Reading an article: Difference between revisions

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{{Rinfo
|type= Lesson idea


{{Rinfo
|attribution={{James de Winter}} {{Simon Knight}}
|subject=
|subject= Science,  literacy, secondary,  science
|topic= Reading skills
|tagline=Encouraging students to read about science beyond the textbook
|resourcenumber= SC0010
|resourcenumber= SC0010
|age= Depends on articles selected (likely to be 14-19 from links below)
|final=yes
|title= Reading an article
|age= KS4,  KS3, Secondary
|content= Using articles (see links below), encourage students to move beyond textbook learning, to think about science communication in various contexts, and expand their own knowledge. Articles obtained could be used in various different ways.  Encouraging reading articles offers opportunities to:
|title= Reading and discussing popular science articles
* discuss scientific communication - particularly in popular format, use of images, article structure, importance of explaining terms and so on.
|image=Readingscience.png
* compare and contrast articles on the same topic - the MMR jab, and climate change offer good examples here where the popular media, science writing for the lay public (e.g. from bloggers and NHS 'behind the headlines'), and academic work has been written in different ways, with varying messages.
|tagline=Read. Get the world's view and see how science works for real
* Instigate some discussion of peer review, and the process of publishing in science, including the structure of academic articles
|content= Reading scientific articles moves students beyond textbook learning and, of course, helps expand their knowledge. More than this, encouraging reading offers opportunities to compare messages in popular science writing with the writing for academics. For example, students could compare articles written on the MMR vaccine by 'behind the headlines' bloggers with some mainstream pieces. They could discuss scientific communication, its popularity, the need to explain terms, the use of images and terminology and, sometimes, the complete avoidance of terminology. As teacher, you could instigate discussion on peer review, the process of publishing and the structure of academic articles. You could also encourage students to write a  blog, or a 'wiki' on science and to think about science communication in various contexts.
* Encourage students to think about writing their own articles on science
The place to start could be an article in the news, a box of articles or a set of bookmarks you've collected. Included here are links to some less obvious sources for science articles.  
 
Teachers could collect together relevant articles in tagged collections to encourage pupils to read these on a regular basis (e.g. an old collection of psychology links on Delicious [http://delicious.com/sjgknight/psychology here])
|format=
|format=
|strategy=The resource relates to the importance of:
|strategy=
* Scientific literacy
|Learning Objectives= Depending on the activity chosen, learning outcomes may be:
* Science citizenship - understanding science in its context
* discussing various media for science communication and distinguish between academic and non-academic articles,
* Literacy - understanding the role of different media in dissemination
* identifying ways that academic work could have an accessible format and style,
* Scientific understanding of particular concepts chosen.
* identifying the differences in aims for scientific writing as well as the consequences.
|Learning Objectives= Depending on the style of activity chosen, as some potential learning outcomes by the end of the session students should be able to:<br />• Discuss the various media for science communication and distinguish between academic, and non-academic articles<br />• Identify ways to write academic work in an accessible format and style<br />• Understand some of the differences in aims for scientific writing - and the impact of this, for example peer review v. selling papers.
* knowing about peer review versus writing for magazines and the web.
|additional resources=
|additional resources=
BlueSci (http://www.bluesci.org) is a Creative Common licensed science magazine produced by students at the University of Cambridge. Choose an article from the magazine for discussion in class.
The NHS Choices 'Behind the Headlines' [http://www.nhs.uk/news/Pages/Howtoreadarticlesabouthealthandhealthcare.aspx site] offers a balanced look at media coverage of health stories - these could be contrasted.
For more advanced readers, [http://researchblogging.org/ Research Blogging] provides a directory of blogs based on research articles, and publishers such as [http://www.plosone.org/home.action PLoS ONE] offer Open Access journals for various scientific fields.
Any other suitable articles.
|useful information=
|useful information=
|related resources=
|related resources=See Listening to scientists - a collection of interviews on ORBIT [[Listening series - C105]]
|other=
|other=
|resources=
|resources=
}}
Some sources of articles, that may suit ages 14-19
* Choose an article for discussion in class from BlueSci (http://www.bluesci.org), a science magazine produced by students at the University of Cambridge (Creative Commons license)
* Collect articles and tag them into categories for pupils to read regularly. For example, check this student teacher's collection of  [http://delicious.com/sjgknight/psychology psychology links on Delicious]
* Look at the balance of media coverage of health stories. Contrast them with the original news articles. See  [http://www.nhs.uk/news/Pages/Howtoreadarticlesabouthealthandhealthcare.aspx NHS Choices 'Behind the Headlines']
* For advanced readers, see this blog directory based on research articles [http://researchblogging.org/ Research Blogging]
* Or see these open access journals from various scientific fields [http://www.plosone.org/home.action PLoS ONE publishers] }}
[[Category:Secondary]]
[[Category:Secondary]]
[[Category:Science]]
[[Category:Science]]
[[Category:Maths]]

