Students often attain memorable experiences from cadaver dissections through reflective writing. For many, facing a dissection for the first time elicits a wide range of emotions. These may include thoughts of their own mortality to the sheer admiration of knowing that someone cared enough to help others learn about the body, even in death. Poems…

Writing can enhance learning by helping students put words to their thinking about course material. The purposes of this study were to assess the influence of a structured academic journal writing exercise on student learning in a food science class and to examine student responses to the experience. Hermeneutics, a philosophy of science and…

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)

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…

Invites colleagues in the "hard" sciences to embrace writing, reading, and thinking across the curriculum, and describes the use of "project" and "concept" composition assignments to that end in an organic chemistry course. (HTH)

Described is a physics course for satisfying the junior-year writing requirement. Gives nine assignment examples of the course. Discusses the use of the writing component as a teaching aid in junior level "Electricity and Magnetism" course. (YP)

Addresses many questions teachers might have about incorporating writing in science curricula. (JK)

Describes a writing-intensive ecology course designed to foster the development of writing and critiquing skills early in the semester and immerse students in the peer-review process toward the end of the course. By critiquing other scientific papers, students gain insight into the effectiveness of their own writing while also increasing their…

Discusses ways in which poetry and etymology can be used to capture and/or convey scientific principles. (JK)

Describes an instructional approach which focuses on writing skills as a means of promoting science learning. Gives examples of science writing and research activities for grades two and six. Also discusses the goals, procedures, and results of the project. (ML)

Encourages the use of imaginative writing about scientific phenomena and/or principles. Offers samples of student writings on the concept of succession. Includes a listing of topics which could be used for creative writing exercises and provides suggestions for classroom implementation. (ML)

Presents elementary school children's poetry about a variety of scientific topics. Indicates that children make no false dichotomy between science and poetry. (JK)

A writing instructor at a California University, assigned to teach expository writing in a science course, restructured the course before the third paper assignment to allow students to write, to discover, and explore ideas about science, rather than simply to learn standards of rhetoric or scientific writing. This assignment required students to…