Current Realities and Future Possibilities: Language and science literacy—empowering research and informing instruction

In this final article, we briefly review and synthesize the science and language research and practice that arose from the current literature and presentations at an international conference, referred to as the first “Island Conference”. We add to the synthesis of the articles the conference deliberations and on‐going discussions of the field and also offer our views as to how such contributions can take place. These central issues—the definition of science literacy; the models of learning, discourse, reading, and writing and their underlying pedagogical assumptions; the roles of discourse in doing, teaching, and learning science; and the demands on teacher education and professional development in the current reforms in language and science education—provide points of departure for discussion of four possible new considerations to research in this field of endeavour that could contribute to a broader and productive scholarship and deeper and enriched understanding of both teaching and learning. These considerations, each from well‐established fields of research literature, are the need to develop support for a contemporary view of science literacy, the role of metacognition in science learning generally, the role of multiple representations in knowledge building and science literacy, and the need for more focused teacher education and professional development programmes.

[1]  S. Loucks-Horsley,et al.  Research on Professional Development for Teachers of Mathematics and Science: The State of the Scene , 1999 .

[2]  P. Scott,et al.  Constructing Scientific Knowledge in the Classroom , 1994 .

[3]  L. Yore.  Enhancing Science Literacy for All Students With Embedded Reading Instruction and Writing-to-Learn Activities. , 2000, Journal of deaf studies and deaf education.

[4]  Stephen P. Norris,et al.  How literacy in its fundamental sense is central to scientific literacy , 2003 .

[5]  Preparing Preservice Teachers to Use an Interdisciplinary Approach to Science and Language Arts Instruction , 2000 .

[6]  E. Wendy Saul,et al.  Crossing Borders in Literacy and Science Instruction: Perspectives on Theory and Practice , 2004 .

[7]  Shaaron Ainsworth,et al.  The functions of multiple representations , 1999, Comput. Educ..

[8]  Nancy R. Romance,et al.  A curriculum strategy that expands time for in-depth elementary science instruction by using science-based reading strategies: Effects of a year-long study in grade four , 1992 .

[9]  Petros Georghiades,et al.  From the general to the situated: three decades of metacognition , 2004 .

[10]  J. Shymansky,et al.  Sensing the Impact of Elementary School Science Reform: A Study of Stakeholder Perceptions of Implementation, Constructivist Strategies, and School–Home Collaboration , 2005 .

[11]  Local Systemic Change through Teacher Enhancement Year Three Cross-Site Report , 1999 .

[12]  Carolyn W. Keys.  Revitalizing instruction in scientific genres: Connecting knowledge production with writing to learn in science , 1999 .

[13]  Shirley Simon,et al.  Enhancing the quality of argumentation in school science , 2004 .

[14]  Vaughan Prain,et al.  Writing and Learning in the Science Classroom , 2004 .

[15]  Michael P. Klentschy,et al.  Helping English Learners Increase Achievement Through Inquiry-Based Science Instruction , 2002 .

[16]  P. Hewson,et al.  Accommodation of a scientific conception: Toward a theory of conceptual change , 1982 .

[17]  R. Osborne,et al.  Learning science: A generative process , 1983 .

[18]  L. Yore,et al.  Examining the literacy component of science literacy: 25 years of language arts and science research , 2003 .

[19]  Peter J. Fensham,et al.  The Content Of Science: A Constructive Approach To Its Teaching And Learning , 1994 .

[20]  H. Emmett Brown,et al.  Association for the education of teachers in science , 1957 .

[21]  Wolff-Michael Roth,et al.  Establishing Scientific Classroom Discourse Communities , 2004 .

[22]  Vaughan Prain,et al.  Sequential Writing Tasks’ Influence on Science Learning , 2001 .

[23]  Carole Ford.  Reforms, Visions, and Standards: A Cross-Curricular View from an Elementary School Perspective. , 1997 .

[24]  Madge T. Craig,et al.  Index of Science Reading Awareness: An Interactive-Constructive Model, Test Verification, and Grades 4-8 Results. , 1998 .

[25]  Geoff N Masters,et al.  Measuring student knowledge and skills : the PISA 2000 assessment of reading, mathematical and scientific literacy , 2000 .

[26]  R. Kozma,et al.  Multimedia and understanding: Expert and novice responses to different representations of chemical phenomena , 1997 .

[27]  R. Bangert-Drowns,et al.  The Effects of School-Based Writing-to-Learn Interventions on Academic Achievement: A Meta-Analysis , 2004 .

[28]  Harry Singer,et al.  Theoretical models and processes of reading , 1976 .

[29]  On the Explanation of Change in Science and Cognition , 1999 .

[30]  Anat Zohar,et al.  The Nature and Development of Teachers' Metastrategic Knowledge in the Context of Teaching Higher Order Thinking , 2006 .

[31]  James Paul Gee,et al.  Language in the Science Classroom: Academic Social Languages as the Heart of School-Based Literacy , 2004 .

[32]  Michael P. Klentschy,et al.  Students' Science Notebooks and the Inquiry Process , 2004 .

[33]  R. Harrold.  Resources in Education , 1999 .

[34]  Päivi Tynjälä,et al.  Writing as a Learning Tool: Integrating Theory and Practice. Studies in Writing, Volume 7. , 2001 .

[35]  Jonathan A. Supovitz,et al.  The Effects of Professional Development on Science Teaching Practices and Classroom Culture , 2000 .

[36]  Robert B. Ruddell,et al.  Reading as a meaning-construction process: The reader, the text, and the teacher. , 1994 .

[37]  E. Banilower,et al.  Local Systemic Change through Teacher Enhancement: 2003-06 Cross-Site Report. , 2006 .

[38]  Petros Georghiades,et al.  RESEARCH REPORT , 2004 .

[39]  Adina Koch,et al.  Training in metacognition and comprehension of physics texts , 2001 .

[40]  Paul B. Hounshell,et al.  Using three-dimensional models to teach molecular structures in high school chemistry , 1995 .

[41]  Michael L. Kamil,et al.  The Science of Reading and the Reading of Science: Successes, Failures, and Promises in the Search for Prerequisite Reading Skills for Science , 2004 .

[42]  David F. Treagust,et al.  Analogies in Biology Education: A Contentious Issue. , 1997 .

[43]  Wolff‐Michael Roth,et al.  Introduction: The Role of Language in Science Learning and Teaching , 2004 .

[44]  Larry D. Yore,et al.  Impact of a school district's science reform effort on the achievement and attitudes of third- and fourth-grade students , 2004 .

[45]  Lisa M. Blank,et al.  A metacognitive learning cycle: A better warranty for student understanding? , 2000 .