Required Synthesis of Course

Over the time I have spent studying literacy education, I have come to terms with the importance of literacy and literacy education outside of the traditional language arts classroom setting. As a science teacher, I find it important to have a focus on science literacy in my classroom. This includes knowing how to read and write scientific papers, how to discern bias in scientific news articles, how to communicate scientific information orally, the functions of professional scientific communities, and how to locate information as needed. I plan to incorporate this learning in my classroom by using the IMSCI model to teach students how to write scientific papers. I will model and allow students to work themselves to identify biases in scientific articles, and I will incorporate frequent classroom discussion in order to build students oral language skills and encourage the use of content specific vocabulary. I will use various texts in the class to present the diversity of the scientific community, and to address the diversity of students (interests, cultures, and background information levels). Students will be able to experience the field of science through inquiry labs designed to model and recreate the work and trials scientists do, but with a guide (teacher) to help the students along the way.