Parents, educators, and students have criticized the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts & Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects for expecting students to regurgitate evidence from assigned texts rather than think for themselves. This article argues that this popular critique is accurate and that…

Provides examples and a summary of the results of a survey completed by nonscience majors (n=57). Students provided information about the importance of chemistry to their majors and argued their point of view in a paper. (DDR)

Disputes the claim that narrative writing is of lesser value than expository forms, and argues that narrative holds great potential for use in writing curricula. Describes a summer science institute for minority students in which narrative was utilized. (HB)

Argues that writing about physics forces students to come to grips with the material and with what they do and do not understand. Describes the use of writing in an introductory course. Discusses benefits of a decentralized "writing across the curriculum" program. (JRH)

These four articles focus on developing basic reading, science, and job search skills: "Reading Program for Vocational Classes" by Augustus Luparelli; "Why Teach Employability Skills?" by Larry Siefferman; "Improving Vocabulary and Reading Skills" by Edythe Conway; and "Science in Everyday Life" by Virginia Eleazer and George Carney. (SK)

This report summarizes and compares the views of six experts-three university professors and three elementary teacher-concerning elementary-level science teaching. The experts were asked to treat the topic comprehensively by addressing the following: (1) issues of curriculum (goals and objectives, selection and organization of content); (2)…