This project would develop professional resources to help elementary teachers strengthen their students' writing skills, particularly writing in science notebooks. The proposed resources would include print and multi-media formats for teachers and handbooks for their professional development providers. The project is based on a highly successful program developed in the Seattle Public Schools. During the program's six-year history it has undergone extensive evaluation by Inverness Research Associates demonstrating the program's efficacy and positive impact on student performance. Co-PI Fulwiler received foundation grants to further develop and refine components of these resources. Prior to dissemination the proposed resources would undergo further field tests in central Washington and rural Maine. Heinemann Publishers is committed to publishing the completed resources.
(NSF Grant #EIS-0554651), a Teacher Professional Continuum, Category B. Professional Resources – Full Development Project, has published a well-tested, delineated and engineered Science-Writing Approach that can dramatically impact the achievement of ALL students, including English language learners, in science and writing. Teachers, districts, professional development providers, university pre-service programs, and other science educators interested in raising the quality of science instruction, student thinking and achievement in science will find that when fully implemented – with professional development for teachers to learn to use the methodology well – this interdisciplinary approach provides students with experiences that stand out as exceptional compared with typical science classrooms. These conclusions are drawn from three major studies of the approach in Seattle’s elementary classrooms over the last decade by Inverness Research. In a recent fourth study, researchers reviewed evidence from those studies and also looked at how well the approach transfers to classrooms in different geographic locations in which teachers, for the most part, are using the science-writing materials developed in Seattle without the professional development available to Seattle teachers. Among their findings are these: Full implementation is needed for full benefits, but some is better than none The first two studies (2002, 2003) focused on implementation of the approach that included considerable professional development, while the 2005 study looked at a reduced and more typical level of professional development – about 4-7.5 hours. Panels of lead teachers and outside experts reviewed student notebooks to gauge the degree of implementation and development of student learning. The majority of lead teachers and all the outside experts concluded that even minimal implementation of the Science-Writing Approach was better for students than no use at all. They judged that while full implementation is needed for full benefits to students, modest implementation has some benefits with few detriments. Student deserve to have the benefit of full implementation Inverness researchers offered these conclusions for prospective users of the approach: Teachers who implement a combination of research-based, hands-on science units and science writing together have greater potential to teach the multiple practices and crosscutting concepts in the new National Research Council Framework for K-12 Science Education and the Common Core requirements. The Science-Writing Approach is best implemented within a context where science is a priority, and where teachers have a strong foundational science curriculum on which to build and professional development support enabling them to reach the fuller implementation that generates benefits to students. The publications – Writing in Science and Writing in Science in Action – make the approach accessible to any interested educator. In addition to offering a nuanced rendering of the approach, the materials in the two books are of high quality and include cutting-edge models of teaching in a DVD, online support for teacher study groups, written accounts by teachers at different grade levels who have experience with the approach, and blackline masters for classroom and workshop use. In the future, a national strategy will be offered – one that includes national institutes as well as a network infrastructure supporting national and local leadership development. The successful national and statewide pilot Institutes in Seattle could serve as the test bed to develop a national blueprint for a network of teachers and districts. INTELLECTUAL MERITS: The project design is based on and derived from twelve years of previous implementation in a large, diverse district as well as in twelve smaller districts in Arizona, Maine, Rhode Island, South Carolina, and Washington with ten years of intensive quantitative and qualitative research by a nationally renowned external evaluator and feedback from over 2,000 educators. The Science-Writing Approach is designed to maximize the benefit of the symbiotic relationship between inquiry-based science and expository writing instruction in science. The approach provides a concrete structure and well-developed resources that can help manifest the high-quality work that all students are capable of achieving. BROADER IMPACTS: The project has involved fieldwork in twelve districts as well as in Seattle Public Schools which together includes approximately 25,000 underrepresented students. The two books Writing in Science and Writing in Science in Action together have sold almost 25,000 copies. NSTA Recommends has highly favorable reviews of both books, and the products will serve hundreds of districts, thousands of teachers, and hundreds of thousands of students. The products balance the structure and pre-determined design with the option for local customization to fit needs of schools and districts. The project pursues multiple strategies to promote broad dissemination through a nationally recognized publisher, premier science education organizations, and diverse collaborators and partners. Through implementation efforts, the approach will help districts enrich their elementary science programs as well as lay a foundation for fostering enhanced technical writing skills for the future workforce.
