What Can Be Learned From Informal Student Writings in a Science Context?

Abstract

This exploratory study analyzed four informal science-related writing tasks produced by 374 seventhgrade students (172 boys and 202 girls) from t\vo schools with different socioeconomic populations. The study demonstrates that students3 informal writing in science contexts can provide a rich source of information regarding students' cognitive and attitudinal engagement with science. Students9 writing reflects the level atwhich students understand previously learned science-related ideas and gives insight into themes and issues they would be interested in learning. This study further demonstrates how students organize andpersonalize science knowledge acquired inside aswell as outside of schoolwhen givennovel and unconventional (informal) science-related tasks. The study also demonstrates that informal writing tasks encourage students to express opinions, values, and attitudes associated with science and science learning. Examples are provided of similarities and differences in students9 writing preferences and in the quality of writing produced by boys and girls. Suggestions for further studies for teachers and researchers are discussed.

The Relationship between Gender and Topic in Gender-Preferential Language Use

“…Despite these differences, writing by children and young adults has been found to display many of the genderlinked language effects evident in face-to-face conversation and e-mail (see Janssen & Murachver, 2004, for a review). For example, it is more typical for females than males to include politeness markers (Rubin & Greene, 1992), references to emotion (Levine & Geldman-Caspar, 1997;Mulac & Lundell, 1994;Mulac, Studley, & Blau, 1990), and true, personal experiences (Marschall, 1997;Peterson, 2001). Females tend to include more markers of excitability (e.g., exclamation marks and underlining; Colley & Todd, 2002;Hiatt, 1977;Rubin & Greene, 1992), hedges (Mulac et al, 1990), intensifiers, compliments (Janssen & Murachver, 2004), third-person pronouns (Colley & Todd, 2002;Janssen & Murachver, 2004), and use shorter sentences (Hiatt, 1977;Mulac et al, 1990;Rubin & Greene, 1992) than males in their writing.…”

The Role of Gender in New Zealand Literature

“…When children are allowed to write informally, gender differences exist in the topics chosen, character gender, emotional and aggressive tones, and levels of organization (Levine & Geldman-Caspar, 1997;Marschall, 1997;S. Peterson, 2001).…”

“…Peterson, 2001). Levine and Geldman-Caspar (1997) showed that when writing about science, girls focused more on others, included more references to emotion, and tended to integrate any facts they provided with overall meaning. Boys, however, tended to list facts without links, gave more technical information, and remained detached and formal.…”