IusingReadingInto ScienceLear ingResearchers and middle school teachersteamed up to give students effectivereading instruction in science class.

Courtney C. Zmach, Jennifer Sanders, Jennifer Drake

Patrick, Hakan Dedeoglu, Sara Charbonnet, Melissa Henkel,Zhihui Fang, Linda Leonard Lamme, and Rose Pringle

I t is mid-November, a time of year

when middle school students arenormally antsy about theupcoming holidays. But the 6thgraders in this science class are

eager and engaged. The teacherreminds her students that they learnedabout different kinds of waves duringlast week's "reading in science" lessonand asks for the name of the waves thatmove through a vacuum. "Electromag-netic waves," a boy pipes up. Onestudent compares the movement ofelectromagnetic waves with the way

dominoes fall. Another boy inquires,"Why do we have to wear lead apronsfor X-rays?" and a discussion ensuesabout the medical benefits and healthrisks of certain types of electromagneticwaves. A girl points to a list of variouselectromagnetic waves that the classused in a recent reading strategy lesson.The list sparks more discussion aboutgamma rays and nuclear energy.

This vignette shows how a readinglesson can stimulate lively discussionand inquiry learning in science class.We saw many such instances of reading

and science learning reinforcing eachother during our academic yearworking together-as researchers andteachers-to infuse reading compre-hension strategy instruction andliterature into middle school scienceclassrooms.

In Search of Scientific LiteracyThe National Science Education Stan-dards describe scientific literacy as "theknowledge and understanding of scien-tific concepts and processes requiredfor personal decision making, participa-tion in civic and cultural affairs, andeconomic productivity" (NationalResearch Council, 1996, p. 22). Beingscientifically literate entails being ableto read and understand a variety ofscience texts to form valid conclusionsand participate in meaningful conversa-tions about science.

But too many middle school studentshave difficulty reading their textbooksand content-area materials in science

62 EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP/DECEMBER 2006/JANUARY 2007

and other disciplines (Carnine &Carnine, 2004). In a recent report,Biancarosa and Snow (2004) identified15 components as central to successfuladolescent literacy programs and calledfor schools to combine these elementsinto effective programs. One of thereport's key recommendations was thatteachers provide adolescent learnerswith a repertoire of comprehensionstrategies and engage them in extensivereading of complex content-area texts.

Because secondary science textbookstend to be technical, dense, andabstract, they present challenges toadolescent learners. Researchers havefound that students engage in littlereading of content texts in secondaryclassrooms (Ivey & Broaddus, 2001).To become scientifically literate,students need to read more sciencetexts and develop strategies for learningfrom these texts. However, manycontent-area teachers are wary of takingclass time to teach reading strategies.Content-area teachers tend to focus

more on covering content than onteaching students how to learn fromtexts.

With these concerns in mind, in fall2004, professors and doctoral studentsin the College of Education at theUniversity of Florida in Gainesvilleinitiated a research project aimed athelping science teachers integratereading into their curriculums.

Our Reading IntegrationResearch ProjectDuring the 2004-2005 school year, agroup of University of Floridaresearchers collaborated with two 6thgrade science teachers at WestwoodMiddle School in Gainesville, Florida,to create lesson plans, book lists, andother tools to introduce more readinginto science teaching. (For moredetailed information on the develop-ment of this research project, see Fang,Lamme, & Pringle, 2005.)

We gave students in these class-rooms explicit instruction in science-related language skills and readingstrategies. We also gave students accessto award-winning science trade booksthrough a home reading program. Atthe beginning of the school year, theuniversity researchers assumed majorresponsibility for the project; by theend of the year, the classroom teachershad assumed the main responsibility,and they have kept the project going.

Our analysis of Westwood students'achievement before and after weimplemented the research projectsuggests that the students whoreceived reading strategy instructionand access to award-winning sciencebooks had higher achievement inscience than did students who did notreceive such interventions. Threeelements of this project-readingstrategy instruction, a home readingprogram, and professional develop-ment-brought about this increase inscience learning.

Reading Strategy InstructionOur team developed and taught 22lessons in such comprehension strate-gies as questioning, think-pair-share,two-column note taking, and para-phrasing. For each strategy, teachersprovided direct explanation, modeling,guided practice, and chances to applythe strategy independently. Throughoutthe year, students were given opportu-nities to apply targeted reading strate-gies of their choice in science lessons.

Team members

realized how much

science information

students could

gather from a

carefully selected

read-aloud.

For example, when WestwoodMiddle School teacher Sara Charbonnetintroduced the "thick and thin" ques-tioning strategy in a unit on measuringtemperature, she first noted that peopleask questions about what they read tohelp them make sense of what they arereading. She explained,

A thick question asks something big. Itoften leads to deeper discussion or asksyou to look beyond the text to find theanswer. A thick question often beginswith "Why?" or "I wonder." A thin ques-tion can usually be answered with asimple "yes" or "no."

