Research and Resources
Research on Seeds of Science/Roots of Reading
-
Linking science and literacy in the K-8 classroom, NSTA, 2006This paper presents a working model of the science-literacy interface. The authors include insights gained from developing the Seeds of Science/Roots of Reading program, and guidance for educators in shaping an appropriate and supportive role for text and for literacy practices in inquiry-based science.
-
The National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing (CRESST) at the University of California, Los Angeles conducted a study on the grades 3–4 unit Light Energy. The study compared student learning from the Light Energy unit with that of students who experienced the usual science curriculum for the same topics. The study took place in a state where light energy topics are in the state standards at grade 4. A total of 94 classrooms took part, with 47 in the Seeds of Science/Roots of Reading group and 47 in the “business-as-usual” comparison group. CRESST found that the Seeds of Science/Roots of Reading intervention resulted in “statistically and substantively higher student performance in science content, vocabulary, and writing.” In addition, teachers reported that they found the Light Energy unit usable, effective, and engaging.
-
National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing (CRESST), University of California, Los Angeles, 2005This independent evaluation study examines how two Seeds of Science/Roots of Reading units affect student interest, motivation, and learning, as well as evaluates the units’ quality, usability, and utility. The units were found to be beneficial to both students and teachers, with students making significant achievement gains and teachers demonstrating high motivation to use the materials. Note the unit Terrarium Investigations is now called Soil Habitats.
-
Indiana University of Pennsylvania, 2005This report presents findings of an in-depth qualitative investigation on the use of science-literacy materials in the pilot test of the first Seeds of Science/Roots of Reading unit, Shoreline Science. The author describes how scientific knowledge develops, and the role of multiliteracy in this development. Seeds of Science/Roots of Reading curriculum developers used the author’s findings and recommendations as they revised Shoreline Science for publication and refined the Seeds of Science/Roots of Reading model.
-
The Vermont Institutes and Western Oregon University, 2005Two research studies examine how a Seeds of Science/Roots of Reading unit, compared to units from two other curriculum programs, impacts student affect, interest, identity, understanding of the nature of science (NOS), conceptual understanding, and the degree of transfer to out-of-school contexts. Each study demonstrates a clear and compelling “value added” of the Seeds unit over the other two units. Note the unit Terrarium Investigations is now called Soil Habitats.
-
In a research report prepared for the Noyce Foundation in June of 2008,Seeds of Science/Roots of Reading researchers conducted an extensive review of research on effective and proven instruction for English language learners. The report then outlines a set of four principles that help make science instruction accessible for English language learners. These principles center on accommodations for vocabulary, discourse, writing, and reading.
-
Vocabulary Acquisition: Implications for Reading Comprehension, The Guilford Press, 2007This paper explores relationship between a set of Spanish/English cognates that have the potential for assisting Spanish/English bilinguals’ experiences with science texts. Spanish and English share many cognates, including some that are highly frequent in Spanish but less frequent in English. Consequently, Spanish/English bilinguals possess a linguistic resource that includes many words that, while commonplace in Spanish (e.g., enfermo), are reserved for scientific and academic registers in English (e.g., infirm). For first language Spanish students these words might well aid in accessing core English words and in gaining understandings of science texts. An analysis of the frequency of key vocabulary in three science units revealed a substantial number of these frequency-imbalanced cognate pairs.
-
This paper, presented at the National Reading Conference in December 2009, examines the affordances of an integrated science-literacy curriculum on students’ writing development. As part of the efficacy study on the Seeds of Science/Roots of Reading unit Light Energy, students were given a writing prompt that was scored on several dimensions, including science content, vocabulary, and clarity. Students in Seeds of Science/Roots of Reading classrooms outperformed students in control classrooms on all but two dimensions of science writing. Writing instruction in the Light Energy unit as well as the development of the scoring rubric used in the study are discussed in depth in this paper.
Articles by Members of the Seeds of Science/Roots of Reading Team
-
In this chapter, the authors review the research base that informs the Seeds of Science/Roots of Reading curriculum, and trace the development of the Seeds of Science/Roots of Reading model. Each guiding principle of the curriculum is discussed, along with preliminary assessment results that point to the advantage of integrating science and literacy. The chapter closes with questions around the science-literacy interface that merit further research.
-
In this chapter, the authors suggest that acquiring knowledge is currently a neglected aspect of reading. They demonstrate that integration of literacy and content-area instruction provides a context for learning to read and is necessary for acquisition of critical knowledge. Through a review of research on knowledge acquisition, comprehension, and integration of literacy and content-area instruction, the authors develop a model for integration of literacy and content-area instruction.
