Group items tagged

Peer review is one collaborative writing strategy that can assist students in achieving a number of the Common Core Standards, including the one stating that students will improve their writing by "revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach." Research has shown that peer review, done well, results in improved student writing and learning about writing.

If you're like me, you hate writing "needs support" and/or "lacks evidence" on students' papers. If you do this activity, you won't have to (as much). Here's how it works.

Annenberg Learner on content literacy; 10 step interactive website. 1) what is disciplinary literacy 2) Big Ideas 3) Reading 4) Writing 5) Content Specific Big Ideas in Literacy 6) Reading in Content Area (Science) 7) Writing in Sciene 8) Bringing it all together 

Taylor must write a report about a natural toxin while she is home from college on break. After a family dinner conversation about the latest attempt to poison a politician via a letter, Taylor decides to explore how ricin acts as a poison. Students work in small groups to help Taylor by working through figures from primary literature papers and exploring the use of an in vitro translation system, sucrose gradient fractionation and the effect of inhibiting various steps of translation.  A shorter, second day activity involves students looking further at the effect of ricin upon ribosome function and at the ricin protein itself.  Students individually complete a cumulative assignment of writing a letter back to Mom and Dad about how ricin has its effects. This case was designed for use in a second semester biochemistry course or a molecular biology course that incorporates the mechanism of transcription. Prerequisite knowledge includes a general understanding of the steps of translation and the ability to interpret data from agarose gels.

Guide to writing lab reports.  Share with 11th graders taking college credit.

This case study presents the story of "Nick," a student who has been assigned the task of writing a research paper describing the fundamentals of chemical bonds and how they relate to human life. When Nick experiences difficulty remembering information about the different types of chemical bonds, he turns to his tutor, Josh, for help. Josh explains orbitals and valence electrons to Nick, and then they together review nonpolar and polar covalent bonds, ionic bonds, and hydrogen bonds. A final practical application exercise requires that students write about how different types of chemical bonds may relate to the development of Alzheimer's disease and to the mechanism of action of potential drug treatments.  The case is presented with PowerPoint slides and is designed to be used with a personal response system ("clickers"), but students can instead record their answers on paper or share them verbally.  The content is appropriate for use in high school and undergraduate introductory chemistry and biology courses.

Different disciplines follow different versions of the inquiry process. Graphic comparing: problem solving, scientific method, writing process, computation, theater, and engineering design.

Writing in science connection project.

This case study was developed to teach students the importance of understanding the behavior of wildlife, explore the difficulty in making management decisions when the public is invested in a species, and to help students develop critical thinking and public speaking skills. Students learn about the conservation status and behavior of the black rhinoceros by reading a primary literature article and answering a series of questions. They then listen to a Radiolab podcast that explores the moral dilemma of whether it is ethically appropriate to shoot an endangered rhinoceros if the purpose is to raise conservation funds. Students are assigned one of five positions and write essays to prepare for a town hall style debate in which they examine the pros and cons of such a decision. The Radiolab podcast is based on real events, and is also representative of many ethical dilemmas that wildlife managers regularly face. This case study is appropriate for several upper division biology courses.

This 5 lesson unit, which was designed by teachers in conjunction with scientists, ethicists, and curriculum developers, explores the scientific and ethical issues involved in stem cell research. The unit begins with an exploration of planaria as a model organism for stem cell research. Next, students identify stages in the development of human embryos and compare the types and potency of stem cells. Students learn about a variety of techniques used for obtaining stem cells and the scientific and ethical implications of those techniques. While exploring the ethics of stem cell research, students will develop an awareness of the many shades of gray that exist among positions of stakeholders in the debate. Students will be provided an opportunity to become familiar with policies and regulations for stem cell research that are currently in place in the United States, the issues regarding private and public funding, and the implications for treatment of disease and advancement of scientific knowledge. The unit culminates with students developing a position on embryonic stem cell research through the use of a Decision-Making Framework. Two culminating assessments are offered: In the individual assessment, students write a letter to the President or the President's Bioethics Committee describing their position and recommendations; In the group assessment, students develop a proposal for NIH funding to research treatment for a chosen disease using either embryonic or 'adult' stem cells.

