# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
In September 2019, I wrote about a review of the research on how to teach critical thinking by University of Virginia professor Daniel Willingham. His conclusion was that generic critical thinking skills don't translate from one subject to another but that subject-specific critical thinking skills can be explicitly taught as you go deep into a lesson, be it history or math, as students need to learn a lot of information to process it.

A large study on teaching science to middle school students was published afterwards and it adds more nuance to this debate between critical thinking skills and content knowledge. A team of researchers found that students who learn to think like a scientist (more on what that means later) learn many more of the facts and figures in their science classes and absorb the content better.

The big wrinkle is that the researchers found that it's not effective to start the school year with a couple of weeks of lessons on the scientific method, which many teachers do. Instead, the successful teaching of scientific thinking starts with a content-rich lesson where students learn to ask the right questions and evaluate evidence while they are processing information on dolphins, molecules or another specific science topic.

In other words, critical thinking is necessary to absorb content better but a content-rich lesson is needed to teach critical thinking in the first place.

The study, " Scientific sensemaking supports science content learning across disciplines and instructional contexts," was published in October 2019 in the journal of Contemporary Educational Psychology. The researchers were Matthew Cannady at the University of California at Berkeley, Joo Man Chung from Georgetown University and Christian Schunn and Paulette Vincent-Ruz, both from the University of Pittsburgh.

In the study, researchers tested more than 2,500 sixth and eighth grade students multiple times during fall term, measuring their scientific reasoning abilities separately from how much content knowledge they were learning in biology or chemistry classes. The students hailed from a large Eastern city with a high proportion of black students and from several school districts in the West where there were many Latino students.

The researchers measured "thinking like a scientist" by breaking down the thinking and analyzing that scientists do into categories, such as asking questions, designing experiments, interpreting data, constructing cause-and-effect explanations, making arguments and understanding how scientific theories evolve. Much of it involves the skills you would need in order to follow the scientific method of generating, testing and modifying hypotheses. For example, the researchers were interested in how students were able to connect claims to evidence, prioritize which forms of justification to use as evidence and refute alternative claims. The adjacent table from the study provides concrete examples of how students were assessed.

A breakdown of thinking like a scientist

The researchers calculated that students who started the year with a higher degree of scientific reasoning learned considerably more content during the term than students who didn't have as strong a sense of scientific reasoning. It was true in both biology and chemistry classes and for both sixth and eighth graders.

The researchers also paid close attention to the style of instruction in the science classrooms. Some teachers adhered closely to a textbook. Others had a more hands-on approach with lots of experiments and projects. Hands-on instruction tended to produce more growth in scientific reasoning for students; doing science is helpful for learning to think like a scientist. However, one surprising result is that the researchers didn't see a difference in the amount of content that a student learned between the two teaching approaches.

Both styles could be done well, helping students to learn how to reason like a scientist, and both could be done poorly. For example, a hands-on teacher can merely ask students to follow step-by-step instructions in a prepackaged experiment kit without pushing students to think through why they're doing these steps. Meanwhile, a textbook teacher can ask fabulous questions.

Those questions seem to matter the most. For example: Why did you ask that question? Why is it a good or reasonable question? Why is the study you designed the right study to answer that question? Why does the data support your idea?
Related: Scientific research on how to teach critical thinking contradicts education trends
Why strong scientific reasoning helps you learn more facts and figures is mysterious. Learning scientists have a couple of theories. One has to do with information processing. The human brain is constantly mishearing and misreading things. If we understand what should be going on and are trying to make sense of the information coming to us, we fix the errors.

The other theory is based on how human memory works. When we try to understand new information and make connections between ideas, learning scientists say it takes less effort to memorize new facts and figures. Another approach is repetition. And certainly studying something 10 times is more effective than only five times. But understanding it once is better.

