Writing in Math and ScienceLaurie StowellCal State San MarcosSan Marcos Writing Projectlstowell@csusm.edu

Why write?Dr. Stephen Tsui: physics professor, Cal State

San Marcos

See also: “Why I write” from the National Writing Project in which writers from all walks of life write about why they write. http://www.nwp.org/cs/public/print/resource/3663

“Why I write” Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vANYvjLzQy4&list=PLF779B2AC42B123FA

Disciplinary Literacy“Thus, the purpose of disciplinary literacy is less about trying to give students the tools (e.g., study skills) to be better students generally, and more about inducting them into the disciplines. That’s the idea of reading like a scientist or writing like a historian or literary critic. Instead of having students study these subjects as outsiders, disciplinary literacy tries to engage them in exploring content in the way that insiders would. That means treating the content as more than information to be memorized for a test. In other words, the point of teaching disciplinary literacy is to engage students is the same kinds of analysis, argument, and literacy use that would be common in the fields.”

-Timothy Shanahan

Research demonstrates that every field of study creates, evaluates, and communicates knowledge in specialized ways. To “know” in a discipline means you understand the purposes of that discipline how knowledge is created and represented; how research is framed and pursued; what counts as evidence and how data generates claims; and how disciplinary experts read and write, solve problems, and make meaning.

Pedagogical Content Knowledge

Since reading and composing are central to every discipline and their meaning-making processes and advancement, it follows that every teacher is a teacher of reading and literacy as practiced in their discipline. Students need to understand how disciplinary experts use literacy and particular forms of textuality to do their work, and they need lots of scaffolded practice doing such work (notice, for example, how all Core standard focus on process—on the “how”). The activity of exercising Pedagogical Content Knowledge does not take time away from disciplinary teaching—it is, in fact, teaching students how to do the discipline in ways that will require them to deeply learn the whys and the whats.

This emphasis is in fact a focus on all next generation standards, including the CCSS:

apprenticing students into how to do various disciplines and how to be literate in various disciplines.

90/90/90 Schools Research

In the 90/90/90 schools in Reeves’ research the students wrote everyday. Students processed information in a much clearer way when they are required to write and writing gives teachers a clearer idea of what help students need. But more importantly, there was an association between writing and performance in other subject areas. Many successful schools reported that they had to sacrifice time in curriculum areas other than writing, reading and math in order to “cover” the entire curriculum. However more than 80% of the elementary schools improved science scores. In addition when writing scores went up, math scores went up. “It is difficult to escape the conclusion that an emphasis on writing improvement has a significant impact on student test scores in other disciplines, including math and science.” (Reeves, 1999, p. 270)

Tierney’s H.S. Biology class

The experimental group kept reading logs, “neuron notes” (learning logs), wrote practice essays, wrote to other audiences, end of class summaries, did group writing and essay tests. The comparison group did none of the writing except limited group writing and took multiple-choice tests. Each group took a multiple-choice test at the end of a unit, as well as recall tests. The results of the multiple-choice tests were about the same for each group. But the results of the recall test were substantially different. After sixteen weeks, the experimental group scored 11% higher on the genetics recall test. Tierney and Stookey concluded that the students who had the opportunity to use expressive writing retained more of what they learned. They believe the students “learn the subject matter more thoroughly and their papers, reflecting what the student understands, will be more interesting to read”. (Nagin & NWP, 2003, p.54)

Writing: A ticket to work or a ticket

outCollege Board report:

Writing: A ticket to work or a ticket out.

Surveyed 120 corporations

“People who can not write clearly will not be hired”.

“Writing is a “threshold skill” for both employment and promotion, particularly for salaried employees. Half the responding companies report that they take writing into consideration when hiring professional employees. “In most cases, writing ability could be your ticket in . . . or it could be your ticket out,” said one respondent. “

Why write?To explain • To synthesize

To inform • To summarize

To describe • To define

To argue • To prove

To compare/contrast • To cite evidence

To Problem Solve • To interpret

To analyze • To report

Depth of Knowledge

Quickwrite:• Things I already know or do about writing to learn

Why it is worth spending time on writing in my class

Beginning and ending:

Math, science, Physical Education, etc. autobiography. Ask students to write their own history with a particular subject: their successes, setbacks, attitudes, highlights, lowlights, etc. What is their math autobiography?

