“To Be or Not to Be Literate in Science” Being Literate In Science Prior knowledge is helpful with science. Students can challenge what they already know and incorporate it with what they are learning. Being literate in science entitles students to be able to do hands on activities to see if they can apply the concepts they have learned with experiments. Understanding science not only involves understanding the scientific language, but being able to apply them in inquiry based investigation. The inquiry based nature of the science process draws on students’ abilities to successfully participate in hands on experience, observe phenomena, discuss findings, and draw conclusions. Typical literacy problems in science includes not being able to understand the different scientific concepts. By students not understanding the concepts it interferes with them being able to conduct various science experiments and other hands-on activities that may be done in the classroom. ISSUE #: 147May 12, 2010 EXPLORING READING IN SCIENCE

INSIGHT Reading Material for Science One-on-one With Students One of the main things struggle with in science is the concepts. It is important to know the scientific concepts so that you can understand why things occur they way they do in science. For instance, a very important concept in science is the First Law of Thermodynamics which states energy can neither be created or destroyed. If a student doesn’t understand that then it will be hard for them to understand other Necessary information about energy. Another struggle is vocabulary. A lot of times students don’t really understand the language/vocabulary in science. How can the students be helped? It is important for teacher to identify what the issue is with their students if there is one. I will help my students by trying explain concepts more in depth by giving many examples and relating them to life. As far as vocabulary is concerned, I will make sure that I review terms on a regular basis so that they will stay fresh in their minds. Valuing Literacy in Science Literacy in science is not to be taken lightly. Because, science is the basis of life, it is to be taken seriously. Science is more than just reading and taking test. It is important for students to understand which means they have to be able to experience what they are taught. The classroom is the place to experiment. In my classroom, students will conduct experiments as well as design them. They will also do the typical book work and tests too. I want the students to do more engaging so that I can see their understanding of the different science concepts. Date today 05/12/2010 I plan to use textbooks but I plan to use them as resources. I want my students to engage in readings outside of the textbooks. I want them to use articles from the web, magazines, newspapers, and other books such as novels and short stories. I don’t want my students to be textbook bound for the whole school year.

NEWS Student’s Enjoying Reading Research It is important for teachers to be able to work with students in their literate areas of science. Kylene Beers in “When Kids Can’t Read” gives teachers many ways to help students. She mainly tells teacher to engage in activities with their students. She kind of inform teachers to find out what the issue is when it comes to students who are not quite understanding what they are reading. There are many activities that are described in her book to help change the Non interest that student’s have in reading. Some students find reading boring. There are ways that you can get student’s thinking about the topic they are going read about. Beers really gives a lot of support to teachers when it comes to reading and their students. Support to Parents Parents should be very active when it comes to their child’s literate abilities. There are 7 habits are of a good reader. Those habits can be found at this website: agoodreader.pdf agoodreader.pdf If parents can get these in their head then they will be able to get involved with their children and their reading. Date: 05/12/2010 Reading doesn’t just have to include books. It can also include technology. As well as using technology, I will include private reading time with my students, kind of like SSR! I would let my student’s come and tell me about their reading in their own way.

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