When I first became an education reporter almost a decade ago, I remember education policymakers and experts explaining to me that we don't need to teach students as much boring content anymore because you can look up everything you need to know on Google. They believed that thinking skills are the really important thing to teach students and that's what will last with students year after year after they've forgotten all about the periodic table. But this research shows that you can't learn how to think as an abstract skill. You have to dig into the "boring" and "forgettable" content to acquire it.

This story about teaching the scientific method was written by Jill Barshay and produced by The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education. Sign up for the Hechinger newsletter.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
A study on teaching critical thinking in science

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
In September 2019, I wrote about a review of the research on how to teach critical thinking by University of Virginia professor Daniel Willingham. His conclusion was that generic critical thinking skills don't translate from one subject to another but that subject-specific critical thinking skills can be explicitly taught as you go deep into a lesson, be it history or math, as students need to learn a lot of information to process it.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Concept maps help students visualize various connections between words or phrases and a main idea. Concept maps have been shown to support struggling readers by building off of students' prior knowledge and asking them to reflect on their understanding while reading. They are easy to construct and can be used across all content areas. Learn how to use this strategy in your classroom, and download a concept map graphic organizer.
See strategy >

As your new students come into your classroom this fall, you may find they require extra support when reading expository texts. Their unique structure and style differs from other sorts of reading, so teaching students about signal words and organization can help.

If you're looking for ways tech can support your teaching in the 2019-2020 school year, this list is here to help. These top-rated apps and sites - ranging from instructional supports to organizational tools to social networks and beyond - help make one of the world's toughest jobs a bit easier. Once you've found a few great tools for back to school, head over to our Teaching Strategies page dedicated to helping you Set Up Your Digital Classroom for Success. (From Common Sense Education)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
AdLit.org is a national multimedia project offering information and resources to the parents and educators of struggling adolescent readers and writers. AdLit.org is an educational initiative of WETA, the flagship public television and radio station in the nation's capital, and is funded by Carnegie Corporation of New York and by the Ann B.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Laura Varlas

At her district's newcomer center, English as a Second Language teacher Barbara Gottschalk would engage parents in a visual exercise: compare a math textbook from 20 years ago to the one in use today. The former, a familiar reproduction of the kind of math newcomers most likely experienced in their home countries, was defined by rows of computation. In the current textbook, however, words abound.

"You could tell just by looking at the two that even a student with a strong background in math will need some language support in a mainstream math class," says Gottschalk, who teaches at Susick Elementary in Troy, Michigan. A student with interrupted or limited schooling, she adds, will need even more language support.

With the Common Core State Standards and, especially, the skills identified in the Standards for Mathematical Practice, mathematics has increasingly emphasized conceptual understanding and reasoning, in addition to procedural know-how. "Language is the entirety of the mathematics classroom," says Megan Rowe, a math teacher at Borah High School in a linguistically diverse district outside Boise, Idaho. "From the language I use when I'm teaching to the language students use when they're reasoning among their peers-I don't know how you could ever teach mathematics now without focusing on language."

Double-Edged Disadvantage

Yet there's evidence across the education sector that many still assume English language learners (ELLs) don't need language support in math, and that belief can create a double-edged disadvantage for such students. ELLs placed in mainstream math courses with little to no language support are more likely to flounder under increased linguistic demands. However, when ELLs are tracked into remedial classes-and researcher Eduardo Mosqueda reports that this is a common and pernicious trend-it severely reduces the likelihood that they will eventually take advanced math courses.

"Once you start looking at math through the lens of language, you see linguistic demand everywhere," says San Diego State University professor Bill Zahner, a former high school math teacher. Without awareness and planning to support ELLs with that linguistic load, language will continue to be a gatekeeper to the advanced courses that lead to in-demand, well-paying careers in STEM fields. For Zahner and others, it's a question of equity: "How do we meet the needs of linguistically diverse students in math?"

Build a Baseline

When working with ELLs, it can be easy to mistake lags in language for gaps in math learning. "Just because they don't have the words doesn't mean they don't know how to do it," says Gottschalk. That's why middle school ESL teacher Beth Morrow's first rule of supporting ELLs in the math classroom is assess, don't assume. Establishing a baseline of where students are in terms of math knowledge and language proficiency helps teachers tailor the content and English supports ELLs receive.

