Writing for an Audience in Science

The term "audience" in the title of this post is appropriately vague because this reflection is about two chapters in Daniels, Zemelman & Steineke (2007), "Public Writing" and "Writing for Tests and Assessments." In contrast to write to learn activities, these chapters address writing for an audience that includes, but is not limited to, the teacher and the product is a representation of what the student has learned.

Daniels, Zemelman and Steineke define public writing as substantial, planned, authoritative, formal, edited, graded and composed for an audience -- essentially, essays and papers. Papers are an important part of English classes, but where do papers have a place in the science curriculum among the labs, activities, discussion and tests? The short answer is yes, if done properly. The most important part of assigning papers is choice. If a biology teacher is looking to get students to remember the inner workings of a cell, she can assign a paper to be written about the cell. While this ensures students will write about the correct topic, she can have them compare the operations of the cell to something of their choice (e.g. a factory, a city, an ant hill). This element of choice allows students to write about something relevant that interests them, raising the writing quality because they are engaged.

Writing is an invaluable tool to gauge students' comprehension of the content. In an ideal world, multiple-choice and fill in the blank questions assess students' memorization; sometimes recognition or test-taking strategies are enough to get by. Questions that elicit a written response, like short answer or essay questions, are more likely to authentically assess student learning while allowing for higher level thinking skills. Asking students to compare and contrast the water cycle to the rock cycle, for instance, assesses their knowledge of the two cycles (not their recognition of the definition or test taking skills), their critical thinking and their writing skills.

Writing for an audience in science can help a student reinforce their understanding of a topic, as in writing a paper. This is a great way to promote literacy and learning in one assignment. Asking students to write on a test helps create a more authentic assessment that requires use of higher level thinking and a greater understanding of the material.