Learning to reason through organic reaction mechanisms is challenging for students because of the volume of reactions covered in introductory organic chemistry and the complexity of conceptual knowledge and reasoning skills required to develop meaningful understanding. However, understanding reaction mechanisms is valuable for students because…

Paraphrasing is a signature practice of constructing intertextual discourse in academic writing. It is a story retelling technique commonly employed by academic writing classes to tackle plagiarism. However, teaching and learning of paraphrasing tend to place a very heavy emphasis on literal meanings of source messages and faithful reproductions…

In this study, I present a qualitative analysis of 11 writing portfolios drawn from a yearlong instructional program designed to apprentice students into the practices of argumentative writing typical of early-college coursework in the United States. The students' formal and informal writings were parsed into utterances and coded along two…

The purpose of this study was to explore the effect of sustained practice with argumentation on the quality of students' written arguments. Participants consisted of 37 students; 22 males and 15 females enrolled in a 6th grade middle school classroom. Students completed six argumentation tasks but only four of them were considered for data…

I discuss a pedagogical strategy in which we ask students to write about science. Such writing is to be done regularly and often, in class and out of class, in the format of brief "letters to a friend" and longer essays. The goal of this technique is not to teach students how to write; it is to use their writing to help them learn the science.…

In this article, we--a former high school language arts instructor and former K-3 gifted resource teacher--reflect on critical experiences with students that, although unique in scope, are bound together through a common concern: How can teachers provide meaningful writing experiences for talented young writers? We advocate for the use of high-end…

A critical component of science is the role of inquiry and argument in moving scientific knowledge forward. However, while students are expected to engage in inquiry activities in science classrooms, there is not always a similar emphasis on the role of argument within the inquiry activities. Building from previous studies on the Science Writing…

Describes using the writing process as an instructional strategy in science classes to encourage critical thinking. (PR)