Many of these labs allow students to test multiple variables. Caution: the journal and data entry sections of the simulations do not work, so you probably will want to arrange for students to write these on their own pages. Many of these labs are useful to substitute for activities in the class that are too costly, dangerous, or time consuming. I have assigned grades to some that I've explored in detail. Grades are based on interactivity, useability, and overall value of the exploration. Many of these can be used as simple class demonstrations, whereas others are more useful for having students explore and change variables.

LabWrite guides student through the laboratory experience and writing a lab report.  Developed by NC State University with support from the National Science Foundation.

Japanese knotweed (Fallopia japonica) is an invasive plant that can be very hard to eliminate. This PowerPoint-driven case study briefly describes this plant and asks students to identify possible solutions for its control when a homeowner discovers it growing next to his house. The case was designed for an introductory college course, either a general biology course or a plant biology course, and while it can be used as a regular case, it was actually written to assess the students' ability to solve a problem and write an analysis. If you teach with cases, shouldn't you test with cases as well?

A mother who didn't believe in vaccines for years is now writing about her experience after all seven of her children became sick with whooping cough and hopes to inspire other parents to reconsider vaccination.

list of WICR (writing inquiry collaboration and reading) AVID assignments and implementation suggestions

An exciting new test might help us save antibiotics. Needing only a drop of blood, researchers at Duke have developed a rapid assay that can tell viral infections-which generally can't be treated-from bacterial ones that may benefit from antibiotics. While I don't usually write about drugs or products in development, this test piqued my interest and left me excited about its potential to help contain antibiotic overuse.

Aligned with both the Next Generation Science Standards and the Common Core State Standards, the investigations are designed to be much more authentic than traditional laboratory activities-and they enable your students to learn how to read, write, speak, and use math in the context of science.

This case study follows two beginning undergraduate researchers on a quest for a summer research project related to food web ecology. While writing their research proposal, the students receive feedback indicating that they have neglected an entire group of organisms from their food web-parasites, which leads them to a scientific research paper discussing how these organisms have been overlooked by scientists studying food webs, the challenges involved with including parasites in food webs, and the contributions parasites ultimately make to food webs. An integrated activity in which students visualize the food web using images of organisms and answer questions about species interactions provides opportunities to examine key concepts such as omnivory, ontogenetic diet changes, trophic levels, complex life cycles, and taxonomic aggregation. This case study was originally written for an undergraduate general ecology course, but could easily be adapted to undergraduate general biology courses covering community ecology or specific courses in invertebrate zoology, parasitology, or disease ecology. The teaching notes also discuss how the included code for R statistical computing software can be used to extend the case study in a more quantitative direction if desired.

This case study was written for an introductory course for biology majors who are first learning about embryonic development. The case is composed of several parts and involves a storyline about a team of researchers who find frogs and eggs in bamboo plants during a field study. Students consider what these observations mean, learn basics about the stages of animal embryonic development, and make connections to phylogeny and natural selection. Students then apply their understanding of animal embryonic stage development to the chemical atrazine in the environment by examining data from several experiments. As a concluding activity students write a letter to an agency or newspaper of their choosing stating their opinion surrounding the use of atrazine in the environment. The case proceeds in a progressive disclosure format and involves a combination of class discussion, small group work, and homework. Because the case focuses on very basic animal embryonic development, it would also be a great start to a developmental biology course or an embryology course.

The activity begins with students observing different organisms or phenomena and developing questions based on their observations. They then sort their questions into those that can and cannot be answered using the methods of science. Students practice writing scientific questions, designing experiments to address scientific questions, developing questions that involve cause and effect, and understanding the importance of cause and effect questions in scientific research. At the end of the activity, students determine the research questions being asked from reading journal article titles and parts of a published paper or other reported results. Several possible extension activities are provided for continuing the investigation and research of phenomena.