Composing Science

Book excerpt: Offering expertise in the teaching of writing (Kim Jaxon) and the teaching of science (Leslie Atkins Elliott and Irene Salter), this book will help instructors create classrooms in which students use writing to learn and think scientifically. The authors provide concrete approaches for engaging students in practices that mirror the work that writing plays in the development and dissemination of scientific ideas, as opposed to replicating the polished academic writing of research scientists. Addressing a range of genres that can help students deepen their scientific reasoning and inquiry, this text includes activities, guidelines, resources, and assessment suggestions. Composing Science is a valuable resource for university-level science faculty, science methods course instructors in teacher preparation programs, and secondary science teachers who have been asked to address the Common Core ELA Standards. Book Features: Provides models for integrating writing into science courses and lesson plans. Focuses on the work that science writing does, both in the development and dissemination of ideas. Addresses the Next Generation Science Standards and the Common Core ELA Standards. Includes samples of student work, classroom transcripts, and photographs that capture the visual elements of science writing. “The pedagogy described in Composing Science doesn’t only recapture the sense of the uncertainty of discovery, it also articulates and examines the social and collaborative writing practices that science uses to produce knowledge and reduce uncertainty. Without question, teachers of science will find this book inspirational and useful, college teachers for sure, but also teachers up and down the curriculum.” —Tom Fox, director, Site Development, National Writing Project “This book will be invaluable, not only for the genuinely new and wonderful ideas for teaching, but also and maybe more for the rich examples from the authors’ classes. Through the lens of writing we see students doing science—and it is truly science—in surprising and delightful ways.” —David Hammer, professor, Tufts University