Writing in Science: How to Scaffold Instruction to Support Learning » (1st Edition)

In the science classroom writing is much more than an exercise for students to document their steps during an investigation. It s an important vehicle for describing their thought processes and the evidence that supports their reasoning. Writing in Science shows you how to encourage students to grow as scientists and writers by moving beyond recounting how they completed their work and toward explaining what they learned.

Writing in Science shares proven methods for supporting improvement in how students write and think about science. It provides practical guidelines for using science notebooks in grades K-5 to teach and assess science writing in a way that develops students conceptual knowledge and expository writing abilities as well as their thinking and scientific skills. Betsy Rupp Fulwiler shares strategies for scaffolding and modeling higher-level forms of scientific writing such as:

• observations
• cause and effect
• comparisons
• data analysis
• conclusions.

Fulwiler packs Writing in Science with numerous illustrations and tools to get you started, including:

• more than 50 entries from science notebooks, annotated with remarks about instruction and formative assessment
• scientific writing from English language learners and special-needs students
• examples and focus questions that apply to 18 popular units from the widely used STC, FOSS, and Insights kits
• 17 blackline masters of graphic organizers and writing frameworks
• specific assessment protocols and guidelines to help you analyze notebook entries and provide constructive, formative feedback to students
• planning guidelines that explain how to develop writing curricula for science units.

Best of all, Fulwiler s methods are not only backed by research but have also been successfully implemented in the Seattle Public Schools.

Help students develop their scientific thinking in an incredibly effective way: by writing. Push them away from detailing procedures and into writing that helps them grow as writers, scientific thinkers, and learners. And do it all while meeting inquiry-based science goals and supporting writing instruction across the content areas. Read Writing in Science--you ll discover that pencil and paper are among the most important materials in any scientific experiment.

Foreword   Wendy Saul     ix
Acknowledgments     xi
Introduction     xv
Understanding the Basics of This Integrated Science-Writing Approach and What Research Says About It     1
Using Science Notebooks in Integrating Science and Expository Writing Instruction     12
Developing and Organizing Scientific Understanding and Thinking: Science Word Banks and Graphic Organizers     28
Teaching Simple Forms of Scientific Thinking and Expository Writing: Observations, Cause and Effect, and Comparisons     44
Teaching Complex Forms of Scientific Thinking and Expository Writing: Reasoning, Data Analysis, and Conclusions     81
Assessing Science Notebook Entries     113
Planning Expository Writing Instruction for a Science Unit     133
Twelve Tips for Implementing This Integrated Science-Writing Approach     147
Blackline Masters for Graphic Organizers and Writing Frames     151
A First Grader's Complete Science Notebook     170
Resources for Inquiry-Based Science Units     190
Focus and Investigative Questions for Inquiry-Based Science Units     191