Gottschalk uses a simple, language-free, calculation-based assessment to screen students' content knowledge. But even with pared-down assessments, cultural differences in math notation can make screening students challenging.

"Although there are some common rules that all mathematicians and scientists use, worldwide, they manifest themselves differently depending on the culture," says Cassie Eatmon, math chair at Herndon Middle School in Virginia. For example, long division is set up differently in the United States than in South American countries, and Arabic notation is written right to left. "Subtracting in Arabic looks wrong to us, but it's actually just flipped," explains Gottschalk.

Incorporate Semantic Supports

For newcomers, Eatmon recommends gradually increasing language demands. "Phrase questions that require them to produce a minimal amount of English at the beginning," she recommends. Choice questions (that require a yes/no, true/false, and ways for them to communicate nonverbally via a word card or hand signals) are a good place to start. As newcomers develop confidence with language skills, stretch expectations for discourse.

"Newcomers need special handling for a while," says Rita MacDonald, researcher at WIDA and the Wisconsin Center for Education Research (WCER). "However, students are newcomers for the short term; they are language learners for a long time."

For the long haul, ELLs will need different levels of support to engage in increasingly language-rich mathematics. Visual representations of concepts, word walls, defining word parts (prefix, root, suffix), sentence frames, and note-taking practice-common tools in language arts learning-can be adapted in order to make math-centered conversations more accessible to ELLs. For example, Eatmon recommends adapting the traditional think-pair-share processing strategy to think- write-pair-share so that students will have a script of their thoughts to refer to. "That reduces the burden on ELLs to think and talk [in a new language] at the same time," she explains.

Language in Use

Researchers at WCER have developed six specific moves teachers can make to strengthen all students' reasoning skills in mathematics, especially ELLs ( see Figure 1), as well as seven tactics students can apply when working with ideas in math ( see Figure 2). These strategies develop language through doing mathematics, what MacDonald calls a "language in use" approach. "It used to be a common belief that you had to learn language before you can do stuff. We don't believe that works," she says. "You really only learn language through shared experience, by doing something."

MacDonald recommends introducing and practicing the student moves one at a time and providing prompts and sentence frames to cue students as they clarify, restate, support, challenge, compare, explain, or build on an idea (see http://stem4els.wceruw.org/resources/Student-and-Teacher-moves.pdf for examples). The goal, says MacDonald, is to "get ELLs in the habit [of understanding] that there are so many things they can do when an idea is presented."

Practice with discourse-centered mathematics helps students build the precision that is the cornerstone of math fluency. "In regular conversation, we don't tend to be precise and specific with our language. In mathematics, you need to be, but you don't just jump to that disposition right away," explains MacDonald. You get there through experiences, like needing to explain precisely the constraints of an argument, of having to use a very specific label for something. Those experiences happen in classes where students are practicing math in all four language domains.

Designed for Discourse

In a language-rich, ELL-supporting math class, students learn math through listening, speaking, reading, and writing-the four domains of language. But many classes, not just math, tend to fixate on the listening domain. "Students get all kinds of practice listening," says Gottschalk. "But they can easily go through a whole day of school without ever having to utter a single word of academic English."

"If you set the goal that every single student has the opportunity to speak, every single day," says Rowe, "you start to realize how few opportunities there are-at least there were for me-for students to talk about math."

Rowe has refocused her teaching from "What's the math for today?" to "What's the language for today?" and says that allows her to structure learning that gets to a deeper level of math thinking. "My students aren't just robots that can regurgitate a process or steps," says Rowe. "To learn math, they have to be able to talk about it."

