Week 6

          After reading the first chapter, the question that came to mind was the following: How can I get my students to ignore that voice in their head that says “I am not a science person?” I posed this question because I knew that if I gave them a piece of disciplinary literature to read, if it was from a science journal, it would most likely be boring and would not pique their interest. I wished that the first chapter had some concrete insights on how to bring students into the reading of scientific literature after first removing that negative attitude toward the discipline.

            The second chapter began to answer my first question. In talking about teaching science literacy, it Buehl brought up the fact that the disciplinary texts often include intense and foreign vocabulary, formal tone, and scientific graphics. Much of this is intimidating to students, and they cannot see that the ability to put complex ideas into concise sentences, or to interpret graphic material, is a necessary skill for life. I wonder: is there a way to help students realize that the goal of achieving science literacy is not necessarily to learn to read journal articles, but to learn these valuable life skills?