Blog 1: What does disciplinary literacy look like in Science?

Disciplinary literacy in science is the ability to critically read and write about scientific 

research, determine authenticity of practices and their subsequent analysis. Students 
who are scientifically literate are able to analyze what other scientists have discovered 
in order to learn, engage in similar practice, replicate their experiments, and/or create
their own experiments while adhering to scientific practices. Adherence to scientific
practices, particularly while designing an experiment, determine the authenticity of the 
findings of an experiment.

The 3 skills student scientists  need in order to think/read/write and act like a 

member of the scientific community are: 1)  Baseline understanding of what 

is science and the scientific method: Scientists must be able to read scientific 

studies and the resulting data to help them understand: 1) the reason for conducting

an experiment (Purpose or Problem). 2) How the experiment will address the problem

or purpose. 3) How the variables and control variables or group were identified and

organized. 4) Issues of bias and authenticity. 5) how to design and redesign experiments. 

6) how to analyze results. In San Luis Coastal Unified Schools we use the model “C-E-R” 

which stands for: Claim (Was your hypothesis correct), Evidence (How do you know? 

What is acceptable evidence?), Reasoning (How does your evidence support your claim?

Not restating the evidence, rather, use scientific laws/theories (gravity, energy, cycles of

matter) to further support your evidence. 

The second skill students need in order to think/read/write and act like a member of the 

scientific community is critical thinking: the ability to critically analyze the results of an

experiment and ask questions to clarify misconceptions. Critical thinking includes asking 

questions to determine why things occur the way they do, and, so what? Critical thinking 

includes being able to assess reading and writing for rationale. Rationale allows students 

to understand how one event relates to another, or how different branches of science are 

related. Students need to dive deep into scientific phenomena in order to communicate 

verbally and in writing what they think initially, what they learn, and how their thinking has 
changed as new evidence is discovered. Critical thinking, and the acquisition of new skills
related to critical thinking allows them to recognize knowledge gained in the learning process.

The third skill students need in order to think/read/write and act like a member of the
scientific community is organization. Scientists keep journals when tracking change 
over time or cause and effect. Scientists build their data on pre-existing data, and need
to be able to refer to previous data in an efficient way. This can be accomplished K-W-L 
charts and graphic organizers. Organized writing in the science field includes citations
and references to peer-reviewed studies. Scientists will quote experts in the field, and invite
other scientists to join forces or duplicate experiments to see if results are accurate and 
repeatable. Notes should be legible and/or in graphic organizer to ensure consistent location
for vocabulary and data.

Some effective reading strategies for science are described by a science educator, 

Jonah Jones, during an interview in Drawing on What we Do as Readers:  

Discovering and embedding strategies across the disciplines by Carol Giles, Yang

 Wang, and Danielle Johnson in the Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy 59(6)

May/June 2016. These include "front-loading" vocabulary, explaining difficult portions

of texts to students prior to them reading them, and asking students to reflect on
background knowledge when exploring new science concepts.

Some questions for educators in Science I have are:
How important do you feel "front-loading" vocabulary is for readers of scientific texts?
Do you have any strategies you feel are equally effective to assist future scientists in reading?

Some of the texts we will teach from this quarter include Pearson Realize’s Science 

Unit on Ecology, and the Full Option Science System text on Geology (erosion/deposition).