One of Rowe's favorite strategies for eliciting math discourse is the "partner round-up." This strategy can be used to talk through all sorts of mathematical operations. For example, if students are practicing adding fractions, each student receives a card with a different fraction on it. They then find a partner in the class and work together to successfully find the sum of their fractions. Once they do, they trade cards and find a new partner and repeat the process. "This could have easily been a worksheet-20 problems, practice adding fractions on your own," says Rowe. But when it's done as partner exercise, her students get to talk to 20 different peers and hear the different ways they think through and explain a problem. "You go from something that was content-based to language rich, and that makes a big difference especially for ELLs."

Gottschalk's school uses journaling extensively in math class. Language is modeled and practiced as students discuss, and then write about, a problem of the day, she says. Teachers can get creative with how they set up journal prompts. MacDonald suggests, "Here's my favorite wrong answer from the last class. Let's figure out why that was wrong."

Opportunities to develop language, through identifying relationships or making generalizations within sets of problems, are implicit in some of the materials teachers have, adds Zahner, but those opportunities are often not highlighted. Zahner is currently working with a team of 9th grade math teachers on a project funded by a $1 million grant from the National Science Foundation to design secondary mathematics classrooms focused on meeting the needs of ELLs. There's a real urgency, he argues, to provide teachers with resources and supports to unpack the curriculum so that opportunities for discourse and reasoning, not just right answers, are prioritized.

Weeding Wordy Problems

With language at the center of the modern math classroom, it's important to note that not all words are worthwhile in the service of math learning. In fact, there are a lot of nonessential words and distracting or confusing contexts littering math texts. "If you use an example that talks about a horse, it better be the animal and not the gymnastics equipment," Eatmon warns.

Zahner cites a textbook example of a word problem for calculating the slope of a roof. The problem talks about two- by six-inch sized pieces of wood that will be used as vertical supports for the roof. These pieces of wood are unfortunately written as "2×6's." The dimensions of the board are not actually relevant to the rest of the problem, says Zahner. But for a student from Mexico, this aspect of the problem was derailing. "His answers to every other problem were correct except for this one. He got stuck trying to figure out how to use '12,' which is two times six."

Rowe adds that sometimes her students struggle with names. "If there's a Mr. Brown in the problem, they'll wonder who that is and why his name is relevant to the problem." Rowe changes names to simple identifiers: man, woman, or person.

"When we see language complexity popping up, we have to ask, is this necessary to the mathematical development?," says Zahner. "If it's not, can we take it out or plan around it?"

On assessments, Rowe also provides students with a recording of all test questions-audio files saved to Dropbox or Google Drive and represented as a scannable QR code on students' test sheets. This helps because most ELLs' receptive or oral language proficiency is higher than their reading proficiency. Through school-provided devices or students' own phones, students hear Rowe read each question-sometimes word-for-word or paraphrased, with steps to get started, or breaking down the question in ways that they'll understand.

Context vs. Content

In addition to removing unnecessary language, Zahner advises teachers to think carefully about the number and types of contexts used to develop a mathematical concept. Although it may be helpful to use multiple contexts to show students that math concepts are all around them, don't make students master a multitude of scenarios just so they can access the math content. In one text, Zahner's team found 12 different problem contexts used to explain linear functions.

"If you've never driven on a toll road and a problem is asking you to calculate the per-mile toll, but you're stuck on what is a toll?, that's going to stop you from accessing the content," he says. Instead, Zahner suggests focusing on a few relevant, key contexts. One way to do that is to find out what students are interested in and build math problems with those contexts. For example, teachers he works with recently changed a problem about pumping water out of a pool to one about rates for downloading files to your phone. "When the teacher introduced this context, everyone was engaged because all kids have opinions about who's got the good network or good rates."

"Keep in the forefront of your mind, 'What do I want students to do?', and build your question around that," says Eatmon. Simplifying the language doesn't mean watering down the math. Keep expectations high that these kids can do the math you've taught them, she adds.

Equal Signs

Planning for language supports in math helps ELLs communicate their ideas and invites them into STEM, which can have a profound effect on their career and earning opportunities, says MacDonald. "It's this huge, epistemic equity issue."