Sara read aloud an excerpt fromTemperature (Understanding Science) byJoy Frisch and directed students tofollow along as she read and to think ofone thick question and one thin ques-tion. Sara displayed some of her ownquestions using the overhead projector.

ASSOCIATION FOR SUPERVISION AND CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT 63

She paused in the reading and askedstudents to share some of their ques-tions with the group and with oneanother. Students were excited to sharesuch thick questions as, "How does theliquid cool off?" "Why would AndersCelsius make the Celsius scale when healready had Fahrenheit?" and "How dometeorologists forecast the weather?"Sara had students continue reading theexcerpt on their own and note addi-tional thick or thin questions. At theend of the lesson, she compiled all thestudents' questions into a chart, whichthe class used to guide discussion andactivities throughout this unit.

The classroom teachers believed theycould only spare 15-20 minutes eachweek to model these readingstrategies; this gave us justenough time to explain a Astrategy, model it, and provideguided and independent prac- An.tice. Our team compensatedfor the brevity of each strategy Ilesson by asking the teachers En

to reinforce the lessons during a

the week so that students

would have a better chance of Exp

internalizing the reading E

strategies through repeated FieB

opportunities for practice.S

The Home Reading Program Phi

The Westwood teachers gave Sstudents a choice among a Nrotating collection of science Probooks; students borrowed a cnew one each week to read at Thehome with their families. Weselected 196 titles from award-winning children' science Theliterature, choosing from suchlists as the National Science ETeachers Association's list of SnoOutstanding Science TradeBooks for Students K-12 (see Ter"A Sample of Science TradeBooks"). We chose books that

contained accurate science in both textand illustrations and covered a range ofreading levels. Most were nonfiction,but a few were poetry, fiction, or biogra-phies of scientists.

When students returned theirfinished books, the teacher led a shortsharing time in which each studentcould talk with the class about contentthat he or she had learned from thisreading and pose questions the bookhad raised. Students gleaned muchscience knowledge from these sessions.For example, a student's review of abook about the Everglades led to adiscussion about how the weatherpatterns over Lake Okeechobee influ-ence the Everglades environment.

Sample of Science Trade Bo(American Plague: The 7Truea and Terrifying Story c'ellow Fever Epidemic of 1793. Jim Murphy. (20Cew York: Clarion Books.antado: Pin Dolphin of the Amazon. Sy Montgoind Dianne Taylor-Snow. (2002). Boston: Houghtctifflin.•loding Ants: Amazing Facts About How Animalsdapt. Joanne Settel. (1999). New York: Atheneuwlooks for Young Readers.d Trips: Bug Hunting, Animal Tracking, Bird-Watc~hore Walking. Jim Amnosky. (2002). New York:larperCollins.nieas Gage: A Gruesome but True Story About Br•cience. John Fleischman. (2002). Boston: HoughAifflin.ect UltraSwan (Scientists in the Field series). Elir

)sborn. (2002). Boston: Houghton Mifflin.* Case of the Monkeys That Fell from the Trees:,)ther Mysteries in Tropical Nature. Susan E. Qui2003). Honesdale, PA: Boyds Mills Press.*Sky's the Limit: Stories of Discovery by Women,sirls, Catherine Thimmesh and Melissa Sweet. (2loston: Houghton Mifflin.,wflake Bentley. Jacqueline Briggs Martin and Mý~zarian. (1998). Boston: H-oughton Mifflin.nperature (Understanding Science). Joy Frisch. (2Jorth Mankato, MN: Smart Apple Media.

Professional Development WorkshopsDuring the yearlong action researchproject, our team met for three profes-sional development workshops tofurther our knowledge about inte-grating reading instruction into aninquiry-based science curriculum. Weread and discussed significant texts onintegrated curriculum and readinginstruction. Our four primary resourceswere Language and Literacy in ScienceEducation (Wellington & Osborne,2001), Strategies that Work: TeachingComprehension to Enhance Understanding(Harvey & Goudvis, 1999); NonfictionMatters: Reading, Writing, and Researchin Grades 3-8 (Harvey, 1998); and RealReading, Real Writing: Content Area

Strategies (Topping &McManus, 2002).

ks We also held monthlymeetings to plan instruction,

,f the voice concerns, and tweak)3). how we worked in the class-

room. At one meeting, aery doctoral student shared her

ýn observations of a teacherread-aloud using the bookSnowflake Bentley by Jacque-line Briggs Martin and MaryAzarian:

hing,You could hear a pin dropwhile she read. The studentswere so enthralled with the

ton book that they performedlton most of the reading strategies

themselves! They wereior previewing the text by looking

carefully at the cover,And predicting what wouldIan. happen in the story, summa-

rizing the events, and ques-tioning. Jen also modeled the

and think-aloud strategy as she002). read. A boy who sat toward

the front of the room wasary making predictions and

asking thoughtful questions-003). throughout the reading.

