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All,
Back to discussing writing skills among high school science
students.
There is no such animal as "plain English" for anyone in their
teens or twenties. or as my students would put it: "U gotta B kidding!"
Or the incredulous response I get when I assign the chemistry class (10th
grade) a write-up ( one "simple" paragraph, on their observations: "Write
a lab report???... This isn't English class."
The physics class, (11th grade) on the other hand, knows I require an
entire page on every physics lab so after the initial panic, they all
respond with decently written reports. Those who cannot write in the
beginning soon come to realize that unless they practice and produce a well
written report they cannot receive an "A" no matter how well they performed
on the experiment. (Some whose performance was less than stellar could
receive a "C" or less if the report is also less than acceptable. I give
everyone an opportunity to confer with me or the English teacher before
they have to hand it in. And eventually all of them come around. Some
even hand in a full page typed report, single space with spell-check. What
a difference a year makes.
You can't just say, "Now class, writeup the lab." No, you need an
organized method of what you expect. For over 20 years I have used the
RERUN method, which I have explained many times before on this forum and
other discussion groups. It gives them a concise way to organize their
reports. This undoubtedly helps them greatly in organizing their thoughts
and writing up the lab.
Martin
On Jan 5, 2014, at 10:58 AM, Richard Tarara wrote:
It would be nice if just assigning this reading assignment would workwith H.S. and General Education classes, but in my experience it won't
(can't even get some in the class to buy the books much less read them.)
It really can be like the proverbial 'mule' and a workable 2x4 can be a
well done video presentation. [I only tried showing two seriously flawed
but oppositely themed ones ONCE--and seeing that such just produced
confusion, have stayed with the NOVA/FRONTLINE one that seems to work
best--based on short essays the students write after viewing.] I can blame
'pop culture' for some of the pedagogical difficulties, but it is what it
is, and IMO, better to use it than to fight it. Once effectively stunned,
then one can use information such as that you suggest below (thanks--will
include the 12 points in class materials), but if you think this kind of
class would read much beyond (even if assigned) you haven't worked with
this level of student (taking a 'required' co
urse). :
-(
scientific report prepared by actual scientists. Start with the 12
rwt
On 1/5/2014 12:45 AM, John Denker wrote:
If you want people to see what science knows, have them read an actual
enumerated points in this appendix:
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