
From personal experience, reading a scientific article for the first time can be very overwhelming. This literacy strategy involves providing students with an article and guiding them through the process of reading and comprehending its contents. Article choice is important here - it is necessary to spend some time finding articles that are not too complex for students, but they should cater to some sort of research and the findings, in order to mimic the type of articles that will be analyzed at a post-secondary level. If this is one of the first times that a scientific article has been introduced to students, it may be important to ensure that they are guided through the process of analyzing the article, at least for the first time. Including common literacy/reading comprehension strategies at this point may also be very beneficial to students. Check out this article for a list of popular reading strategies that teachers use across curricula. It is important that students’ learning is properly scaffolded during this time - without proper guidance, students may feel overwhelmed with the amount of information that is before them. After going through an example together, provide students with a new article, and have them read / analyze the article individually. Then, in order to gauge their understanding of the content, they may answer some pre-made questions about the article and its content/structure. For example: - What is the question that the researchers are answering? - What did they do to try and answer the question? - What did they find out? - What are their next steps (if any)? These questions describe the standard structure of a scientific article, and represent the important information that a reader should be able to discern as they analyze a given article. 2. Summarizing Similar to an article analysis is the ability of a student to read an article and then summarize what they have read in their own words. This is certainly a skill that is practiced in other subjects, so it should not be new to students. Again, you may want to model what a summary should look like, including going over reading strategies as you would in the previous section. This is also an activity that can be easily scaffolded; if students are very new to reading academic/scientific articles, then they can start by reading and summarizing passages from the textbook in their own words. Then, as they build the skill, they can further extend it to summarizing articles from scientific websites or magazines. After this skill has been sufficiently developed, they can work on summarizing the main points of a research article as well. This strategy ties in very well with the article analysis strategy, above, since they can practice summarizing various aspects of the article including some of the questions outlined above as well. Check out this webpage for a variety of STEM related articles that students can work on summarizing, which have relevant and cool topics, from Minecraft to unicorns. 3. Mini Research Projects This option could be particularly exciting for students as it could be done as more of a performance-task style of assessment. Giving students the freedom to choose their own modality or topic is a good motivator, which will hopefully result in some exciting projects and lots of learning! I would provide students with a list of possible research project areas that correlate within the current unit of study. For example, my students are currently learning about types of energy sources and renewable vs. non-renewable / solar vs. non-solar sources. I might provide them with a list of types of energy sources (hydroelectric, wind, nuclear, etc.) and then let students choose which they would like to explore further, in the form of a question, such as ‘How have solar energy sources become more efficient in the past decade?’ This is a good, all-encompassing project, as it addresses many different facets of literacy in STEM. The research process, summarizing, paraphrasing, bibliographies…really the whole package associated with scientific research, but on a mini-scale. Once again, as this is likely a new process for students, I would provide samples or model papers on which they can base their own. I would also provide a list of legitimate teacher-approved websites that can consult for their research, particularly if they are new to the research process. Summary Researching is subset of several literacy skills (writing, reading comprehension, etc.), and as such, it provides a good basis for developing several skills simultaneously. This is also a great way to get students excited about science. How? Many articles in magazines or webpages are highlighting recent discoveries, new advancements, and modern theories of nearly every aspect of science. Letting students browse articles from a vetted website, or from other reputable sources may be a great way to engage them. TeachThought Staff. (2016). 25 reading strategies that work in every content area. TeachThought. Accessed on November 26, 2020 from https://www.teachthought.com/literacy/25-reading-strategies-that-work-in-every-content-area/
