If students are to accurately model how scientists use written communication, they must be given opportunities to use creative means to describe science in the classroom. Scientists often integrate pictures, diagrams, charts, and other modes within text and students should also be encouraged to use multiple modes of communication. This article…

Today's adolescents write to communicate--via text messaging, instant messaging, and social networking posts. They are skilled at manipulating their out-of-school digital language to communicate with an intended audience and to capture individual voice. Because the writing is informal, teens have the ability to break rules, and they can do so…

The use of informal writing is common in sociology. This article presents one model for integrating informal written work with learning goals through a theoretical framework known as concentric thinking. More commonly referred to as "the PTA model" because of the series of cognitive tasks it promotes--prioritization, translation, and analogy…

To ensure a modern bioscience curriculum that responds to the current needs of stakeholders, there is a need to embed a range of generic capabilities that enables graduates to succeed in and contribute to a rapidly changing world, as well as building strong bioscience skills and knowledge. The curriculum must also prepare students for a rapidly…

Describes an approach to composition instruction in which the students are given a body of real or fictional evidence about a particular case and asked to interpret or explain it by means of a closely-reasoned argument. (HTH)

Describes a philosophy course with an expanded writing component. Includes samples of writing assignments. (HTH)

One of the author's main goals as a teacher is to impart the skills necessary for students to be successful in science, and that means teaching them how to think and write like scientists. At times, though, it seemed as though the author had exhausted all avenues without ever reaching this goal. At the beginning of each year, she starts her…

Discusses various ways that writing can facilitate learning in a developmental psychology course. Argues that writing assignments are valuable because they promote active learning and provide another way to teach psychology. (Author/GEA)

Explains how group journals can be used in literature classes to encourage students to respond to each others' ideas, by having students write entries on assigned or free-choice topics on odd-numbered pages, leaving even-numbered pages for other students' responses, disagreements, clarifications, and questions. Includes samples of student journal…

Presents a set of facts extracted from a high school biology textbook and two example paragraphs that students wrote in which they pulled these facts together. An analysis of each writing sample in terms of logical transition and clarity is presented. Suggests this method to help students construct relationships. (BC)

Noting that a case-study approach can stimulate student thinking and learning, this paper describes how students in a writing-intensive course on parasitology wrote brief medical case studies of parasites already studied for other students to read, evaluate, and identify the parasite. The paper presents a brief description of the course, an…

Ungraded writing is a way of increasing the amount of writing by geography students without unduly burdening the teacher. Two examples of ungraded writing assignments are described: in-class writing and periodic writing in a private journal. (RM)

The situational approach is one effective way of presenting students with technical writing assignments that represent "a close approximation of the writing chores which befall the gainfully employed technical writer in industry." The approach includes elements of both simulation and game playing, with some significant differences. The situational…

Describes a system for arranging assignments in a composition course that aims to prepare students for academic writing, by focusing entirely on exposition and its conceptual demands. (HTH)

In recent years academics have commonly bemoaned the lack of essay-writing ability exhibited by their students. Whether or not the halcyon era in which undergraduates routinely knew how to construct a persuasive essay ever truly existed, it is certainly the case that contemporary students can benefit from advice on preparation of a long-format…