At the end of a unit or the year, ask students to write how they are scientists, mathematicians, etc. How do they or how can they use what they learned in their life.

Quick, informal writing:

Admit Slips: when entering the class, students write on an assigned topic such as “What did you notice was important in yesterday’s discussion”.

Crystal Ball: Students describe what they think class will be about, what will happen next in a science lab.

Found poems: Students reread an assigned text and find key phrase that “speak” to them, then rearrange these into a poem structure without adding any of their own words.

Wonderopolis: wonderopolis.org: Write about the “wonder of the day”. Write about your own wondering.

Yesterday’s news: Students summarize the information presented the day before either from a film, lecture, discussion or reading.

Class or Individual Blog: Students can summarize class content for each day on a blog or discuss engaging topics online with each other or a wider audience.

“What if” scenarios: Students respond to prompts in which information is changed from what they know and they predict outcomes. Example: What would happen if penicillin had not be discovered?

Take a stand: Students discuss their opinions about a controversial topic such as “Just because we can, should we clone people?”

Letters: Students write letters to others including elected officials, family, friends, people who make a difference. etc. Write to real or imaginary people. See “Open Letter to the Universe” video.

Exit slips: Used as a closure activity at the end of the period, students write on a prompt such as, “The three best things I learned today are…”

Writing Frames: Frames are a good support for English learners and struggling writers. They provide a scaffold for writing that can be gradually released.

20 Things (or 10 things) You didn’t know about: Discover Magazine features this on their back page. Writers list 20 interesting facts displayed in interesting ways.

Mentor Texts:•What does it feel like from Esquire magazine: Choose an experience and explain what it feels like The experience could include scientific or mathematic principles. In P.E.: what does it feel like to score a goal, steal the ball, hit a double, etc.

• The Ocean is… by Kathleen Kranking: Choose a topic and write what it is like using metaphors and similes.

• Diary of a worm by Doreen Cronin: Write about life from any object or living thing’s point of view.

• Hello ocean by Pam Munoz Ryan: Write about a living thing using all 5 senses, include relevant details.

Mentor Texts:The important book by Margaret Wise Brown:

Students write a paragraph about any topic citing the most important thing and other aspects of the topic.

Linnea’s Almanac by Cristina Bjork: Students keep an observational journal over a period of time like a moon journal, observing a patch of land over time, changes in food that is not refrigerated, etc.

Pigs will be pigs by Amy Axelrod & Sharon McGinley-Nally: Create extended story problems and illustrate. Create picture books of these story problems.

Designing Assignments

Create topics that invite inventive thinking and avoid topics that invite cliches or straight listing of facts.

Keep the assignment focused. A vague assignment with confusing directions invites dull, vacuous responses.

Choose topics with purpose. The more purposeful the assignment in students’ eyes, the more likely your are to accomplish our teaching aims. Would you want to do the assignment?

Make the topic meaningful within students’ experiences. Design topics that allow students to use their own experience or the semester’s work for examples and support.

Use specific terms such as define, illustrate, argue, compare, contrast, evaluate as precise signposts of your expectations. (Pull verbs from Webb’s Depth of Knowledge – at all levels)

Use creative formats for some assignments. (See RAFTS)

Whenever possible, allow for choice in writing assignments.

Define the grading criteria you’ll use.

Assigning vs. Teaching Writing

When writing is assigned:

Students write only on teacher’s topics

When writing is taught: Students have opportunities to create topics that matter to them

Teacher selects topics for papers without consideration of audience & purpose.

Audience & purpose for papers are specifically identified in assignments.

Students are asked to analyze, compare, describe, narrate, review and summarize without the strategies to successfully complete these tasks.

Students are given writing models, assignments & strategies to guide each of their different tasks.

Students are required to rewrite – in some cases. But rewriting is usually limited to correcting grammar, usage, etc

Students are encouraged to revise, edit and improve-and to correct drafts and then resubmit.

Students and teachers are bored by what students write.