Latest revision as of 17:48, 6 February 2015

Readingscience.png
Read. Get the world's view and see how science works for real

Lesson idea. Reading scientific articles moves students beyond textbook learning and, of course, helps expand their knowledge. More than this, encouraging reading offers opportunities to compare messages in popular science writing with the writing for academics. For example, students could compare articles written on the MMR vaccine by 'behind the headlines' bloggers with some mainstream pieces. They could discuss scientific communication, its popularity, the need to explain terms, the use of images and terminology and, sometimes, the complete avoidance of terminology. As teacher, you could instigate discussion on peer review, the process of publishing and the structure of academic articles. You could also encourage students to write a blog, or a 'wiki' on science and to think about science communication in various contexts. The place to start could be an article in the news, a box of articles or a set of bookmarks you've collected. Included here are links to some less obvious sources for science articles.

Teaching approach. The resource relates to the importance of:

  • Scientific literacy(topic).
  • Science citizenship(topic) - understanding science in its context.
  • Literacy - understanding the role of different media in dissemination.
  • Scientific understanding of particular concepts chosen.
  • scientific language(ta).
  • scientific method(ta).

It can be delivered through a combination of homework(ta) (perhaps to find an interesting article), group work(ta) to explore various articles (perhaps in a carousel), and/or use of ICT(i) including PowerPoint files to encourage students to present an area they are interested in. (edit)

Resource details
Title Reading and discussing popular science articles
Topic [[Topics/Scientific literacy|Scientific literacy]],  [[Topics/Science citizenship|Science citizenship]],  [[Topics/Reading skills|Reading skills]]
Teaching approach

[[Teaching Approaches/Homework|Homework]],  [[Teaching Approaches/Language|Language]],  [[Teaching Approaches/Group work|Group work]],  [[Teaching Approaches/Scientific method|Scientific method]]

Learning Objectives

Depending on the activity chosen, learning outcomes may be:

  • discussing various media for science communication and distinguish between academic and non-academic articles,
  • identifying ways that academic work could have an accessible format and style,
  • identifying the differences in aims for scientific writing as well as the consequences.
  • knowing about peer review versus writing for magazines and the web.
Subject

[[Resources/Literacy|Literacy]],  [[Resources/Secondary|Secondary]],  [[Resources/Science|Science]]

Age of students / grade

[[Resources/Secondary|Secondary]],  [[Resources/KS4|KS4]],  [[Resources/KS3|KS3]]


Related ORBIT Wiki Resources

See Listening to scientists - a collection of interviews on ORBIT Listening series - C105

Files and resources to view and download

Some sources of articles, that may suit ages 14-19

  • Choose an article for discussion in class from BlueSci (http://www.bluesci.org), a science magazine produced by students at the University of Cambridge (Creative Commons license)
  • Collect articles and tag them into categories for pupils to read regularly. For example, check this student teacher's collection of psychology links on Delicious
  • Look at the balance of media coverage of health stories. Contrast them with the original news articles. See NHS Choices 'Behind the Headlines'
  • For advanced readers, see this blog directory based on research articles Research Blogging
  • Or see these open access journals from various scientific fields PLoS ONE publishers
Acknowledgement