Language and Literacy: Tools to Promote Disciplinary Learning

P. David Pearson UC Berkeley WWW.SCIENCEANDLITERACY.ORG

WEBSITE WHERE I STORE PRESENTATIONS!!!

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Context for Our Work

 NSF-funded

Seeds of Science/Roots of Reading

Program  Collaborators: UC-Berkeley ’ s Lawrence Hall of Science and Graduate School of Education  Revision of GEMS units to integrate literacy with firsthand science  Curriculum development and research  USE READING, WRITING AND LANGUAGE to enhance inquiry and knowledge acquisition in science

In the spirit of full disclosure     At the urging of NSF, when we accept funds for R&D, we have a moral obligation to bring the product to market  As a way of ensuring distribution and, hopefully, impact The relationship with publishers is diametrically opposite what we experience in literacy At Lawrence Hall, no individual accrues royalties   The money goes back into a development fund to support new efforts.

FOSS supported Seeds and Roots.

Huge difference in the size of the markets for literacy versus science.

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Survey     Elementary?

Secondary?

College?

What ’ s the difference

Elementary Teachers Love  Their kids

Secondary Teachers Love  Their subjects

College Teachers Love  Themselves

12 Integrated Units: Reading, Writing, and Language as Tools for Acquiring Knowledge and Inquiry in Science

Grades 2 — 3

Soil Habitats Shoreline Science Designing Mixtures Gravity and Magnetism

Grades 3 — 4

Variation and Adaptation Digestion and Body Systems Weather and Water Light Energy

Grades 4 — 5

Aquatic Ecosystems Planets and Moons Models of Matter Chemical Changes

2

nd

-5

th

Grade Scope & Sequence

The Future Extend to 6-8 Gates and Carnegie Extend to K-1

Reading to Learn is Learning to Read

Why integrate science and literacy?

• Benefits • Pitfalls



What are some pitfalls?

      Texts eclipse students ’ involvement in inquiry science Use of texts leads to science as declarations of fact (not scientific enterprise) Trade texts frequently include misinformaiton and promote misconceptions Science is too often memorization of words Science texts are too hard —not within students ’ instructional reading levels Science takes time away from important literacy skills —literacy is essential; science is a luxury

Benefits: Why integrate science and literacy?

 There are limits to learning from both text and experience  Reading and writing (and language) are authentic to inquiry science  Reading and writing best reside in a disciplinary context  Congested curriculum: finding time in the day for science  Evidence of mutual benefit (the final segment)  Defensible and effective way of meeting the CCSS challenge.



Each Seeds/Roots unit:        4 weeks or 8 weeks in length 1 science book per week 1 reference book materials kit student investigation notebook copy master booklet summative assessment booklet

Books in the Shoreline Science unit

Agenda for Today

Introduce 3 Guiding Principles of Science Literacy Integration through answering these questions:  How can science be used as a context for literacy learning?

 How can text be used to support rather than eclipse inquiry science?

 What goals for knowledge, skills & strategies are shared between science and literacy?



Model Instructional Sequence: A WHIRLWIND TOUR…

 What is sand composed of?  Where does sand come from?

 How is sand formed? 17

Read About Beaches and Shorelines

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Read About Beaches and Shorelines

 Sets context for investigation of sand  Introduces important vocabulary and foundational concepts  Shoreline is a place where water meets land  There are shorelines all around the world  A sandy beach is one kind of shoreline  Beaches are covered with materials , such as sand or coral or debris  Provides opportunities for the development of powerful world knowledge

Read-Discuss

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Investigate a Model Beach

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Investigate a Model Beach & Discuss

 Learn about models  Gather evidence about origin of beach objects  Provides a context for the development of academic language: beach, shoreline, sand, coral, materials, minerals, observe, evidence, model

Read-Discuss -Investigate-Discuss

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Investigate Composition of Sand

Tools • Sand cards/packets • Magnifying glass • Mineral Card 22

Investigate Composition of Sand

 Use tools to gather additional evidence about the composition of sand  Observe sand and record observations:  Use important subject-specific and academic words:  beach, shoreline, sand, coral, mineral, ocean,  force, composition, observe, evidence, model, investigate, explain, record, tools, material

Read-Discuss-Investigate-Discuss Investigate-Write

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Investigate a Model of Sand Formation

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Investigate a Model of Sand Formation

 Learn more about models  Gather evidence about the formation of sand  Begin to infer that sand is made of many of the things they found in their model beaches  Use more academic and subject specific language in the context of investigations…mineral, force, ocean, investigate, explain

Read-Discuss-Investigate-Discuss Investigate-Write -Investigate

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Read to Inform Investigations

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Read

Blow up from Gary ’ s Sand Journal 30

Read to Inform Investigations

 Read a book (Gary ’ s Sand Journal) that models observation and recording  Provides additional evidence about composition and formation of sand to inform investigations…scientist

Read-Discuss-Investigate-Discuss Investigate-Write-Investigate -Read

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Discuss Evidence and Explanations

Mystery Sand 33

Discuss Evidence and Explanations

 Use information from investigations and text to make inferences about the age, origin, and formation of sand.

