First Thoughts — Please read through the selection of quotes from next week’s reading. In the reply section below, please share what comes to mind to you, your first thoughts in the context of disciplinary literacy
Wright, T. S., & Gotwals, A. W. (2017). Supporting Disciplinary Talk From the Start of School: Teaching Students to Think and Talk Like Scientists. Reading Teacher, 71(2), 189–197.
Because there is evidence that both science and oral language are neglected areas of focus in the early years of schooling, in our work, we have focused specifically on supporting students’ disciplinary talk during science instruction.
What Is Disciplinary Talk? Scholars have argued that oral language is not only important for reading comprehension but also critical for science learning.
For example, the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) for early elementary grades expect students to be able to “share observations,” “describe patterns,” “ask questions,” and “construct an argument supported by evidence” (NRC, 2012, p. 42).
… they also need support in engaging in science-specific talk.
Scholars have argued that it is critical for teachers to explicitly teach the specialized ways of using language in different disciplines because novice learners may not pick up this disciplinary talk without instruction
For example, disciplinary literacies in the sciences include the ways that scientists use language to engage in scientific practices, including reading, writing, and talking about science
[O]ur ultimate goal is to support all students during content area instruction…
We found that when kindergartners have regular opportunities to think and talk like scientists, they were significantly more likely to provide science explanations in their talk (e.g., making scientific claims, providing evidence-based support for their claims) compared with their peers in business-as- usual classrooms.
[In this article], we used five instructional strategies to promote students’ science talk: ask, explore, read, write, and discuss.
8 responses to “Reading For Next Week | Teaching Students to Think & Talk Like Scientists”
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I have never really heard the term disciplinary talk before. It is interesting to know that it refers to oral language being important for both reading comprehension and science learning. It is important for students to engage in science specific talk because it benefits them picking up on the importance of language and how it can be used in this specific discipline. It is important to think of students as scientists who can use reading and writing to talk about science and to help develop their interest for this subject.
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This article is helpful to somebody who is going to teach younger children. I say this because I feel as if these instructional stratagies are more helpful for children rather than full grown students. Bringing them into a certain type of classroom. Giving them the type of knowledge that they need and can grow by age is important for their development. Also, it is critical that they can be learning these at a younger age rather than at an older age.
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I think that the idea of talking about science specifically is really important. There is so much jargon that is used within the discipline that is not used in other places. I also think that there is not a big enough emphasis on oral communication in the curriculum today even though oral communication is the most common way to share ideas. If I have the most profound thoughts known to man inside my head and cannot share them, then all of my knowledge is lost. The same idea pertains to science as well, if there are students in the classroom who understand the science concepts yet cannot share them with the class in a way that contributes to learning, then their knowledge is not being used to its fullest extent.
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What first comes to mind, is the importance of talking, not just comprehension. Disciplinary literacy is, of course important, but it sounds like disciplinary talk is not mentioned enough. As a future science teacher, I can already see this article having an impact on how I teach. It will be crucial to read about the importance of oral language In the classroom.
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When I think of science, I usually don’t think of group conversation. I think of lecturing, doing an experiment, and turning in the work that is done. I also feel like, especially in elementary school, students don’t engage in conversation that uses scientific language. They are just expected to learn from what the teacher is saying.
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This weeks article is going to be very beneficial to me for when I teach younger kids. In the second to last quote it talks about how students actually benefit when they are able to think and talk like scientists. We need to start this habit young so we can start habits young. It will allow students to learn the vocabulary and make scientific claims. I feel like this article will really focus on how important language is to a subject especially science. I feel like it is a common theme throughout school years, there is a lot of new vocabulary in science. If we do not understand or teach the language students will not understand the concept so I am interesting to learn more of ways we can deepen the understanding of science through language and reading.
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