Science

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What is literacy learning in science?

Chapter 1 of the California Science Framework (2016) states: 

Science and engineering would be impossible without the foundational literacy skills of reading, writing, speaking, and listening (Norris and Phillips 2003). When asked what a scientist does, the majority of people describe scientists performing experiments, but scientists actually spend a great deal of time reading, writing, and talking about ideas (Tenopir and King, 2004) to:

• Communicate clearly with the public to inform public policy
• Learn from the work of other scientists
• Design experiments
• Communicate findings

Reading is a basic and essential skill for every student in science. Reading in the science classroom goes beyond the ability to comprehend and gather information from text material. Students not only read to interpret text, decode tables and graphs, and understand equations, but also to have an experience with the content of that text. Authentic language and literacy experiences can be used to engage and motivate students to explore the topic further on their own. After seeing a phenomenon, experiencing a discrepant event, or exploring with materials, students are primed to glean information from written text. A positive experience with informational and literary texts allows students’ imaginations to expand and deepen their interest in humanity and the natural and human-made world. (Adapted from Appendix 5 Recommended Literature for the Science Classroom, page 1751-1752 )

Texts that students create, read, view, or listen to in science include but are not limited to:

Nonfiction factual texts (news, magazines, and journal articles), textbooks, trade books, personal accounts, memoirs, narratives of scientists telling about adventures in the field, infographics about scientists and science concepts, videos (factual and informational videos, visuals of phenomena, and live-feed videos) graphs, data sets, trends across data, illustrations, models, animations, simulations, how-to guides, instructions, renderings of processes, blogs, podcasts, and social media posts.

For more “examples of a variety of literature resources that might stimulate students’ minds and deepen their understanding of science and engineering topics related to the CA NGSS,” see Appendix 5.

Downloadable Formats

The Discussion Cards by the San Diego County Office of Education are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (Links to an external site.).

• Three per page: A PDF that is ready to print and cut. Best if printed on cardstock.
• Digital e-reader: A PDF that has one two-sided discussion card for electronic distribution.
• Outcomes and Goals for High-Quality Text-Based Discussions

Translations

• Arabic: Discussion Card (PDF) and Outcomes and Goals (PDF)
• Chinese: Discussion Card (PDF) and Outcomes and Goals (PDF)
• Filipino: Discussion Card (PDF) and Outcomes and Goals (PDF)
• Persian: Discussion Card (PDF) and Outcomes and Goals (PDF)
• Spanish: Discussion Card (PDF) and Outcomes and Goals (PDF)

 

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