"If we equitably involve ELLs in math-position them as idea-generators alongside their peers, instead of just passive listeners-their language is going to develop much more quickly because they'll be creating and negotiating meaning together," MacDonald adds.

Eatmon urges educators not to confuse a lack of language for a lack of intellect. With the right supports, it does not take long for their wheels to catch traction and take off, she says. Eatmon has seen ELLs make five to six years of growth over the course of one year. "It's not that they can't do it; it's that they've never been taught."

Figure 1

© 2017 The Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System. Used by permission. Stem4els.wceruw.org.

Figure 2

© 2017 The Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System. Used by permission. Stem4els.wceruw.org.

Laura Varlas is the managing editor of ASCD Express and a contributor to Education Update.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Laura Varlas At her district's newcomer center, English as a Second Language teacher Barbara Gottschalk would engage parents in a visual exercise: compare a math textbook from 20 years ago to the one in use today. The former, a familiar reproduction of the kind of math newcomers most likely experienced in their home countries, was defined by rows of computation.

# data[].attributes.body
Text-to-Speech

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Free Text to Speech Online with Realistic AI Voices

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Convert text into ultra-realistic audio. Have any text read aloud with AI Voices. AI text reader for pdfs, books, documents, and webpages.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Listening Comprehension Questions

In what ways did Andrew Carnegie's libraries serve their communities?

How did Carnegie benefit from a library when he was growing up?

Which personality traits helped propel Carnegie from poverty to riches? Bring specific details from the story to support your ideas.

According to Carnegie, what should rich people do with their money and why? Why was Carnegie known as both generous and "brutal"?

Discussion Themes

In your opinion, what should really rich people do with their fortunes?

What does it take for a person to rise from "rags to riches"?

Socrative users can import these questions using the following code: SOC-1234

Listening Organizers

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Listening Comprehension Questions In what ways did Andrew Carnegie's libraries serve their communities? How did Carnegie benefit from a library when he was growing up? Which personality traits helped propel Carnegie from poverty to riches? Bring specific details from the story to support your ideas.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
There are a variety of ways to incorporate literacy strategies in science education without sacrificing content.

©iStock/Nadzeya_Dzivakova

Written and spoken language play a significant role in all classes. But if you're trained as a science teacher, how do you support literacy development without losing content time for science?

Rethink Literacy

Asking students to think critically while reading science reports, news and pop science, graphs, and documentaries;

Challenging students to connect multiple sources of media, analyze a source's potential bias, or identify an unreliable source; and

Asking students to write or speak about science findings from a review of research or their own experiments with an audience in mind.

Good news: You already teach literacy. Science teachers offer students many opportunities to improve their literacy skills, including:

Components of literacy are already present in the science classroom. The key is to mindfully support the levels of reading, writing, and speaking skills your students possess, while focusing on content.

Embed Supports

A key method to support skill development without taking away content time is to embed supports.

When you're in direct instruction, acknowledge your strategies. Model reading a science text by thinking aloud with your questions about the text, making connections, or summarizing as you read.

Include multiple types of sources: Students can be given a chance to discuss a chart or watch a short video to set some baseline understanding before tackling a text on the same topic. Be sure to ask students to connect the different mediums-you may be surprised at how many of them initially see the pieces of information as unrelated.

Embed writing supports: Provide opportunities for students to write parts of their notes in their own words, with structure. For example, ask students to summarize a main idea as part of their notes for the day. For students who need more support, create a sentence frame and word bank. Mentor texts are another great way to clarify expectations and demonstrate strong writing; choose a former student's work to share with the class and ask students to identify what is right about the response.

Original prompt: Describe the process of photosynthesis as it relates to glucose production. Explain how plants and other living organisms depend on one another.

Annotated version: Describe the process of 1) photosynthesis as it relates to 2) glucose production. Explain how plants and other living organisms 3) depend on one another.