 Share evidence with others.

 Discuss a new sand, using all of the vocabulary they have learned and language of argumentation structures.

Read-Discuss-Investigate-Discuss Investigate-Write-Investigate-Read Discuss and Write

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Guiding Principle 1: Engage students in firsthand and secondhand investigations to make sense of the natural world.

Experience

First hand

Text

Second hand



Roles of Text in Inquiry Science

Provide Context Support Firsthand Experiences

Model

Roles of Text in Inquiry Science

Provide Secondhand Experiences with Data

Roles of Text in Inquiry Science

Provide Content

Text and Inquiry 1 2 3 4 8 9 5 6 7 Explore the topic Ask a question Make a hypothesis Plan and conduct an investigation Record and organize data Analyze results Make an explanation based on evidence Ask a new question Communicate results Provide context X Deliver content X X X X Model X X X X X X X X X Support secondhand inquiry X X Support firsthand inquiry X X X X X

Text and Learning Cycle Engage Explore Explain Extend Evaluate Provide context X X X Deliver content X X X Model X X X X X Support secondhand inquiry Support firsthand inquiry X X X X X X

Authenticity in Science: Why scientists read… Provide Context Deliver Content Modeling Supporting Second hand Investigations Supporting Firsthand Investigations Scientists read to situate research Scientists read to learn findings Scientists replicate others ’ procedures and experiments Scientists read and interpret others ’ data and findings Scientists use reference books

Guiding Principle 2: Engage students through multiple learning modalities Inquiry-Only Approaches Do It Text-Only Approaches Talk It

Hands-On Experiences

Read It

Discussions

Write It

Reading Writing

Guiding Principle 3: Capitalize on Synergies Between Science and Literacy

Synergy 1: Words ARE Concepts

    Learning the academic language of science means forming rich conceptual networks of words Word knowledge at its most mature is conceptual knowledge Words are labels for concepts and ideas Excellent vocabulary development is nearly indistinguishable from excellent concept development 

Degree of Control

Little



Passive



Active



Fluid

Habitat

Knowing how the word sounds or looks when it is written.

Or an everyday meaning (home)

Degree of Control

Little



Passive



Active



Fluid

Habitat:

the place where an organism gets the food, water, light, and shelter that it needs to survive Knowing its definition

Degree of Control

Little



Passive



Active



Fluid

Shelter Food Water Light

Habitat

Shoreline Desert Forest Knowing its relationship to other words and concepts

greDee of Control

Little



Passive



Active



Fluid

A habitat has everything an animal needs to survive. The grassland habitat is windy with few trees.

Knowing its use in context

Degree of Control

Little



Passive



Active



Fluid

 Application  Use the word as we engage in inquiry about the phenomena we are learning  Bind the verbal and graphic representation to activity 

If we wish to maintain a terrarium in our classrooms, we should establish conditions that are consistent with the organisms

’

natural habitats.

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Degree of Control

Little



Passive



Active



Fluid



Synthesis

:  Employ the word when synthesizing and sharing our emerging knowledge about the phenomena we are studying.



All living things exist within habitats and have adaptations that allow them to survive in those habitats. No one habitat can support all living habitats

.

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Words are Concepts

Habitat

Shelter Food Water Light Desert

Habitat

Shoreline Forest

If we wish to maintain a terrarium in our classrooms, we should establish conditions that are consistent with the organisms

’

natural habitats.

Recognition Definition Habitat: the place where an organism gets the food, water, light, and shelter that it needs to survive Relationships Context A habitat has everything an animal needs to survive. The grassland habitat is windy with few trees.

Application Synthesis

All living things exist within habitats and have adaptations that allow them to survive in those habitats. No one habitat can support all living habitats.



From Passive to Active to Fluid Control  Target a focused set of terms  Provide multiple exposures to science terms through multiple modalities  Systematically and explicitly introduce terms in a thematically networked way  Make connections between target words and words students already know  Emphasize use over exposure

Which words to teach—A precarious balancing act 53

Shoreline Science

: Our original vocabulary list…                       shoreline model organism seaweed algae predator prey near shore beach kelp wrack muddy sandy pebbly river stream lake ocean physical factors interactions survive escape protection                        food shelter plant algae animal rock mineral properties observable earth material erosion weathering transport composition formation movement investigation wind glacier waves volcanoes currents tides                      people inference evidence organism survival behavior structure growth reproduction resources oil spill pollution prevent reduce plastics marine debris damage habitat scientist

Which Words?