Students and teachers are excited about what students write and make efforts to display and publish.

Starting Out Gently with Affective, Open-Ended

PromptsWriting about thinking is challenging. For this

reason, it's best not to start out having students write about unfamiliar mathematical or scientific ideas. First get them used to writing in a math and science class:

Begin with affective, open-ended questions about students' feelings.

I learned that I…

I discovered that I …

I was surprised that…

I noticed that I…

Once students have become accustomed to writing about their attitudes and feelings toward mathematics in their journals, they are ready to write about simple, familiar math concepts. It is important not to make the writing too difficult by asking them to write about unfamiliar math ideas. Using writing to review familiar math ideas will increase confidence and skill in writing as well as revisit important math concepts.

Explain what is important to know about fractions

Moving On: Writing About More Advanced Math

Concepts When you feel your students are ready, ask them to write about

more complex mathematical ideas, including concepts being taught at their current grade level. To help move students into this more advanced level of writing about their thinking. Here are some other suggestions to help :

1. Encourage students to use drawings and graphs to explain their thinking.

Research shows that using simple visual aids (diagrams, graphs, etc.) improves mathematical problem-solving ability, especially in female students.

2. As student writing progresses, ask students to write about their small group work.

Ask the group to write a summary of how they reached a solution, including any "false starts" or "dead ends."

Interactive Notebooks/Blogs

Real scientists keep notebooks:

Think as a scientist…

Record as a scientist…

Reflect as a scientist…

Write as a scientist.

Math Journals/Blogs

Why Journal?

1. Solve tricky problems: write about it from our point of view until solve them.

2. Make thinking visible

3. Gain clarity

4. Get feedback

5. Verify progress

What goes on the right side?

Start the page with the date and subject title at the top of the page.

ONLY odd numbered pages.

The right side is for writing down information you are given in class.

Notes from lectures, books or videos.

Vocabulary Words and their Definitions.

Notes for labs and lab instructions, procedures and materials.

Teacher Questions and Sample Problems

Any other type of INPUT you get in class.

On the left side:

Brainstorming •Diagrams

Mind mapping •Drawings

Concept Maps •Writing Prompts

Venn Diagrams •Commentary

Pictures •Flow chart

Drawings •Reflections

Significant Statements

What goes on the left side?

Interactive:Writer, teacher and/or peer returns to the

notebook to reflect and interact with it!

Students can discuss their notebook entries with each other.

Examples of interesting thinking or good writing can be shared with the class with doc cam.

Show what you know!

Student Blogs

Middle School Students’ math blogs

Ten commandments for science blogs: http://scienceblogs.com/digitalbio/2013/03/03/the-ten-commandments-of-student-science-blogging/

Good sites for student blogging

Kidblog.org is a free safe blogging site for schools. Teachers control and monitor student blogs. All student blogs are private by default, but teachers can choose to make certain posts public or share them with parents.

Edublogs.org is a secure blogging site that provides different levels of paid accounts depending on the number of teachers using the subscription.

Writing about Vocabulary

Many high concept terms can be learned more deeply and remembered longer by thinking about and writing about them in interesting ways.

Student sample

PerpendicularRight angles; divergent pathsSharp and uprightFrom that corner, that Point; that bend that began us Our shapes move in opposing waysSpreading and shifting Out from each otherPassing the same blocks and squares In this grid of a city.

At night, I pass the tiny Dots that make up our worldBits of light scattered evenly over Our web of steel and stoneI look up to the starsTheir light reflects the latticeOf bulbs beaming up from the buildingsI wonderIf there Our lines might run parallelOr if we are stillPerpendicular -Jessica Swan 

Rotate (by Tracy Tiers)

Active ingredient: movement…………………..100%

Uses:

Temporarily relieves vertical alignment of pdf file due to improper scanning technique

Temporarily relieves substitution player from sideline duties when her volleyball team regains the serve

Temporarily relieves Earth from permanently facing the sun

Temporarily relieves soil from nurturing the same crops each season

Temporarily relieves the evening security guard from an all night shift

Warnings: Do not take rotate if you are prone to motion sickness or have an allergic reaction to change.

