This article describes a multi-class project that employs statistical computing and writing in a statistics class. Three courses, General Ecology, Meteorology, and Introductory Statistics, cooperated on a project for the EPA's Student Design Competition. The continuing investigation has also spawned several undergraduate research projects in…

This yearlong ethnographic case study investigated higher and lower track adolescents' experiences with core content-area (social studies, science, and math) writing in one urban working-class district. Teacher, student, and administrator interviews; field notes; and students' written work comprised the data set. The findings from this…

Writing has an important role in science education and practice. Emphasizing the interdisciplinary collaboration between English rhetoric studies and biology, seemingly disparate disciplines, we describe a model for a scientific writing and communication course. The goals of the course were to prepare students for science-oriented careers, as well…

The purpose of this reflective article is to present an alternative that incorporates the four language skills in all content areas through technology-based dual-language centers for emergent bilinguals at the elementary level. The authors propose a matrix to plan the centers and include three examples to facilitate language transfer in English…

A critical issue in education today is that many middle and high school students are not able to read on grade level (Alvermann & Rush, 2004; Biancarosa & Snow, 2010; Heller & Greenleaf, 2007; Houge, Geier, & Peyton, 2008). In an effort to deal with the problem, many schools encourage all teachers, regardless of their subject area,…

We designed and implemented a first-year seminar in science course at the University of British Columbia to allow students to develop and improve their scientific writing and argumentation skills. To evaluate the efficacy of the course, we examined the progression that students made between the beginning and the end of the course as assessed by…

Students who are reclassified from English Language Learners (ELLs) to Fluent English Proficient (FEPs) do not necessarily developed the complex linguistic competencies to succeed across content areas. Through vivid snapshots of two middle school lessons (Science and Reading), the author points out that content area teachers can (and should)…

This article explores two case studies of the literacy practices of assessment in the vocational curriculum. Previous studies have identified learning in the vocational curriculum as being assessment-driven and that subjects often associated with limited levels of literacy actually require multiple literacy practices from students. Drawing upon…

In this article we discuss dilemmas and paradoxes in the use of learning resources and the need to list sources when writing, issues that are relevant for students as well as for teachers and authors of textbooks. We draw on experience from a Norwegian research project investigating students' writing in two subjects: physics and Norwegian in…

In this article we examine teacher instruction on scientific literacy tasks and teacher expression of ultimate and subordinate purposes during one teaching sequence of a science unit. By using a Practical Epistemology Analysis and Systemic Functional Grammar we can provide a view of the direction learning takes and the consequences for student…

Comprehension problems have become an epidemic: One out of every four secondary school students is unable to read and comprehend the material in textbooks. Start addressing the root of the problem today with this practical guidebook, designed to strengthen adolescents' reading comprehension and written expression so they can master academic…

One of the challenges facing recent graduates, or those looking for a new job, is writing an eye-catching resume that encapsulates and unveils their qualifications and accomplishments to potential employers. Several factors contribute to this challenge, such as the explosive rate of unemployment for recent graduates, increases in graduation rates,…

The ability to think critically is an important trait of all members of society. With today's multinational, multicultural, complex issues, citizens must be able to sift through large amounts of various data to make intelligent decisions. Thinking critically must be a focus of higher education in order to provide the intellectual training for its…

A growing group of green writers are persuading people to change their thinking and their behaviors for the benefit of our planet and its inhabitants. Adding a green writing assignment, unit, or course to your curriculum, the author argues, is an excellent strategy for showing students how their writing can make a difference in their community.…

This paper presents a discussion of writing frames as a method of fostering scientific writing skills in the inquiry-based science classroom. Writing frames are described as templates that contain leads, cues, clues, and insights that collectively work together and provide a skeleton outline to scaffold writing tasks. The uses and benefits of…