Castagno-Dysart, D., Matera, B., Traver, J. (2019). The importance of instructional scaffolding. Teacher Magazine. Accessed on November 26, 2020 from https://www.teachermagazine.com/au_en/articles/the-importance-of-instructional-scaffolding Science News for Students. (2020). Science news for students. Science News for Students. Accessed on November 26, 2020 from https://www.sciencenewsforstudents.org What is it about talking in front of a group that instantly makes your legs turn to jelly, your face turn red as a beet, and causes you to somehow forget how to say every word in the English (or otherwise) language? The fear of being the sole occupant of the stage - a.k.a. front of class - is real, and I feel like I am certainly (hopefully?) not the only one who felt this way when the teacher asked me to get up in front of the class and speak. It’s also strange that, for me, the stage fright didn’t often seem to extend to the drama stage; this fear seemed uniquely correlated with standing ‘on stage’ in an environment that doesn’t typically have a ‘stage’. (Maybe I’m the only one now?) Perhaps it is because we are not asked as often to present anything in math and the sciences, and then on the rare occasion that we are asked to do just that…cue the sudden onset of the aforementioned physical afflictions. Being able to present content and information to others (even a small focus group) is an important skill to have in any subject, and I would argue that this, too, falls under the umbrella of STEM literacy, just as writing and researching, which was discussed in previous posts. The reason that I would place presenting amongst this overarching literacy theme comes back to the definition of literacy from the Alberta Education Literacy Fact sheet: “Literacy is critical in helping us make meaning of the world around us. Literacy includes reading, writing, viewing, listening and speaking, but it also encompasses much more.” (Alberta Education, n.d.) Is not presenting a skill that truly embodies most aspects of being literate? In order to present information, one first must read and comprehend the content. Then, the presentation typically involves some sort of visual aspect which must be created, often involving summarizing longer excerpts or communicating data graphically, both of which were discussed in other blog posts as further aspects of literacy requirements for STEM. As the presenter, you are also continually looking for visual cues from your audience: checking for understanding and comprehension, scanning for questions (or questioning looks?), all while continuing to articulate your thoughts and processes to the group before you. It truly is a testament to all aspects of literacy. For this reason, I think that including opportunities to present and teaching proper presentation skills are very valuable additions to any STEM classroom. Additionally, presentations are not only good skill building opportunities for the presenter - I believe that they are just as valuable for those in attendance, who will focus on building their viewing and listening skills, both of which are also critical aspects of literacy. Thus far, the majority of this post has consisted of me rambling about why it is a good idea to include presentations as part of classroom routine or assessment. However, as this blog series focuses specifically on literacy applications in high school STEM courses, I will elaborate on some ways that teachers can look to incorporate more presentations into their science or math classrooms. The first is a fun idea that the faculty did in my undergraduate degree: mini-presentations about the year’s Nobel prizes in each subject. As the topics for many (all?) Nobel prizes are extremely complex, this is likely one to reserve for your grade 12’s, who may enjoy the challenge of working out some of the fundamental concepts behind the discovery. This idea could be extended to include other current events in the Science world as well, so that other topics can be found that are appropriate for other age levels and subjects. This idea also ties in with the topics described in The Researcher and The Writer posts, so check those out for further ideas related to those areas. A second idea to get your students into the swing of presenting could be an ‘old school’ throwback to the science fair. Somehow, science fairs seem to be the quintessential movie-and-television middle school science activity that apparently every single school does all the time. Yet (at least from my knowledge), science fairs are not all that common. (If I am wrong, then I thoroughly apologize - please, carry on hosting and participating in science fairs!) This is also a fun well-rounded activity which mixes the idea of a performance task and varying assessment modalities with a science report (or even a lab report, depending on the project). Give students a list of topics from which they must choose one project to complete - this could involve a physical Research aspect (performing a lab and reporting on findings) or an academic research aspect - either way, it is a good opportunity for students to practice reading, summarizing, citing, and other aspects of the research project in conjunction with the host of skills that they will work on through the actual presentation itself. Science Buddies is a good website with plenty of science fair projects or ideas, with the bonus that you can filter projects by grade and subject area, with very specific results (Geology, Biotechnology, Pandemics, etc.) Another, more simple, idea to have students ‘wet their feet’, so to speak, in the world of STEM presentations is to do daily summary sessions. We used this idea in one of my undergraduate math courses. This one doesn’t necessarily require any presentation software or tons of extra time, depending on how you choose to implement it. If you want to have your students do a day-by-day summary, then it could involve choosing a random name from a hat and having that student provide an on-the-spot oral summary of the