Science Writing Intervention Research for Students With and At Risk for Learning Disabilities, and English Learners: A Systematic Review

Writing in science can be challenging for all learners, and it is especially so for students with cognitive or language-based learning difficulties. Yet, we know very little about how to support students with learning disabilities (LD) or who are English learners (EL) when asked to write for authentic purposes during science instruction. Therefore, we conducted a systematic review of 14 high-quality studies to identify effective writing instruction elements for students with LD, those who are EL, and for at-risk learners more generally. We analyzed the studies according to purpose, participants, dependent variables, and interventions. Then, we categorized instructional elements into two broad types of support: (a) cognitive skills and processes, and (b) linguistic skills and processes. Quantitative analyses showed students (regardless of disability or language status) who received structured cognitive instruction on text features demonstrated substantial growth in writing. Conversely, although language in science differs from everyday language, it is absent from this literature. Thus, our findings provide insights into necessary cognitive and linguistic supports for these students, and implications for designing effective writing instruction.

Efeitos de sentido sobre transgênicos produzidos a partir da transformação nas condições de produção de leitura

Resumo: Reflexões relativas à Ciência e à Tecnologia têm se pautado no entorno de questões socialmente relevantes. Assim, além de colocar como fundamental um olhar para as relações entre tais eixos e a Sociedade, no presente trabalho, demonstramos como uma atividade baseada na leitura e na escrita no Ensino de Ciências, que visa autonomia e tomada de decisões, pode gerar outras compreensões por licenciandos em Ciências Biológicas. Analisamos os efeitos de sentido produzidos após ocorrer mudanças nas condições de produção de leitura, por meio do contato desses sujeitos com tipos textuais diversos. Nosso intuito foi compreender como se dão os seus posicionamentos frente as controvérsias científicas, mais especificamente no que se refere aos alimentos transgênicos. Para tal finalidade, analisamos produções textuais dissertativas, e observamos a ocorrência de mudanças nas condições de produção influenciaram a produção de sentidos dos licenciandos de/sobre transgenia, bem como em relação às controvérsias e questões sociopolíticas concernentes.Palavras-chave: CTS; Controvérsias Científicas; Análise de Discurso; Transgênicos. Meaning effects on transgenics produced from transformation in reading production conditions Abstract: Reflections on Science and Technology have been based on socially relevant issues. In addition to placing as crucial a look at the relationships between those axes and the Society, in the present work, we demonstrate how an activity based on reading and writing in Science Teaching, which aims at autonomy and decision making, can generate other understandings by undergraduate science Biological students. We analyze the meaning effects produced after changes in the conditions of reading production, through the contact of these subjects with different textual types. Our aim was to understand how their positions take place in the face of scientific controversies, more specifically with regard to transgenic foods. Analyzing textual dissertation productions, we observed that changes in production conditions influenced the production of senses of the undergraduate students on/about transgenics, as well as in relation to the controversies and socio-political issues involved.Keywords: STS; Scientific Controversies; Discourse Analysis; Transgenics.

Use of Cognitive Apprenticeship Models of Instruction to Support Middle School Students’ Construction and Critique of Written Scientific Explanations and Arguments

Writing in science can be challenging for secondary students, particularly for those with learning disabilities, students who are English learners (EL), and students who struggle with literacy due to other cognitive, language-based, or motivational learning difficulties (i.e., at risk or struggling learners). Moreover, science teachers are generally not equipped to support students’ writing in ways that are authentic to science. Despite being described more than 30 years ago, the field lacks information on cognitive apprenticeships that focus on disciplinary literacy, especially in science. In this paper, we take up these challenges and describe two intervention programs with middle school teachers and their students, focusing on the scientific practices of explanation and argumentation. We describe efforts to support students’ written construction and critique of explanations and arguments, and suggest ways that general and special educators can support students’ engagement in scientific practices through writing.

Writing in Science

Scientific knowledge entails rigour and control, both as a process of creating a reasoned view of reality and also as the product of results that shape the dissemination of science. The publication is critical for the development of science and the career of the academic/scientist. This article discusses some aspects of writing in science, in a stance that starts from the authors’ scientific area – Sociology/Social Sciences –, using the scientific publication in specialized journals as a paradigmatic case. The results allow concluding that writing in science does not provide the indication of principles to be pursued and that it is shaped as more than rigid self-sufficient rules for the production of a scientific-type text. This topic is particularly relevant in the current context, in which the process of scientific publication is undergoing a profound reformulation.