Supporting Kindergartners’ Science Talk in the Context of an Integrated Science and Disciplinary Literacy Curriculum

Positioning participation in the NGSS era: What counts as success?

“…Throughout his use of the SEP, we found that he focused on using the language of the practice while interpreting the practice for students to understand, such as shown in episode 2 where he incorporated the words “problem” and “solve” (for more information about the teacher's use of science language, see Zangori & Pinnow, ). Incorporating the language of the practice, while doing the practice, is a key praxis recommended by both the research literature for effective science teaching (Jurow & Creighton, ; Mercer et al, ; NGSS Lead States, ; Wright & Gotwals, ) and aligning instruction with the intent of the NGSS (NGSS Lead States, ). Mr. Sikes' whole class pedagogy in this regard is novel within the elementary classroom, as elementary teachers typically label scientific phenomenon and require memorization for learning, rather than implementing this language during teaching (Glen & Dotger, ; Reinsvold & Cochran, ).…”

“…This requires that teachers provide students with guidance in how to talk science when communicating information to the class, in negotiation of ideas, and in building, evaluating, and refining their explanatory models (Glen & Dotger, ). In the early elementary classroom (Kindergarten through second‐grade), this is predominantly verbal due to learners' nascent literacy skills, so they often rely upon talk to express current understandings, explore new ideas, and record and discuss observations in order to make their thinking visible to others (Jurow & Creighton, ; Mercer, Dawes, Wegerif, & Sams, ; Wright & Gotwals, ). Within these grades particularly, teacher‐led discussions are critical to scaffold learners in talking science effectively through revoicing and asking open‐ended questions in ways that require students to use high‐level reasoning so they are able to make connections between what happened as well as how and why it happened (Reinsvold & Cochran, ; Zangori et al, ).…”

“…For example, Jurow and Creighton () show that within teacher‐led discussions in a kindergarten and first‐grade classroom, when the teachers used pedagogical moves that situated students as scientists, supported students in using science words appropriately, and used student insights to guide discussions, then students were able to refine their explanatory models. More recently, Wright and Gotwals () show that when providing opportunities in teacher‐led discussions for kindergarten students to use science words appropriately within context, then students' science learning increased, and students began to spontaneously include science words (such as herbivore, consumer, and energy) appropriately in their talk. Overall, research suggests that teacher‐led discussions that focus on talking science are powerful, as these opportunities give credence to students' ideas so they come to understand their thinking on a topic, understand that their ideas are valued, as well as understand that science is a social, communicative process; learning science occurs through their own experiences and ideas as well as the experiences and ideas of others (Colley & Windschitl, ; Hapgood et al, ; Mercer, ; Mercer et al, ).…”

Scientific Literacy in the Wild: Using Multimodal Texts in and out of School

“…It is noteworthy that the use of the guide in the aviary was not constructed as an individual assignment or assessment but rather as a chance for the joint construction and production of knowledge through the enactment of speaking and listening intertwined with reading and viewing in a real‐world context. Specifically, in using the guide in the aviary, kindergartners gained practice engaging in disciplinary talk for science: using evidence to support one's claims (National Research Council, ; Wright & Gotwals, ). For example, upon observing a bird in the aviary, students would read or scan the guide and say or enact a version of “I think it's a [state the name of the bird and/or point to the bird on the guide] because [specific observations of physical characteristics and/or location].” These claims were not always taken up by peers but could be openly debated by citing additional evidence either garnered from observing other details of the bird itself or from the image of the bird on the guide.…”

Supporting Disciplinary Talk From the Start of School: Teaching Students to Think and Talk Like Scientists

“…In our recent work, we moved beyond a focus on learning new science vocabulary to focus on how young students use new vocabulary in their science talk. We engaged in the SOLID Start ( S cience, O ral Language, and LI teracy D evelopment from the Start of School; Wright & Gotwals, ) project in kindergarten classrooms serving a large percentage of students receiving free or reduced‐price lunch. We found that when kindergartners have regular opportunities to think and talk like scientists, they were significantly more likely to provide science explanations in their talk (e.g., making scientific claims, providing evidence‐based support for their claims) compared with their peers in business‐as‐usual classrooms.…”