 A manageable number that are:  High-utility in the discipline (and in school)  Necessary for understanding target concepts and processes  Taken together, important, related concepts 

Which Words?

 Conceptually-core, unit-specific words  Process/inquiry type vocabulary 

Conceptually core words          beach composed/ composition current erosion force habitat marine material nearshore • • • • • • • • • ocean organism predator prey sand seaweed shore/shoreline structure survive

Conceptual networks trump almost everything else.

 They chronicle the growth of our vocabulary and our knowledge  An example 58

Vocabulary as conceptual networks Vocabulary as labels for our knowledge decomposers are organisms that live in the soil and breakdown dead organisms plants are organisms that live in the soil decomposers release nutrients into the soil most roots grow in the soil where they absorb nutrients and water roots are an example of a structure which is an adaptation organisms are living things, such as plants and animals a habitat is where an organism lives and gets what it needs to survive adaptations are structures and behaviors that help an animal survive

Even Inquiry words belong to semantic families           compare evidence explain/explanation investigate/investigation model observe/observation predict/prediction question record science/scientists 

Conceptual networks for science process words Model Evidence Observe

Investigate Model Observe Evidence Explain

Investigate Tools Model Evidence Explain Observe Record

Make systematic links between science and everyday words

Scientific Language

conclude categorize, classify predict, infer explore observe, analyze, discover, demonstrate report, explain explain record habitat evidence

Everyday Language

figure out group guess, think look at see show tell tell, show write down home clues, proof 

Teaching Words as Concepts

 Emphasize powerful science words  beach, composed/composition, current, erosion, force, habitat, marine, material, nearshore, ocean, organism, predator, prey, protect, sand, seaweed, shore/shoreline, structure, survive 

Teaching Words as Concepts    Repeated opportunities for exposure and practice Teach words as networks of related concepts Teach words through text, talk, and experience Write it Do it Read it Talk it 

What strategies are shared between science and literacy?

 Comprehension and inquiry are the accepted meaning making strategies in science and literacy  Comprehension and inquiry share goals and strategies  The cognitive strategies are all about making meaning from experience

Some Shared Strategies Applying Prior Knowledge Setting Goals Making Predictions Making Inferences Making Connections

Teaching Inquiry/Comprehension Strategies

 Select a strategy that has utility in science and in reading  Pose questions and use terminology that invokes the use of the strategies when reading and when investigating  Reflect on the similarity of these cognitive strategies

How do we know that these are really similar across science and literacy?

  First, we cede the point that the nature of the evidence is fundamentally different But…  Can we see a fundamental cognitive similarity between the processes widely used in science and literacy?

 Can you use the same rubric to score activities in science and literacy

Applying Prior Knowledge Setting Goals Making Predictions Making Inferences Making Connections

Can the same rubrics be used to evaluate student performance in both domains?

Making Predictions 0 Makes prediction with no apparent reasoning 1 Provides prediction supported by unrelated evidence 2 Provides prediction supported by related evidence 3 Is able to revise prediction to take into account additional evidence 4 Assesses the nature and quality of evidence

Evidence-based Explanations 0 Explanation does not refer to evidence 1 Cites some evidence to support explanation 2 Cites multiple pieces of evidence to support an explanation 3 Synthesizes evidence to create explanations beyond what the students have been taught 4 Assesses the nature and quality of the evidence

   Science is all about language…but language is more than words. Science is a discourse involving ways of talking, writing, and being.

Learning science includes learning the ways that scientists describe, explain, predict, synthesize, and argue Ways of communicating in science are different from those of everyday life Astronomy is not the sun, moon and stars; it is a way of talking about the sun, moon and stars. Paul Goodman, early 1970s.

Teaching the Language of Science

 Instead of avoiding scientific terminology and register in classrooms, we embrace it  Using science terminology in investigating, discussing, and writing about science - because this is what scientists do  Learning the language of argumentation

So does this work?

Seeds/Roots Efficacy Research • • • Conducted with independent researchers at the University of California Los Angeles Utilized randomized-control designs Resulted in consistently positive results

Seeds/Roots Efficacy Research • • • Conducted with independent researchers at the University of California Los Angeles Utilized randomized-control designs Resulted in consistently positive results

Three “ Gold Standard ” Studies    Grades 2/3 Soil Habitats & Shoreline Science Grades 3/4 Light Energy Grades 4/5 Planets and Moons (ongoing)

Shoreline Science

(Grades 2/3)

Percent Growth

(*

p <.05

) CCNTROL SEEDS AND ROOTS

Light Energy

(Grades 3/4)

Percent Growth

(*

p <.01

) CCNTROL SEEDS AND ROOTS

Light Energy

(Grades 3/4)

