Communicating Scientifically

Literacy once meant reading and writing words on paper. Today’s science students need to do more than accept information at face value, they need to be able to understand, use and critically analyse texts validity and underpinning points of view. The curriculum challenges students' understanding of the use of models in science and the contestability of science knowledge. Critical literacy skills will empower students provide appropriate responses to scientific issues. Ultimately critical literacy will inform their daily lives.

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Course Curriculum

1

Introduction
- Task 1: What constitutes literacy in science education?
- Course outline
- Course notes
- Syllabus extract - Communication
- Literacy across the curriculum - Professor Peter Freebody
2

Language and knowledge
- Presentation: Towards a critical literacy
- Presentation: What are genres?
- Task 2: Identify the genre of these texts
- Task 3: Identify the genre of these (visual) texts
- Task 4: The structure of a response
3

Critical literacy
- Task 5: Critical Literacy exercise...
- Task 6: Critical literacy and the syllabus
4

The ALARM Matrix
- The ALARM matrix
- Wurdi Youang
- Nuclear isotopes ALARM .pdf
- Evaluate the benefits and problems associated with medical OR industrial uses of nuclear energy
- Task 7: My writing task
- Using literacy models like SOLO and ALARM to differentiate students’ written responses.pdf
5

Literacy Analysis of the HSC
- Task 8: Literacy analysis of the HSC
6

Communication and Depth Studies
- Task 8: Using a standards framework to assess communication in a depth study
7

Resources
- Copy of Resources
8

Reflection
- Reflection: How will your teaching change after this course?

About the instructor

Curriculum and assessment advisor

Jim Sturgiss

Jim is an educational researcher and independent educational consultant. A recipient of the NSW PTC Distinguished Service Award for leadership in delivering targeted professional learning to teachers, he works with schools to align assessment, reporting and learning practice. He has been a DoE Senior Assessment Advisor where he developed many statewide assessments, (ESSA, SNAP, ELLA, BST) and as Coordinator: Analytics where he developed reports to schools for statewide assessments and NAPLAN.