Reading in the science classroom can present a number of challenges. Although science and technology are ever-changing and articles about provocative new discoveries populate the front pages of news sites on a daily basis, the majority of required science content in schools is daunting for kids. And what may seem like interesting material to adults can leave students feeling disconnected. Compounding the issue, when students read science content, the reading level or Lexile scores spike due to the inclusion of scientific vocabulary. It's no surprise, then, that students struggle to read material they find not only difficult but also not interesting.
With a little innovation and creative passion, teachers can transform reluctance toward reading in science into exploration. However, doing so requires a close examination of the curriculum and an understanding of why you are teaching something. At a workshop at Waukegan High School in 2013, Grant Wiggins said, "Students are entitled to a standards-based curriculum that is designed intelligently and coherently, as a basic function of a properly functioning system." Teachers have all the best intentions when they seek articles that are relevant to their topics of study; however, Wiggins's words challenge educators to design their curricula deliberately.
Investigate
As a first step to removing reading reluctance in science classrooms, the teachers in my department look for ways to contextualize a lesson around an investigation. Once we have a problem to investigate, a case study to explore, or a mystery to solve, we look for readings we can adapt that contain clues or necessary information for students to move toward discovery. By creating an irresistible context, reading is no longer a chore but rather part of the exploration. The reading passage becomes an essential element to understanding the big picture of the lesson, and students are motivated to understand and apply it. To add some excitement to an assignment, we take advantage of free resources that make reading more engaging. For example, word processing templates offer creative ways to redesign the layout of articles so that they are more visually engaging and easier to navigate.
Depending on the lesson, we offer readings before, during, or after the investigation. Readings we offer at the conclusion of an investigation provide insight into how the topic relates to other fields or is part of current experimental research. In many curricula, the first unit of the year focuses on skills or an introduction to science. An example unit might be a lab to test whether or not worker termites will follow an ink trail based on its scent (the chemicals in ink pens can mimic their natural pheromones). Our teachers love the inquiry and design component this lab offers, not to mention the natural interest it piques in students. Students actually design pathways using a variety of ink pens; if the scent is a match to their pheromones, the termites will actually walk along the line perfectly! We wanted to capitalize on the natural draw this lab has, so we began looking for texts to support the topic, such as the 2012 Discover Magazine article "The Pheromone That Could Save Pine Forests From Oblivion" by Daniel McGlynn.
Once the lab concludes, we present the article to students and ask them to find out how their discoveries could be used to solve a real problem. We ask students to predict how their lab experiment might be used in a real forest and then ask them to read the article. Students eagerly dive into the reading to discover how their class assignment connects with real-world issues.
Sometimes, we use reading as a hook before a lab begins. For example, rather than planning our teaching around rote content while investigating the structure of DNA, we started searching for case studies that were relevant to the assignment. Before any instruction begins on the first day of the unit, teachers provide an article describing a case where an athlete who had won an Olympic medal had it later revoked—not for use of illegal substances but rather for something they discovered in her DNA. To jazz it up a bit, we updated the article's black and white formatting in a Flyer template in Microsoft Word. The templates are full color and eye-catching, which makes students forget they are reading an actual article. Students read about the case study and immediately wanted to learn more about DNA. We then designed a DNA lab experiment that mimicked one of the tests the International Olympic Committee conducted on the athlete when they published their findings. The lesson concluded with an "update" article in which we asked students to find out what happened in the years that followed the investigation. Students are so engaged in the investigation that our only challenge is keeping them from reading ahead and finding out what happened in the case before we've concluded our simulation of the same DNA tests. Students eager to read on their own time for science class—that's a problem I can live with.