Percent Growth in Writing

( *

p<.01

) 90.0% 80.0% 70.0% 60.0% 50.0% 40.0% 30.0% 20.0% 10.0% 0.0% 3.2% 9.6% Strength of Conclusion 49.7% 37.4% 9.6% 30.3% Overall Clarity 9.0% Strength of Introduction 11.7% Use of Evidence CCNTROL SEEDS AND ROOTS

Grade 3-4 Efficacy Study: Writing, con

’

t

50,0% 45,0% 40,0% 35,0% 30,0% 25,0% 20,0% 15,0% 10,0% 5,0% 0,0% 36.7%** 12,3% Correct Use of Science Concepts

Light Energy Struggling Readers Percent Growth in Students' Writing (**p<.01)

42.9%** Business-as-Usual Students (n=55) 9,7% 34.4%** 9,2% Use of Science Vocabulary Overall Writing Score CCNTROL SEEDS AND ROOTS

How does the average

Seeds/Roots

compare?

student

Effective for all students 

Struggling students

 Equivalent gains for students who started out with lower scores (Grade 2-3 study) 

English language learners

 ELLs in

Seeds/Roots

classrooms made greater gains than ELLs in comparison classrooms (Grade 4-5 study, subset of classrooms with high percentage ELLs)

Generalized Results:

STUDENTS

  Outperform control students on measures of:   science conceptual knowledge science vocabulary Perform equivalently or higher than control students on measures of:   science reading comprehension science writing

TEACHERS

  Spend more time teaching science than control teachers Have more student-to student talk in their classrooms

The new sheriff in town will enforce integration  Common Core Standards for ELA  Emerging Science Framework  PARCC and Smarter Balanced Assessments 91

Just to remind us College and Career Readiness Standards Common Core State Standards (grade by grade) Assessments to measure their mastery

10 recurring standards for College and Career Readiness Show up grade after grade In more complex applications to more sophisticated texts Across the disciplines of literature, science, and social studies

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What to do about the new publisher’s guidelines?

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What the right hand giveth…    By emphasizing required achievements, the Standards leave room for teachers, curriculum developers, and states to determine how those goals should be reached and what additional topics should be addressed. Thus, the Standards do not mandate such things as a particular writing process or the full range of metacognitive strategies that students may need to monitor and direct their thinking and learning. Teachers are thus free to provide students with whatever tools and knowledge their professional judgment and experience identify as most helpful for meeting the goals set out in the Standards.”

The left hand taketh away…    All students, including those who are behind, have extensive opportunities to encounter and comprehend grade-level complex text as required by the standards.

Questions and tasks require careful comprehension of the text before asking for further evaluation and interpretation.

Scaffolds enable all students to experience the complexity of the text, rather than avoid it.

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So…      It isn’t so much that these are bad ideas BUT They do compromise the degrees of freedom offered in the CCSS themselves.

And you should have seen them BEFORE a lot of folks complained about them… “Additional materials markedly increase the opportunity for regular independent reading of texts that appeal to students’ interests to develop both their knowledge and joy in reading.” 99

Reading and writing are better when they are tools not goals

      

If we don

’

t realign the current curricular imbalances, science and social studies may suffer… but ultimately reading and writing will suffer reading and writing are not about reading and writing in general they are about reading and writing particulartexts that are grounded in particular experiences they both depend upon the existence, the acquisition and the utilization of knowledge (note the comprehension revolution!) not knowledge in general but knowledge of particular disciplines, domains of inquiry, topics, patterns, concepts, and facts In short, the very stuff of subject matter curriculum!

NY Times, Tuesday, March 28, 2006 

Our current view of curriculum

A mo

d

el we like: Tools by Disciplines

Reading Writing Language Academic Disciplines………..

Science Social Studies Mathe matics

Literature



Early: Tools dominate Academic Disciplines………..

Science Social Studies Mathe matics

Literature

Reading Writing Language



Later: Disciplines dominate Academic Disciplines………..

Science Social Studies Mathe matics

Literature

Reading Writing Language 

Weaving is even a better metaphor than a matrix Reading Writing math literature Social studies Science Language 

In all honesty, this work is a throwback  Deweyian inspired integrated curriculum  British integrated day movement  Multi- and inter-disciplinary curriculum  Reading and writing across the curriculum  But I would also add LANGUAGE across the curriculum 107

So what is the bottom line in the science literacy interface?

Read it Write it Talk it Do it Do it Talk it Write it Read it In any order and any combination… In every order and every combination!



How to Ease the Literacy-Science Tensions in the Current Educational Context Literacy  Literacy is eating up the school day-it has become the curricular bully • Literacy doesn ’ t have to put science off the curricular stage-it can become a curricular buddy Only a small phonological and orthographic shift… D 