What does it mean to be literate in biology?

Authors: William Frierson, Hannah Quinley, Ericka Hammett, Clara Robison

Ask someone what literacy means and they will likely give you a definition including the words “read,” “write,” “understand,” and “communicate,” among others. Most people would also likely say it is something being taught in schools and that all students should graduate high school being “literate.” Though definitions of this kind certainly may be accurate, there is so much more to being literate, especially when it comes to specific disciplines. In this Medium writing, we explore what it means to be literate in biology through the presentation of our own miniature lesson. This lesson focuses on the interpretation of a population graph, emphasizing an ecology standard for high school biology and the implications population changes have for an ecosystem as a whole. The use of an activity such as graph interpretation, as presented in this writing, can help emphasize the text, talk, and tasks that will help students increase their disciplinary literacy in biology.

For our assignment, the students are asked to interpret a graph showing the population cycles of the Snowshoe hare and the Canadian Lynx. The students are then to make 3 observations and formulate a hypothesis about the two animals’ relationship. The students are given a set of questions to help guide their observations and will discuss in a group what their hypothesis is. The task is the part of the assignment that relates the literacy to the standards. Students are given the chance to demonstrate their literacy in the field and also competency in the subject. According to Brad Cawn, the creation of the task requires the teacher to take into account how to teach the students to read and respond to the texts adeptly and individually, as well as, improve practices for reading text, all while offering meaningful feedback of the progress of the student (2015). The task is also a chance to engage the student. According to Elfrieda H. Hiebert, many teachers value the use of literacy tasks in their classrooms because of the improvement in the student’s excitement and participation level. They also feel there are more accomplishments with these activities (1994). The task is where the students have the chance to make evident the literacy practices they are being taught.

According to Suzanne Plaut the goal in a science classroom should be that students are “spending time ‘being scientists’ rather than just ‘learning science’” (p. 82). If you were to pick up any scientific journal or textbook you would see that “the text is interspersed with graphs and figures”, sometimes “as much as 30%” (Egger, 2008). It becomes clear that the visual representation of data in graphs, charts, etc. is very important to scientists and in the scientific world. While most students are able to identify values on a graph, many students “have trouble identifying what trends are shown on this graph, the key points where some phenomenon changed dramatically, the rate of change indicated by the points, and other less obvious information” (concord.org). If we want students to really “be scientists” then being able to understand a visual representation of data is of utmost importance. The reason being that data assembled into graphic form is used to “help scientists visualize and interpret the variation, patterns, and trends within the data” (2008).

As Aldous Huxley (1958), famed author of Brave New World, once said, “Language has made possible man’s progress from animality to civilization.” Without conversation or even simple “talk” in our classrooms volumes of information would not be passed along from teacher to student. It is through that dialogue that ideas can be shared and opinions can be cultivated.

According to Douglas Fisher in Content-Area Conversations (2008), “Classroom talk is frequently limited and is used to check comprehension rather than develop thinking.” (pg. 3). He goes on to say that, “researchers have found that teachers dominate classroom talk” and that this is found mainly in “classrooms with high numbers of students living in poverty, classrooms with English-language learners, and classrooms with low-achieving students.” This clearly shows that the ways our students and teachers interact with each other through means of talk can be considered the basis of all classroom communication. Or as Carol Rothenberg (2008) so eloquently mentioned, “Put simple, talk, or oracy, is the foundation of literacy” (pg. 2).

In order to help increase disciplinary literacy, it is important that instructors use activities that reinforce the different texts, tasks, and talks of specific disciplines. In this case, having the students interpret a graph allows them to practice a skill that is crucial to being considered literate in biology. Through graph interpretation, students are able to engage in the specific texts, tasks, and talks of the discipline that will ultimately help further their literacy in biology. To be literate in specific disciplines is of utmost importance for students because it allows them to develop strategies with which they can interpret text of different disciplines in different ways. With these specific strategies, they will be able to gain a deeper and more significant understanding of the different texts, tasks, and talks of multiple disciplines.

References

Cawn, B. (2015). Texts, tasks, and talk: Instruction to meet the common core in grades 9–12. Solution Tree

Egger, A. E., & Carpi, A. (2008). Using Graphs and Visual Data in Science. Retrieved July 15, 2016, from http://www.visionlearning.com/en/library/Process-of-Science/49/Using-Graphs-and-Visual-Data-in-Science/156

Fisher, D., Rothenberg, C., & Frey, N. (2008). Content-area conversations: How to plan discussion-based lessons for diverse language learners. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Hiebert, E.H. (1994). Becoming literate through authentic tasks: Evidence and adaptations. In R.B. Ruddell & H. Singer (Eds.), Theoretical models and processes of reading (4th edition). Newark, DE: International Reading Association.

Plaut, S. (2009). The right to literacy in secondary schools: Creating a culture of thinking. New York: Teachers College Press.

Zucker, A., Staudt, C., & Tinker, R. (n.d.). Teaching Graph Literacy Across the Curriculum. Retrieved July 15, 2016, from https://concord.org/sites/default/files/pdf/teaching-graph-literacy-across-curriculum.pdf