Dear Obtuse Angle:

I have come to the conclusion that we are no longer able to be together. As an obtuse angle, you are very large. You can be up to 180 degrees! As an acute angle, I am small and can only be up to 90 degrees. I want someone who can always live with me the same line. If you are 130 degrees then I can only be 50 degrees! What will happen if I grow to be 89 degrees? I just don't think it will work. For our future's sake, we must break up. I will pack up your stuff and place it at the end of the line by the end of the day.

Sincerely, Acute Angle -Sarah Stone

PerpetualPerpetual, the going and goingThe pedaling of a bikeRound and round without stoppingPerpetual, the going and goingLike the drizzly leak of a faucet at nightThe continued, unrelenting, drip, drip, dripPerpetual, the going and goingRelentless, persistence without desistingThe continued returning like that of the seasons

Perpetual, the going and goingA time of timelessnessLike the ever turning gears of a clockPerpetual, the going and goingLike a ceaseless metronomeWithout tire or break, waving back n' forthPerpetual, the going and goingNo sequel just auto-replayLike a bad movie continuously viewed

Perpetual, the going and goingThe non stop rhythmic patternLike the beating heart of an immortalPerpetual, the going and goingNo change, no beginning, no endThe wheel of motion bound by nothingPerpetual, the going and going…

Argument: The Universal Writing GenreThe reason the CCSS focus so heavily on

argumentation as a genre is because of its frequency of use in the real world.

Argument is more evidence based and persuasion is more emotion based.

Argument serves every content area.

An argument is a claim supported by evidence.

“Slip or Trip”

Writing Arguments

Claim

Evidence

Warrants: what makes sense in the natural world? A warrant ties the evidence to the claim.

Writing Argument with Evidence

• Mythbusters: Moon Hoax (see resource list for video links)

Mythbusters Moon Hoax google form Evidence Chart: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1UOif_F5XEldQrMxT3-tpkKSKyOs494MpvvZglPIMSnU/edit#gid=0

RAFTS

Math RAFT sample

Math RAFT sample

Science RAFT sample

8th grade teacher shares how she used RAFT to write in her science class.

Greatest Scientist of All Time

Role: you

Audience: scientist from a past era

Format: written interview

Topic: the greatest contribution to science

Strong Verb: write and document

What would RAFT look like in your class?

Choose a unit you teach

Draft some possible RAFTs students could choose.

Leave some blank spots in your chart that students could fill in.

RAFT Student template: http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/printouts/RAFTWriting.pdf

RAFT rubric

Inquiry Study

Engaging Students in Deeper Learning

What is inquiry?

“The process of addressing problems expressed by guiding

questions.”

(Wilhelm)

Inquiry Based Learning

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLqi0raxldc&feature=related

Inquiry based learning in an 8th grade science class: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8Lh5MfyE-E&feature=related

Why inquiry?

What are the most effective modes of instruction in the teaching of composition?

He analyzed all the studies on teaching composition and categorized the modes into: Grammar instructionFree writeSentence combiningModelsScalesInquiry

Hillock’s Research

“Inquiry focuses the attention of students on strategies for dealing with sets of data, strategies that will be used in writing. For example, treatments categorized as inquiry might involve students in finding and stating specific details that convey personal experience vividly, in examining sets of data to develop and support explanatory generalizations or that present ethical problems and in developing arguments about those situations.”

“…the teacher plans and uses activities that result in high levels of student interaction concerning particular problems parallel to those they encounter in certain kinds of writing, such as generating criteria and examples to develop extended definitions of concepts or generating arguable assertions from appropriate data and predicting and countering opposing arguments…This mode places a priority on high levels of students involvement… This mode places priority on structured problem solving activities with clear objectives, planned to enable students to deal with similar problems in composing.”

Setting up an Inquiry1. Identify an essential question and associated enduring understandings

2. Identify a final project: what can students do at the end of the unit that will demonstrate their knowledge.

3. Create a backwards plan: a carefully ordered set of activities that support students’ progress, text by text and activity by activity.

