Proposes that science students keep thinking journals of their reading of their science textbooks as a method of increasing students' critical thinking skills. Discusses strategies to initiate the practice, effective use of time, sample student entries, and the use of class discussions to process the writing. (MDH)

Scientific and technical jargon--specialized vocabulary, usually Latinate--plays a vital role in scientific and technical communication. But its proper use continues to be a point of discussion because of our concern with audience adaptation, rhetorical exigence, rhetorical purpose, and ethics. We've focused on teaching students--and on convincing…

The Online Academy (HO29K73002) was funded by the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) to develop research-based online instructional modules in the content areas of reading, positive behavior support and technology across the curriculum. Targeted to preservice teacher education programs in Institutions of Higher Education (IHE), but also…

Explanation as a genre may support children's reasoning and understanding particularly effectively. In this study, 20 fourth graders were given the task of explaining the effects of a pollutant on an ecosystem to third graders. Before writing, they completed a commercially developed science unit, instruction in reading and writing an explanation,…

Reform in the fields of adolescent and content area literacy have focused on broadening a definition of literacy beyond the ability to read and write. In a broader definition the language processes of reading, writing, speaking and listening become literacy tools to engage students in the learning of concepts and afford the learner ways to…

Today, less than one-third of America's high school students read or write at grade level. Literacy skills are alarmingly low even among those students who plan to go to college. Clearly, vast numbers of middle and high school students need help with their reading and writing skills. The question is: Whose job should it be to teach them? Among…

Students have to learn two distinctly different tasks when writing research papers: a) creating and organizing prose, and b) formatting a manuscript according to the nuances and mechanics of a pre-determined format, such as Modern Language Association (MLA) or American Psychological Association (APA) guidelines. Two studies examined different…

This paper examines various issues surrounding the use of writing in the teaching and learning of mathematics using the voice and experiences of a licensed High School teacher instructing introductory college mathematics as a graduate teaching assistant. In general, we detail the journey taken by this teacher to explore the push for writing by…

This book advocates that teachers of history create for their students a workshop environment where they actually can practice being historians. Adolescents, rather than thinking analytically, prefer to identify strongly with heroes and heroines and to explore their own lives and identity, character and convictions, through heroic stories. This…

This module presents a real-world context in which written communication skills are used as part of a daily routine. The context is the work of law enforcement officers, and the module aims to help students see the significance of written communication skills in completing documents as part of job requirements. Materials in the module, most of…

Two typical science activities found in textbooks for elementary and middle school students were analyzed to determine the quality of the written text and the integrity of the science represented in the activity. Each activity was performed and critiqued from a number of perspectives. The framework used to compare and contrast these activities is…

Designed to supplement an established language arts and social studies program, this books deals with the Aztecs, Incas, and Mayas of Latin America. All of the "Story Starter" books are intended to give a variety of vocabulary and story ideas to help with the writing process. Each of the books is divided into four main sections: (1) an…

A study examined the extent to which literacy tasks were emphasized within a fourth-grade social studies classroom. Subjects, 21 fourth-grade students and their teacher at a private K-8 elementary school located in an urban area of the east, were observed over a 7-week period as they conducted a thematic unit on liberty. Data included audiotapings…

Prepared as part of a series applying recent research in oral and written communication instruction to classroom practice, this booklet discusses three visual models of teaching written composition. The first section of the booklet discusses the content area model, which begins with an abstraction presented to students (definitions of parts of…

Prompted by the lack of research on learning in large college classes in terms of the cognitive processes and strategies students use, an experimental, preliminary study implemented generative activities in an undergraduate educational psychology class of approximately 70 students. The activities involved such things as stopping in the middle of a…