Annotate the prompt: Science prompts are often multifaceted, and scoring depends on students' responding to each component of the question. Students who miss points often know the materials but have difficulty processing the entire question. Students can learn to identify each part of a prompt and use each identified requirement as a section in their writing. Here's an example:

Readers Below Grade Level

Some students can discuss the science topics but struggle to access any material they have to read. There are several ways to address these below-grade-level readers' needs.

Engineer a text: Take a grade level piece of text and center it on a page. Create a column to the left where you pull out and define key vocabulary, and one on the right where you ask questions of the reader. These questions can be tailored for many levels of readers, ranging from supportive, fact-based questions (helping students read to find out the key facts) to application and extension questions for your readers above grade level. The result is differentiated instruction for your students.

Use technology to expose students to texts: Even if a student is unable to independently read a text, they can develop grade-level literacy skills by interacting with vocabulary, sentence structures, and content of higher-level texts through technology. Several devices have the option to enable text-to-speech functions, which have the device read the text out loud. Speech-to-text functions allow students to speak what they want to have typed. This function requires some practice-don't ask the student to use it for the first time on an assessment.

The Immersive Reader program from Microsoft also reads texts to students. It includes other enhancements, like syllable recognition and the ability to highlight as you read. It even has parts-of-speech recognition to support writing.

Two more benefits for science teachers in promoting literacy: As my students improved their engagement with the literacy inherent to science class, I noticed an increase in engagement with the content and a decrease in disruptions.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Supporting Literacy in the Science Classroom

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
There are a variety of ways to incorporate literacy strategies in science education without sacrificing content.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.provider_name
AMLE - Association for Middle Level Education

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
How do you teach the new science standards to students who struggle with reading and writing? Many middle school science teachers face this dilemma, which is especially challenging for science educators at my school. Like many urban schools across the country, we have a large population of students who are behind academically; many have specific learning difficulties. We also serve a large population of English Language Learners.

How can we ensure the success of these students and bridge their literacy gaps?

The South Carolina Department of Education (SCDE) developed new science standards in 2014 that are based on the Framework for K-12 Science Education. These new standards require students to develop and use models, obtain and use information, analyze and interpret data, and construct scientific arguments. SCDE also expects students to use reading, writing, speaking, and listening skills throughout their scientific processes. Meeting these requirements can be difficult for students who struggle with reading and writing. They also challenge teachers to bridge the learning gap and develop students' abilities to successfully use these higher-order literacy skills.

Scaffolding Learning

Students are expected not only to be immersed in authentic science investigations, but also to effectively communicate what they learned during those investigations using observable and measurable information and accurate science terminology. With that in mind, I combined several tried and true, research-supported strategies to scaffold my students' learning and bridge their literacy gaps.

Prior to doing an investigation, students learn key vocabulary terms in order to communicate their findings. They use graphic organizers to compare and contrast concepts, and they engage in argument writing using evidence to support their claims.

According to Nicole Stants in her 2013 NSTA Science Scope article, "Parts Cards: Using Morphemes to Teach Science Vocabulary," teachers can use morphemes-prefixes, suffixes, and root words-to help students learn vocabulary. So, we break down words into these basic components. When students become familiar with common morphemes, they can use that knowledge to determine the meaning of unfamiliar words.

Each week, I also present four new science stems that are associated with our current vocabulary terms. The scholars keep a master list of the stems in the front of their science journal; an entry includes the stem, its definition, the concept that it is related to, and a vocabulary term. They also keep an index card book that includes modified Frayer models for each stem (see Figure 1) that they've constructed.

Another learning strategy is graphic organizers. Students use them to organize notes, classify or categorize information, or compare and contrast concepts. Some graphic organizers also require the students to draw visual models of concepts. BrainPOP ( www.brainpop.com) is a great source for a variety of activities that reinforce science concepts.

Following the 5E Model

All of the lessons follow the 5E Model of Instruction: engage, explore, explain, evaluate, and elaborate. We begin with an engagement activity such as a video or question related to the content being taught, then follow up with an exploration activity. If the engagement or exploration involves text, I use a variety of strategies to help bridge the literacy gap.