content from that class. (I understand that some students would not enjoy this type of method, and if that is the case, then the following may be a better option). The other method, which we used in my post-secondary math class, is to have students pre-assigned a random order/day, and they will be responsible for providing a summary of the previous day’s learning. That way, students are able to have some time to prepare their summary, rather than being put on the spot, and then they may also choose to use a powerpoint or other presentation tool. They can then provide an oral summary of the lesson (with a certain time limit). This is a low-stakes activity, and it isn’t something that students need to fret about for weeks in advance, since they will have only learned the topic themselves a day or two in advance. This also may be a good opportunity to see how well students are understanding the content; if they make mistakes, it can be a good learning opportunity to take these up as a class. Whether you are looking to have students give big, formal presentations or small, informal and unrehearsed ones, getting your students talking and sharing ideas in class is an important step on their STEM literacy journey. I know all to well the feeling of petrification that I experienced when I read my first post-secondary science course syllabus and saw “Presentation - 10%”. As with the topics of most of my blogs thus far, introducing some of these strategies and skills to students at the high school level will only help them grow as literate STEM students. ReferencesAlberta Assessment Consortium. (2020). What’s all the fuss about performance assessment? Alberta Assessment Consortium. Accessed on November 26, 2020 from https://aac.ab.ca/whats-all-the-fuss-about-performance-assessment/
Alberta Education. (n.d.). Literacy fact sheet. Alberta Education. Accessed on November 26, 2020 from https://education.alberta.ca/media/3402193/lit-fact-sheet.pdf Science Buddies. (n.d.). High School Science Projects. Science Buddies. Accessed on November 26, 2020 from https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/project-ideas/high-school So far, our blogging/STEM literacy journey has provided several ideas of targeted strategies that may work best in a scientific environment, so I have decided to dedicate this entire post to the people who, like me, find it thrilling to finally solve an equation algebraically after 8 pages of work: the mathematicians. Perhaps I am biased because of my educational background - which is math and physics - but I really love learning about numbers and formulas, and understanding how the marriage of science and math can describe, well, almost everything. I’m going to include physics (and engineering) in this post today as well because although it certainly has more than enough theory, often found at the heart of physics…is numbers. But how do we include literacy in a subject that is so number-centric, and what does that even mean? Although we have seen that literacy looks quite different across various subjects, there are foundations of literacy that are true regardless of the content. And despite the fact that mathematics can often be seen as primarily numeracy-based, there are certainly literacy components that are just as important. The Alberta Education Literacy Fact Sheet outlines these ways that literacy is present in mathematics:
The main ideas outlined above from the fact sheet focus mostly on reading comprehension, and this is undoubtedly an incredibly important component to achieving success in math. I would, however, argue that there are other literacy or literacy-related components which are just as crucial, such as graphing/reading graphs, summarizing results, and communicating relevant data. Graphing The reason that I would argue graphing fits within the broader ‘literacy’ umbrella is because graphing is essentially a form of communication with your reader or audience. The goal of any graph (math or science) is to succinctly depict the relationships amongst the variables or data in a way that can easily be interpreted. In fact, in a recent publication in The American Biology Teacher, Harsh and Schmitt-Harsh state: “In the sciences, proficiency in graphing is considered a central element of scientific literacy.” (Harsh & Schmitt-Harsh, 2016). I would further argue that graphing is a two-fold literacy strategy: not only do you, as the creator, need to use appropriate skills to create graphs and ensure that you use all of the necessary information and leave out all information extraneous to the problem, but as the reader, you then need to apply the comprehension skills necessary to understand what the graph is telling you, interpret the data, and draw appropriate conclusions based on that data. How you choose to use graphing in the classroom is an important facet of student learning. In a 2019 Cambridge Mathematics article, Macey argues that: “…the process of designing and critiquing graphical representation encourages students to attend to the ‘why’ and the ‘how’ of data representation, and may support graphical literacy when interpreting unfamiliar graphs…” (Macey, 2019) He further states that merely teaching the process of creating graphs does not teach students the underlying reasoning for choices made. (Macey, 2019) How can you incorporate more graphing into the classroom to develop these skills? Check out some of these pages/links below for ideas of classroom implementation and strategies or resources:
