Literacy and Science: Each in the Service of the Other

Abstract

We use conceptual and empirical lenses to examine synergies between inquiry science and literacy teaching and learning of K-12 (kindergarten through high school) curriculum. We address two questions: (i) how can reading and writing be used as tools to support inquiry-based science, and (ii) how do reading and writing benefit when embedded in an inquiry-based science setting? After elaborating the theoretical and empirical support for integrated approaches, we discuss how to support their implementation in today's complicated curricular landscape.

Challenges and Support When Teaching Science Through an Integrated Inquiry and Literacy Approach

“…Accordingly, taking the fundamental sense of scientific literacy seriously means that science education should enable students to "live and act with reasonable comfort and confidence in a society that is deeply influenced and shaped by the artefacts, ideas, and values of science-rather than feeling excluded from a whole area of discourse, and, as a corollary marginalised" (Osborne, 2007, p. 177). The articulation of a "fundamental sense" of scientific literacy has also influenced to a promising line of work on how literacy, in its literal meaning, contributes to our understanding of what a science education for scientific literacy might look like (e.g., Hand et al, 2003;Pearson et al, 2010), which also includes the present thesis.…”

“…Cervetti, Barber, Dorph, Pearson, & Goldschmidt, 2012;Cervetti, Pearson, Bravo, & Barber, 2006;Pearson et al, 2010;Varelas & Pappas, 2006). The work that is reported here is part of and contributes to a larger research and development project, The Budding Science and Literacy project (Ødegaard, 2010), which sought to test and refine a teaching model for integrating inquiry-based science and literacy in collaboration with primary school science teachers through a professional development course.…”

“…In this thesis, the term integrated science-literacy instruction should thus not be taken to represent the integration of something (i.e., "literacy"), which would otherwise not "be there", into science instruction. Rather, the term is used to represent an inquiry-based approach to science education that acknowledges the role of language and literacy in science (Cervetti et al, 2006;Pearson et al, 2010). As Osborne (2002, p. 215) clearly states:…”

“…In school science, however, the ways in which we deal with text have traditionally been of little concern to most science teachers and science educators (Pearson, Moje, & Greenleaf, 2010;Wellington & Osborne, 2001). Thus, investigating how literacy is actually embedded in various school science contexts is crucial to support students in interacting with "reasonable comfort and confidence in a society that is deeply influenced and shaped by the artefacts, ideas, and values of science-rather than feeling excluded from a whole area of discourse, and, as a corollary marginalised" (Osborne, 2007, p. 177).…”

“…Over the last couple of decades, science and literacy educators interested in the authentic ways in which scientists read and write have sought to develop pedagogical approaches that explicitly integrate science and literacy through inquiry (Cervetti et al, 2006;Gaskins et al, 1994;Glynn & Muth, 1994;Hand et al, 2003;Moje, 2008;Palincsar & Magnusson, 2001;Pearson et al, 2010;Yore et al, 2004). This initiative acknowledges that "science is a process of inquiry conducted through the use of language" (Yore et al, 2004, p. 348) by embedding disciplinary literacy practices in school science inquiry.…”