Another boy was very curiousabout the contraptionSnowflake Bentley used to

64 EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP/DECEMBER 2006/JANUARY 2007

observe and photograph the snowflakes.He and other students began wonderingaloud about the inventing process andabout how temperature affected Bentley'swork.

By sharing observations, teammembers realized how much scienceinformation students could gather froma carefully selected read-aloud. Withoutour setting time aside during meetingsto discuss our observations, suchsuccesses might have gone unnoticed.

Not Extra but EssentialThe research project integratingincreased reading into science learningat Westwood officially ended at theclose of the 2004-05 school year, butone of the happiest successes of theresearch project was that the teachers

Reading can

stimulate discussion

and inquiry learning

in science class.

acquired the resources and momentumfrom their participation to keep thereading infusion strategies going. Theteachers have planned together overseveral summers, selecting the readingstrategies that they perceive workedbest with their science students, sharingnew reading strategies, and preparingways to incorporate them into futurelessons. They are working with otherteachers in the school to further infusereading into their classrooms.

The unfortunate reality is that not allstudents are adequately prepared tocomprehend the demanding texts usedin science courses by the time theyenter secondary school. Without theability to learn from texts, the depthand breadth of knowledge students can

gain in any area of science is severelylimited. It is time for classroom scienceteachers to assume responsibility byproviding science literature thatstudents can read and enjoy-and byhelping students develop strategies tolearn more effectively from contenttexts. And it is time for readingresearchers outside the classroom toreach out with support. Content-areateachers need to understand that

teaching reading skills is not an "extra"but an essential part of promotingcontent-area literacy M

Author's note: This research wassupported by a Multi-University Reading,Mathematics, and Science Initiative(MURMSI) grant funded by the U.S.Department of Education and coordinatedthrough Florida State University's LearningSystems Institute. The views expressed inthis article are not necessarily endorsed bythe funding agency.

ASSOCIATION FOR SUPERVISION AND CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT 65

Researchers have found that students

engage in little reading of content

texts in secondary classrooms.

ReferencesBiancarosa, G., & Snow, C. (2004). Reading

Next: A vision for action and research inmiddle and high school literacy. Washington,DC: Alliance for Excellent Education.

Carnine, L., & Carnine, D. (2004). Theinteraction of reading skills and sciencecontent knowledge when teaching strug-gling secondary students. Reading andWriting Quarterly, 20, 203-218.

Fang, Z., Lamme, L. L., & Pringle, R.(2005). Integrating reading into an inquiry-based science curriculum: Its effects onmiddle school students' attitude and achieve-ment in reading and science. Final Reportto the Learning Systems Institute atFlorida State University, Tallahassee.

Harvey, S. (1998). Nonfiction matters:Reading, writing, and research in grades3-8. Portland, ME: Stenhouse.

Harvey, S., & Goudvis, A. (1999). Strategiesthat work: Teaching comprehension toenhance understanding. Portland, ME:Stenhouse.

Ivey, G., & Broaddus, K. (2001). "Just plainreading": A survey of what makesstudents want to read in middle schoolclassrooms. Reading Research Quarterly,34, 172-194.

National Research Council. (1996). Nationalscience education standards. Washington,DC: National Academies Press.

Topping, D., & McManus, R. (2002). Realreading, real writing: Content area strate-

gies. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.Wellington, J., & Osborne, J. (2001).

Language and literacy in science education.Philadelphia: Open University Press.

Courtney C. Zmach (czmach@air.org) isa Research Analyst with the AmericanInstitutes for Research in Washington,DC. Jennifer Sanders is an AssistantProfessor of Literacy at Oklahoma StateUniversity. Jennifer Drake Patrick andHakan Dedeoglu are doctoral studentsand Zhihui Fang, Linda LeonardLamme, and Rose Pringle are Profes-sors in the College of Education at theUniversity of Florida in Gainesville.Sara Charbonnet and Melissa Henkelare science teachers at WestwoodMiddle School in Gainesville, Florida.Courtney C. Zmach and JenniferSanders were doctoral candidates at theUniversity of Florida when this researchwas conducted.

'"* veSettthe Stýandards!,, ,a sed Assessment t uctka astr 0,

Real Science Success With Standards and AchievementExemplars Science Tasks Feature -400

"* Inquiry-based performance tasks

"* Materials aligned with state and national standards, leadingscience kits, children's literature, and concepts and skills

"* Standards-based scoring rubrics

"* Teacher notes for assessment and instruction

*~~Mt Anoae benchmar paer* A cost-effepiive solutio

Profssoa Devlopen

66 EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP/DECEMBER 2006/JANUARY 2007

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