Summarizing This is one strategy/area that just keeps popping up! We have already talked about summarizing as a writing strategy here, and it is also an important skill for researching, which we discussed at length here. In terms of application, summarizing isn’t all that different in a mathematical context from a scientific or other context - the goal remains the same: how can you succinctly impart the key ideas of the literature? Seeing as this has already been discussed in similar contexts, I will not reiterate that information here. Rather, I will write about some ways that summarizing could be brought into a secondary math class. It isn’t often that math teachers have students do a lot of academic reading, which is certainly understandable. However, introducing students to the idea of a math article can be a good thing! This doesn’t need to be a lengthy article proving some obscure theorem in the general case (although that may certainly be neat to show interested students - for example, students may be interested to know about the Millennium Problems, a set of 6 (originally 7!) unsolved mathematical problems, each of which has a $1,000,000 prize awaiting whomever can solve it. The first of these problems, the Poincaré conjecture, was solved by Gregori Perelman, who was awarded the million-dollar prize in 2010, but famously refused!(Hosch, 2009) ) Instead, it could be a short article written about the application of math concepts which can be made to tailor to curriculum, and simultaneously be engaging for students to learn about. Check out some of these resources from Math Giraffe for short, mathematical articles that students can read and summarize. The actual process of summarizing need not look particularly different than it does in other subjects - students may just need to focus on describing the math concepts that are being applied. This too is an important mathematical literacy strategy that is incorporated: the ability to translate math formulas into meaningful explanations in words is something that could be focused on. Most students could likely rattle off that the equation of a line is “y=mx+b”, but can they also articulate that this equation means slope-intercept form of a function with a slope of m and a y-intercept of b? Communicating Data I specifically left this aspect to the very end, as it is, in some ways, a culmination of all of the math-specific literacy components that we have talked about so far. In order to communicate data, students must first be able to read (and comprehend) the data, and then display it in a way that makes sense to their reader/audience. If that is in graphical format, then they may be practicing their graphing skills. If that is as a summary, they may be using summarizing skills. So rather than including this as a specific subset of literacy skills, I include it at the end to indicate it’s all-encompassing nature of mathematical literacy. Hopefully this article has given you some ideas of ways that math and literacy are intertwined, and what some strategies may be that allow students to practice building these skills. Math, engineering and physics are some of those subjects that are seldom analyzed through a literacy lens, yet it can be refreshing to learn about them apart from the constant plug-and-chug process that they can easily become. Just as the nature of science can be used as an important motivator as the basis for exploring literacy, so too can the exciting mathematical applications be used to inspire young mathematicians, engineers and physicists. ReferencesAlberta Education. (n.d.) Literacy fact sheet. Accessed November 23, 2020 from https://education.alberta.ca/media/3402193/lit-fact-sheet.pdf
Common Sense Education. (n.d.). Digital graphing tools. Accessed on November 23, 2020 from https://www.commonsense.org/education/top-picks/digital-graphing-tools The Concord Consortium. (2020). Graph literacy. Accessed November 23, 2020 from https://learn.concord.org/graph-literacy Desmos. (2020). Desmos. Accessed on November 28, 2020 from https://www.desmos.com Geogebra. (2020). Geogebra. Accessed on November 28, 2020 from https://www.geogebra.org Harsh, J.A., M. Schmitt-Harsh. (2016). Instructional strategies to develop graphing skills in the college science classroom. The American Biology Teacher. 78(1):49-56. Accessed on November 24, 2020 from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/289556579_Instructional_Strategies_to_Develop_Graphing_Skills_in_the_College_Science_Classroom Hosch, W.L. (2009). Millenium problem. The Encyclopedia Brittanica. Accessed on November 24, 2020 from https://www.britannica.com/science/Millennium-Problem Macey, D. (2019). The trouble with graphs. Cambridge Mathematics. Accessed November 23, 2020 from https://www.cambridgemaths.org/blogs/the-trouble-with-graphs/ Math Giraffe. (2016). Relevant math articles to share with teens. Math Giraffe. Accessed on November 24, 2020 from https://www.mathgiraffe.com/blog/relevant-math-articles-to-share-with-teens University of Colorado Boulder. (2020). Phet interactive simulations. University of Colorado Boulder. Accessed on November 28, 2020 from phet.colorado.edu/en/simulations/filter?sort=alpha&view=grid Thus far in this blogging journey of STEM literacy enlightenment I have contributed many of my own thoughts and ideas, with a plethora of resources to reference at one’s leisure. (Does this count as leisure reading material?) This post, however, is specifically dedicated to the thoughts and ideas of those who have made a commitment to thoroughly researching this area of education - the experts. Amongst the plethora of wisdom imparted by the many experts from a host of academic articles are a variety of strategies that can be used in the classroom to begin implementing more opportunities for STEM literacy. Following is a select few of some of my favourite strategies that I’ve come across during this miniature literature review. 1. “Ten Important Words Plus” strategy (Wood et. al., 2011): Using an article or text, students each pick out a list of 10 keywords and write them on a sticky note. The class as a whole creates a bar graph using the sticky notes, to illustrate what key terms they had chosen as the most important. A discussion about the significance of the chosen keywords and their frequency follows. (Wood et. al, 2011)