For example, sometimes I think aloud while reading the text and have the students follow along. I may divide the text among the students and have them do a jigsaw activity. Each group of students reads and annotates the text using annotation marks that have been standardized and used school-wide. Then, each group presents what they have learned to the rest of the class. As the other groups are "teaching" the rest of the class, students are writing information in their journals.

When the students have completed their presentations, I provide direct instruction related to the text, followed by a check for understanding, such as exit slips or a quick write. Quick writes may require students to answer a question, write a summary, complete a Venn diagram, or write a question of their own.

Next, the students engage in an authentic lab experience or performance assessment. For example, when studying acids and bases, the students participate in an investigation using indicators to identify solutions. They then demonstrate a neutralization reaction between an acid and a base. The students record their observations and write an explanation of what happened when the acid and base were combined.

Writing a descriptive explanation is the most difficult part of a lab experience for my students. I have been working with them on writing from the third-person point of view.

Some educators make the argument for using the first-person in argumentative writing because they believe texts using "I" can be just as well-supported as those that don't. However, my students struggle with starting every sentence with "I think." If they take themselves out of the experience, they are forced to think more critically and objectively about what they want to communicate. I also encourage them to avoid the use of pronouns wherever possible and to write technically using proper science terminology.

Finally, to reinforce the concept, students write an argument based on a real-world scenario. They copy the scenario into their notebook and create a graphic organizer. I provide them with sticky notes on which they write down the evidence to show what happens when an acid and base are combined. All the students place their "evidence" sticky notes in a designated area on the board, and we group them with other similar responses. As a class, we review all of the responses and determine what evidence we want to use.

Step two requires students to repeat the process by writing an inference as to how the scenario could be solved based on the evidence we chose to use. The final step requires them to make a claim by combining their evidence and inference. We review all of the responses as a class.

After the group activity is completed, the students work independently to construct an explanation that solves the scenario. Again, students are required to write in the third person using technical vocabulary.

Bridging the Gap

It is still too early to tell what effect these strategies will have on bridging the literacy gap and helping all my students learn science concepts, but I am confident they will make gains. The strategy extends and expands their scientific reasoning and motivates and focuses their learning, helping all scholars bridge the learning gap.

Theressa Varner is a seventh grade science teacher at the ARMS Academy at Morningside Middle School in Charleston, South Carolina.
theressa_varner@charleston.k12.sc.us Published inAMLE Magazine, August 2016.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
How do you teach the new science standards to students who struggle with reading and writing? Here are some strategies.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Science News Explores publishes news from all fields of science for students from middle school and up, with resources for parents and educators.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Access Google Forms with a personal Google account or Google Workspace account (for business use).

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Integrating Literacy Strategies into Science Instruction | AMNH

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
A series of videos that paint a picture of what it looks like to use literacy strategies to support students’ science content learning in the classroom.

# data[].attributes.headline
Link to Science ACS Middle School Resources

# data[].attributes.subject
Link to Science ACS Middle School Resources

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
New Remote Learning Lessons

Use our remote lessons, filled with videos of experiments, animations, and questions to create virtual lessons students can do at home!
View Assignments ►

Teach Science by Doing Science

Investigate the world of atoms and molecules through hands-on inquiry-based activities and molecular model animations.
View the Lessons ►

Se habla Español

View selected lessons from MSC translated into Spanish.
Ver las Lecciones ►

Recent Webinar

View our recent webinar on March 4 hosted by AACT. Learn about how to use the remote lessons and other free resources for K-8 teachers.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Use our remote lessons, filled with videos of experiments, animations, and questions to create virtual lessons students can do at home! View Assignments ► Investigate the world of atoms and molecules through hands-on inquiry-based activities and molecular model animations. View the Lessons ► View selected lessons from MSC translated into Spanish.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Your browser is looking a little out of date...

