Developing new scales to measure aspects of mentoring, including guidance in scientific communication (SciComm), is important to enhance success among trainees pursuing research careers in science and medicine. This study examined the psychometric properties of three new measures, based on social cognitive career theory (SCCT), as mentors address…

This pilot study investigates content-area preservice teacher perceptions of literacy practices as humanizing pedagogy. Findings from open-ended survey questions and a focal interview suggest preservice teachers see the connection between literacy learning and the teaching of their content area. They also have a budding understanding of how…

Writing support programs for students in writing-intensive, disciplinary courses are well established and take many forms, including communication centers, web-based skill development programs, and embedded writing consultants. This paper assesses the effectiveness of a program that embeds a writing grader, who assesses only the grammar of…

The purpose of this mixed-methods study was to examine the relationship between science writing and student science achievement and how teachers implement the writing strategy claim, evidence, and reasoning (CER) in their science classrooms. Writing is a critical tool for scientific literacy and student achievement. We must teach our students to…

This article shares findings from the implementation of an ongoing National Professional Development (NPD) project that advances second language literacy and biliteracy in secondary content areas. The project is part of a research-practice partnership between a large public university and two school districts in south Texas that engages in-service…

Using a national sample of students' writing from the National Study of Writing Instruction, this study examines the current state of writing in the mathematics classroom and the extent to which enactments align with the intentions established in the research base and curricula articulated by NCTM and the CCSS-M. Over 3,000 writing assignments…

Teaching scientific writing in biology classes is challenging for both teachers and students. This article offers and reviews several useful 'toolkit' items that instructors of science writing can use to improve college student success. The tools in this kit are both conceptual and practical, and include: (1) Understanding the role of student…

This qualitative case study was an in-depth exploration into how writing may facilitate disciplinary literacy in an eleventh grade physics classroom. In response to the dearth of writing instruction in high school disciplinary classrooms, this study was an in-depth exploration into how writing may facilitate the cultivation of disciplinary writing…

This study investigated attitudes of linguistically diverse students towards writing in English in four different domains: general academic writing, writing in humanities, writing in science-related subjects (STEM), and writing in electronic communication. A total of 77 Hispanic bilingual/ELL adult students at an alternative high school in…

This article reviews insights from place-based education and ecological models of writing to show how these theories can work together to shape locally focused composition pedagogies. From place-based education, the researcher takes an emphasis on physical specificity, and from ecological models of writing, the researcher takes an emphasis on…

It is generally accepted in the literature that writing assignments, even short ones, increase both student writing ability and comprehension of the material covered in the assignments. As class enrollments increase, particularly at the introductory level, however, instructors often sacrifice writing assignments because of the difficulty in…

This column provides ideas and techniques to enhance your science teaching. This month's issue discusses planning and using interactive word walls to support science and reading instruction. Many classrooms have word walls displaying vocabulary that students have learned in class. Word walls serve as visual scaffolds to support instruction. To…

Teacher Preparation Programs must work towards not only preparing preservice teachers to have knowledge of classroom pedagogy but also must expand preservice teachers understanding of content knowledge as well as to develop higher-order thinking which includes thinking critically. This mixed methods study examined how writing shapes thinking and…

This research embedded in the National Study of Writing Instruction examines higher- and lower-achieving adolescents' stances toward content-area writing through a qualitative discourse analysis of interviews with 40 students in California, Kentucky, New York, and Texas secondary schools. The study asked: (1) How do students' stances toward…

The education field must go beyond calling attention to an adolescent literacy crisis and the need for additional resources--a critical need--to treating adolescent literacy as the foundation for more ambitious efforts to improve middle and high schools in their entirety (Heller & Greenleaf, 2007; Jacob, 2008). Instruction around adolescent…