-
How can you connect, supplement, and extend students’ firsthand investigations? Look toward your bookshelves for a clue. Books and other textual materials can serve the following roles in support of scientific inquiry: providing context, modeling, supporting firsthand inquiry, supporting secondhand inquiry, and delivering content. Each of these roles are described in this article, and examples that demonstrate how trade books can support students’ (a) involvement in inquiry experienced, (b) grasp of science concepts, and (c) understanding of the nature of science.
-
In this article, the authors present a sequence of activities from a curriculum about light for third and fourth graders that supports students in learning to disagree like scientists. This sequence of activities helps students discuss reasons for the discrepancies in their data, use the language of argumentation in classroom discourse, and get a more accurate picture of science as a way of understanding the world, rather than just a collection of right answers (Driver, Newton, and Osborne 2000).
-
Through highlighting a classroom discussion routine called a Discourse Circle, this article illustrates how science can be a rich context for purposeful literacy learning. The Discourse Circle provides an opportunity for students to synthesize the ideas they have been learning, gather evidence from multiple sources, apply their newfound science knowledge to a compelling .issue, and discuss important science content with peers in a meaningful way.
-
In this white paper, Seeds of Science/Roots of Reading Principal Investigator Jacqueline Barber details the approach to inquiry that underlies all Seeds of Science/Roots of Reading units. At the heart of inquiry is using evidence to make explanations. A discussion of the inquiry cycle used in Seeds of Science/Roots of Reading units, as well as details about how this cycle becomes more complex as students move up through the grades, are included.
-
This abstract briefly describes the accessibility model for text used in developing Seeds of Science/Roots of Reading student books. The model emphasizes the use of the 1,000 most frequent words, and use of repetition with limited numbers of new, difficult words. Includes an analysis of one Seeds of Science/Roots of Reading book including comparison to a comparable, popular trade book on the same topic.
Recent Presentations by Members of
the Seeds of Science/Roots of Reading Team
-
In this presentation at the 2009 STANYS conference in Rochester, NY, Jacquey Barber discusses the importance of explicit instruction in disciplinary literacy practices. She shares the Seeds of Science/Roots of Reading approach, which includes a balance of learning modalities and uses reading and writing in ways that are authentic to science.
-
In this presentation at the National Science Teachers’ Association 2010 meeting in Philadelphia, exemplar firsthand science and literacy experiences from the Shoreline Science unit are used to demonstrate key aspects of the Seeds of Science/Roots of Reading approach to science-literacy integration. Through observing and comparing samples of sand, reading Gary’s Sand Journal, and interacting with several models of erosion as a process that shapes the Earth, participants learned about the affordances of combining firsthand and secondhand experiences to help students understand the natural world.
-
In this presentation at the National Science Teachers’ Association 2010 meeting in Philadelphia, exemplar firsthand science and literacy experiences from the Variation and Adaptation unit are used to demonstrate key aspects of the Seeds of Science/Roots of Reading approach to science-literacy integration. Participants engaged in reading the context-setting book Blue Whales and Buttercups, observed and classified birds based on their characteristics, and learned about the unit’s multimodal approach to teaching students to make inferences based on evidence.
-
In this presentation at the National Science Teachers’ Association 2010 meeting in Philadelphia, exemplar firsthand science and literacy experiences from the Shoreline Science unit are used to demonstrate key aspects of the Seeds of Science/Roots of Reading approach to science-literacy integration. Participants read Chemical Reactions Everywhere and created an exciting chemical reaction that forms the central inquiry experience for the entire unit. Participants also engaged with texts and models that expose students to foundational ideas about atoms and molecules.
-
In this presentation at the International Reading Association 2010 meeting in Chicago, the presenters engaged participants in learning about the engaging student books that are an integral part of the Seeds of Science/Roots of Reading program. The roles of text in inquiry science were discussed, and participants learned about the reciprocal relationship between knowledge and comprehension. Many examples from Seeds of Science/Roots of Reading books as well as trade books were provided.
-
In this workshop at the International Reading Association 2010 meeting in Chicago, Seeds of Science/Roots of Reading literacy developers shared the rationale for integrating science and writing and presented the approach to explicit, carefully scaffolded writing instruction that characterizes the Seeds of Science/Roots of Reading program. Participants engaged in hands-on activities focused on three genres of science writing taught in the program: scientific descriptions, scientific explanations, and scientific comparisons, using Seeds of Science/Roots of Reading books as mentor texts.
-
In this March 2010 presentation at the annual ASCD conference, both literacy and science developers discussed the Seeds of Science/Roots of Reading approach to academic language development. Seeds of Science/Roots of Reading helps students develop facility with language by teaching them to think, talk, and write like scientists. Participants learned about this research-validated approach to integrated science/literacy instruction and how it helps all students learn academic language.