To get the best possible experience using our website, we recommend that you upgrade to latest version of this browser or install another web browser. See our Browser Support/Compatibility page for supported browsers list.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
To get the best possible experience using our website, we recommend that you upgrade to latest version of this browser or install another web browser. See our Browser Support/Compatibility page for supported browsers list.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.provider_name
Science Naturally | Book Publisher | Washington, D. C.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Science Naturally | Independent Press | Mystery of he Month

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Science, Naturally is an independent press committed to increasing science and math literacy in early childhood education. Check out our latest edition of the popular Mystery of the Month series!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Real World: Earth's Energy Balance - Small Changes, Big Impact | Real World | NASA eClips

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
NASA, eClips, NIA, aerospace, Real World, Earth's Energy Balance: Energy In and Energy Out, middle school, science, technology, engineering, math, STEM, education, video, Patrick Taylor, Sun, energy, systems, energy budget, ice, atmosphere, climate, absorb, reflect, radiation, balance, equation, incoming energy, outgoing energy, light, data

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
salt crystals formative assessment probe

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Science News was founded in 1921 as an independent, nonprofit source of accurate information on the latest news of science, medicine and technology. Today, our mission remains the same: to empower people to evaluate the news and the world around them.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
40 Intriguing Photos to Make Students Think (Published 2016)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
A slide show of some of our favorite “What’s Going On in This Picture?” posts, culled from four years of images.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Plug a pickle into a 120V AC outlet and watch in glow.

Materials:

Pickle

AC power cord

Thick copper wire

Procedure:

1. Cut and strip the power cord. Wrap together the neutral and ground wires. Cut the live wire about 6 inches shorter than the neutral/ground. This will reduce accidental shorts.

2. Cut 2 pieces of thick copper wire, about 3 inches long I used a piece pulled from a household electrical wire (the kind that go in the wall)

3. Stick the wires in the pickle

4. Connect the AC power cord to the copper wires. I've used a cheap set of jumper cables between the power cord and the pickle.

5. Plug the the power cord into an electrical outlet.

6. Wait for the pickle to glow. It took about 10 seconds to get going.

7. Unplug everything.

8. Be careful -- safety eighth!

Science:
The sodium in the pickle burns yellow. Yellow street lights are sodium-vapor lamps.
Video 1:

Video 2

Add Tip Ask Question Download

Share

Recommendations

Weaving Challenge

Epilog X Contest

Remix Contest

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Electric Pickle Lamp: Plug a pickle into a 120V AC outlet and watch in glow. Materials: Pickle AC power cord Thick copper wire Procedure: Cut and strip the power cord. Wrap together the neutral and ground wires. Cut the live wire about 6 inches sh...

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The practices describe behaviors that scientists engage in as they investigate and build models and theories about the natural world and the key set of engineering practices that engineers use as they design and build models and systems. The NRC uses the term practices instead of a term like "skills" to emphasize that engaging in scientific investigation requires not only skill but also knowledge that is specific to each practice. Part of the NRC's intent is to better explain and extend what is meant by "inquiry" in science and the range of cognitive, social, and physical practices that it requires. Although engineering design is similar to scientific inquiry, there are significant differences. For example, scientific inquiry involves the formulation of a question that can be answered through investigation, while engineering design involves the formulation of a problem that can be solved through design. Strengthening the engineering aspects of the Next Generation Science Standards will clarify for students the relevance of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (the four STEM fields) to everyday life.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The NSTA Next Generation Science Standards Hub offers information, resources, news, professional learning opportunities, and expert advice in understanding and implementing the Next Generation Science Standards - NGSS

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
We appreciate your interest in the program and would like to keep you updated. Please complete this short form so that we can stay in touch on next steps.

Please send further questions/concerns to snl@aaas.org.

Science NetLinks is an award-winning website offering hundreds of standards-based lesson plans, online tools, videos, interactives, podcasts, news, hands-on activities, special resource collections and after-school activities for K-12 teachers, students and families.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
We appreciate your interest in the program and would like to keep you updated. Please complete this short form so that we can stay in touch on next steps. Please send further questions/concerns to snl@aaas.org.