Blog Post #1
What does disciplinary literacy look like in your content area? List at
least 3 skills your students need to learn in order to think/read/write/act like a member of your
disciplinary community. Explain why these skills are important to success in your discipline. In
addition, include a few pictures of different “texts” you teach/will be teaching.
In my discipline, disciplinary literacy is the ability to digest complex scientific readings, articles, and content. These examples most of the time are paired with visual support such as graphs, charts, data, etc. Students need the following skills in order to think/read/write/act like a member of my disciplinary community: data analysis, making claims and support them with evidence, and making connections between different big ideas/units.
The ability to analyze data is an essential skill needed to act as a scientist. A student must be able to analyze and interpret data. They need to understand what the data is representing and whether the data supports or opposes the hypotheses of the research. Data analysis will also follow them into other disciplines. Politics, economics, math, and many other disciplines utilize data to support their claims. Students need to be able to interpret data so they can evaluate it for themselves before they develop opinions on whatever content they are analyzing.
In science, theories are disproved frequently and through these failures we arrive closer to the answer. Students must not be afraid to share their hypotheses in the classroom but they must also realize they need to support them. In order, to participate in valuable discussions with their peers students need to practice arguing from a position backed up through evidence. By participating in this form of discussion they prepare themselves for future discussions within science and outside of science.
Finally, making connections between units is another skill students will need to be successful in a science classroom. Concepts are constantly being built on from the previous unit and students need to be able to make connections between these units so they can understand the big picture of why this content is important and useful for them to know. However, for students to make these connections they need to understand the material covered in the units which is transferred to them through multiple mediums such as educational videos, scientific readings, and labs.
In my discipline, disciplinary literacy is the ability to digest complex scientific readings, articles, and content. These examples most of the time are paired with visual support such as graphs, charts, data, etc. Students need the following skills in order to think/read/write/act like a member of my disciplinary community: data analysis, making claims and support them with evidence, and making connections between different big ideas/units.
The ability to analyze data is an essential skill needed to act as a scientist. A student must be able to analyze and interpret data. They need to understand what the data is representing and whether the data supports or opposes the hypotheses of the research. Data analysis will also follow them into other disciplines. Politics, economics, math, and many other disciplines utilize data to support their claims. Students need to be able to interpret data so they can evaluate it for themselves before they develop opinions on whatever content they are analyzing.
In science, theories are disproved frequently and through these failures we arrive closer to the answer. Students must not be afraid to share their hypotheses in the classroom but they must also realize they need to support them. In order, to participate in valuable discussions with their peers students need to practice arguing from a position backed up through evidence. By participating in this form of discussion they prepare themselves for future discussions within science and outside of science.
Finally, making connections between units is another skill students will need to be successful in a science classroom. Concepts are constantly being built on from the previous unit and students need to be able to make connections between these units so they can understand the big picture of why this content is important and useful for them to know. However, for students to make these connections they need to understand the material covered in the units which is transferred to them through multiple mediums such as educational videos, scientific readings, and labs.
I really appreciate your connection to the formation of scientific hypotheses in the classroom. I think for young science students it is sometimes daunting to create a hypothesis that they are not certain is correct, but I agree that it is really important to teach our students that a hypothesis needs to be rooted in scientific concepts and relevant predictions. Students are often so scared of failing that the possibility of formulating an incorrect hypothesis can be a real concern for them.
ReplyDeleteI also really like your comments on the importance of having students draw connections between units and concepts. This is so essential in sciences as all fields of science are related to one another. This is one thing that I think needs to be emphasized more in the classroom, especially as students begin gettin into difficult subjects such as chemistry and physics, which are highly interrelated. I would also add that it is important for student to be bringing in concepts from other disciplines entirely. In writing lab reports, students need to apply knowledge from their language arts classes and it is often important to remember what was happening historically when certain scientific discoveries were made.
The instructions on your pedigree are really awesome and straightforward, especially for someone who is unfamiliar with pedigrees. In my biology class we had the students create their own family pedigree to make it more relatable for students and we also offered sample data for any student who was not comfortable using their own family data. I found this to be really valuable and most students seemed to get a lot out of the pedigree activity.
Dear Bernardo,
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing your well written explanation of what disciplinary literacy looks like in your discipline! I appreciate the way you shared the goals, as well as the challenges, that many students face in science classrooms.
I love your pedigree chart! You provided very helpful details to give your students the scaffolding they need to be successful in this assignment. I would love to hear how they did. I bet this was very engaging for them!
Thank you for your thoughtful work!
Sincerely, Julie Elvin