Getting started with a question:

Reframe standards as essential questions

Go through your standards and circle all the verbs. The higher level thinking skills the standards call for, the easier they can be met by inquiry:

* “identify”, “discuss”, “use” are low level thinking

* “identify and define” and “discuss craft” are mid level

* “evaluate”, “relate”, “connect”, “question”, “analyze” are higher level thinking.

What are the questions worth pursuing?

• What would you do for love? What makes good relationships?

Civil rights movement: What are our civil rights and how can we protect and promote them?

Is war ever necessary?

What is courage?

What happened to the dinosaurs?

Is Holden Caulfield a typical teenager or pathological adolescent?

What’s wrong with our school and how can we improve it?

In what ways do present cultures relate to their past and future?

Can liberty and security be balanced?

What makes an influential historical figure?

What are the costs and benefits of cloning stem cell research?

What is our proper relationship to nature?

What are the effects of genetically altered organisms?

Is progress always good?

What is a good leader?

What makes a good home –for us, for lobsters, bears?

An essential question:

Honors students “reality principle”. It addresses their point of view and need for inquiry to be interesting and relevant in their terms.

Addresses the “heart of the discipline” being studied. Essential disciplinary knowledge is required to answer it.

Possesses “emotive force, intellectual bite or edginess”. It invites students into ongoing conversation and debates about real world disciplinary issues.

Is open-ended, possible to contend, arguable. It must be complex enough to house multiple perspectives and possible answers.

Is concise and clearly stated

Is linked to data. There are available resources to use in the pursuit of answers.

May lead to new questions asked by students

What could be questions worth pursuing in your class?(related to your curriculum)

After identifying goals, brainstorm what kinds of writing that would demonstrate student attainment, understanding, mastery or use of concepts and procedures.

Ozobots Inquiry

Ozobots: http://www.ozobot.com

Ozobots app

sphero: http://www.gosphero.com

Middle School Sphero projects: http://blogs.southfieldchristian.org/middlepages/2015/03/sphero-challenges/

Inquiry

Students determine questions

Students develop proposals

Students determine criteria for moving forward on proposals

Students conduct experiments

Students “publish” results

Multi-genre writing

• Another way to pursue inquiry and demonstrate understandings.

• Multigenre, inquiry, project based learning, CCSS are all very compatible.

• Using multiple sources of information, analyzing and synthesizing then producing multiple genres to demonstrate learning.

Genres can be combined in one format:

Magazines

Zines

Newspapers

Informational picture books

Anthology

Multi-genre writing

Or students and teachers can enter into a kind of contract

identifying a particular number of different genres to answer their

question.

Getting Started:

Identify question(s)

Identify sources

Identify forms

The project should be arranged in some logical order. The writer needs to create a cohesion or flow to the project.

How do spiders spin webs?

Two voice poem

Diary of a spider

6 word memoir

Song (using old Spiderman tune)

Comic strip

Obituary

Recipe for a web

Student samples: Salem Witch Trials

Ben and Jerry’s

Digital Multi-genre projectsWalt Disney:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMopnh0QRyo&feature=related

Alcohol Awareness: http://writing.colostate.edu/gallery/multigenre/alcohol/index.htm

Samples of multi-genre papers: http://writing.colostate.edu/gallery/multigenre/index.htm

Tom Romano’s site with many resources including rubrics: http://www.users.miamioh.edu/romanots/Tom_Romano.html

Designing RubricsMatch criteria to assignment goals, i.e. what

concepts did you want students to learn.

Match writing criteria to content area: clearly communicated science concepts, math concepts, etc.

Used appropriate terminology correctly

Emphasize communicating ideas and organization

Keep grammar, usage, spelling in perspective (don’t over-emphasize)

1 2 3 4 5

Scientific Accuracy

Clearly communicated

Quotes & paraphrasing

Appropriate evidence

Grammar and spelling

Resources

Writing Fix has a RAFT prompt builder: RAFTS home page: http://writingfix.com/WAC/RAFT.htm

Writing Fix: Writing across the Curriculum, Number Fix: http://writingfix.com/WAC/NumberFix.htm

Writing Fix: Writing across the Curriculum, Science Fix: http://writingfix.com/WAC/ScienceFix.htm

See Resource list