2. Using jigsaws as a literacy strategy: “Jigsaws are an effective strategy for helping learners chunk large topics of knowledge into smaller parts, improve reading and writing skills (particularly their ability to analyze and synthesize information), create artifacts (i.e. poster board, presentation slides, digital content, etc.), presentation skills (speaking and listening), and interactions/collaboration with peers.” (Valenzuela, 2018) 3. Children’s literature in the STEM classroom: “According to Barclay, Benelli, and Schoon (2012) and Wells and Zeece (2007), children’s literature has the potential to generate interest and motivation, provide context, invite communication, and connect science information in ways that students can relate facts to their world. Incorporating children’s literature, more specifically science trade books, provides a situated perspective that results in cognitive functions, such as reasoning, remembering, and thinking critically (Carr et al., 2001; Monhardt & Monhardt, 2006; Sackes, Trundle, & Flevares (2009). By incorporating this type of literature, teachers can introduce different contexts, concepts, and cultures that can initiate discussion about a science topic.” (Hagheghi-Mahzoon et. al, 2018)
There are a fairly wide variety of target age groups represented amongst these strategies, however, most of them can easily be tweaked as necessary to fit almost any grade between K-12. Aside from some helpful and unique practical ideas, there are other snippets of wisdom that I gleaned from reading these articles regarding STEM literacy in the classroom. The first comes from Soules et. al. in their 2014 article Embedding Multiple Literacies into STEM Curricula: “While reading for basic comprehension is a strong component of informational literacy, students must also read scientific articles and come to some understanding of their structure.” (Soules et. al., 2014) I’ve further discussed the idea of having students read academic articles (or at least have an introduction to them) in my post here. Another, more recent, article, by Falloon et. al in March 2020, continues to expand on the idea of STEM literacy across curricula: “At a classroom level, some authors indicated interdisciplinary STEM affords teachers freedom to plan and teach using pedagogies that more closely replicate ‘real world’ processes (e.g. Bennett and Monahan 2013; Portz 2015; STEM Task Force 2014; Techakosit and Nilsook 2018; Top and Sahin 2015). These include project-based models that integrate disciplines and support students’ STEM capabilities, skills and collaboration, through ‘meaningful activities that are relevant to real-world issues’ (Capraro and Jones 2013, p. 52). “ (Falloon et. al., 2020). One last piece of excellent advice that I found during my reading outlined the importance of integrating literacy strategies into the classroom in a meaningful way: “Second, content and pedagogy also must blend; as mentioned in the National Science Edu- cation Standards (National Research Council, 1996), “There should be less emphasis on activities that demonstrate and verify science content” and more emphasis on those “that investigate and analyze science questions” (p. 113). This means a reduced concern for covering content and an increased emphasis in helping a student learn. “ (Zollman, n.d.) Overall, consulting the experts in the field for some ideas of strategies that have had success in the field of STEM literacy has proven to be incredibly beneficial. All of the papers, journal entries and magazine articles that I have consulted are referenced below, for further information. My take-away from this mini-series of STEM literacy exploration is this: start small, and gradually build up the literacy requirements of the classroom, but make the activities meaningful to the content and to adequately incorporate literacy strategies. References:Falloon, G., Hatzigianni, M., Bower, M., Forbes, A., Stevenson, M. (2020). Understanding K-12 STEM education: a framework for developing STEM literacy. Journal of Science Education and Technology. 29: 369-385.
Hagheghi-Mahzoon, M., Yebra, R., Johnson, R.D., Sohn, L.N. (2018). Fostering a greater understanding of science in the classroom through children’s literature. Texas Journal of Literacy Education. 6(1): 41-50. Soules, A., Nielsen, S., LeDuc, D., Inouye, C., Singley, J., Wildy, E., Seitz, J. (2014). Embedding multiple literacies into STEM curricula. College Teaching. 62(4): 121-128. Wood, K., Jones, J., Polly, D. (2011). STEM literacies: integrating reading, writing, and technology in science and mathematics. Middle School Journal. September, 2011, pg. 55-62. Valenzuela, J. (2018). Literacy strategies in STEM education. Children’s Technology and Engineering. March, 2018, pg 26-29. Zollman, A. (n.d.). Learning for STEM literacy; STEM literacy for learning. School Science and Mathematics. 112(1): 12-19. |