Picture this: The bell is ringing and the teacher shouts, "For tonight's homework, read Chapter 8 and do problems 1-11 on page 243!" Secretly the teacher knows that very few of the students will "read" the chapter, and maybe half of them will turn in the answers to the questions.
In another classroom, the teacher is explaining an assignment in which the students are to identify the main ideas in the first half of a chapter in their text, and then write supporting details that explain, prove, or tell something about the main idea.
Still, in a third classroom, a teacher has prepared on large sheets of paper the main terms in the current biology unit. The words are written in English and Spanish, and the teacher has pictures pasted next to each word. The teacher is reviewing the words the with the class.
To a growing number of science educators, the teaching of language abilities and skills should be an integral aspect of science teaching. The three examples cited here are only the tip of the iceberg with regard to the actual language arts teaching that occurs in the science classroom. To some, the teaching of language or study skills is seen as remedial action necessary for students with low reading scores or abilities. For these students, this is beneficial if they do indeed have teachers that provide "special" instruction to help them comprehend their science textbook, or give them pointers for writing reports.
However, there is more powerful argument to support the integration of language skills in the science classroom. Three of the four goal clusters recommended by Project Synthesis involve personal, societal and career awareness objectives. These goals take the purpose of science teaching beyond the laboratory or the the academic context, and into everyday life: newspapers, magazines, television, and the local as well as global community. Students need to develop the skills (in the science classroom) so as to evaluate and find information, make decisions about issues, and communicate this information effectively. Language skills are at the heart of this goal. In this section, we will explore strategies that will aid students in the science classroom to improve their ability to read science information, and to communicate their ideas in writing.
First, lets start off with the notion that reading is as much of a scientific activity as observing, classifying, measuring and hypothesizing. If we want science to be more accessible to our students, then we must recognize reading as a new science process skill. Leslie Bulman in Teaching Language and Study Skills in Secondary Science, writes:
"If pupils can read about science it makes it potentially more accessible both in terms of present understanding and, even more important, of future interest. Most learning after the exposition of school and lecture hall is over, is via books...Reading is more important as a scientific technique than many practical skills. It is clear from the aims of science education...that they cannot be achieved with advanced reading skills."
The most recent edition of Modern Biology, the most widely used science textbook in the United States has over 800 pages of text, and lists over 1100 entries in the glossary. Quite a formidable task for a fourteen year old student to undertake! Regardless of the students intellectual development, student success in science courses could be enhanced if they were taught in a manner that we might call: learning how to learn. Recent research in metacognition supports efforts in which students are taught strategies of learning that will enable them to learn science, but also understand their own thinking processes. With this in mind, we shall explore several thinking strategies that will enhance student's reading abilities.