Running head: Science Writing in Education and the Impact of the AVID Program

Science Writing in Education and the Impact of the AVID Program

Cody King
Santa Clara University

Science Writing in Education and the Impact of the AVID Program

Abstract
This essay contrasts ethnographic observations of science writing taking place in an
Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) classroom at Santa Clara High School with
the best practices that are commonly presented in research on science writing in education.
Whereas student interviews and the work students brought into the AVID class displayed a
disconnection between the reality of science writing and what teachers viewed it as, many of the
goals of the AVID program are similar to what the research suggests. There are also many
connections that can be made with pedagogical ideas that have been read and discussed during
the course Writing for Teachers which parallel the AVID program goals and current research,
most notably collaborative writing and the ideas in Framework for Success in Postsecondary
Writing from the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).

Science Writing in Education and the Impact of the AVID Program

Science Writing in Education and the Impact of the AVID Program

Many students at Santa Clara High School participate in the AVID program where they
learn to work collaboratively to solve problems in preparation for college. The school is
comprised of a diverse community of students and families, both in terms of ethnicity and
socioeconomic status, and the AVID program is very diverse as well. I was part of a five person
team of tutors who spent six weeks in two AVID classesone ninth grade class and one tenth
grade classwhere we formed a reciprocal relationship: we did our best to be helpful when
students had questions and we were given the opportunity to observe and learn what this means
for writing as an educator. From the beginning we were advised by the AVID coordinator that
we are there to keep the discussions going among students and to make sure they are on task,
instead of working directly with their questions and showing them how to solve a problem. The
AVID program focuses on the process students use to get to the right answer so that they can use
this method effectively later on in college. Before starting as an AVID tutor, I assumed that the
students would be very focused and on-task because the program is for students preparing for
college, but most of the time only about half of the class seemed to be putting in effort. The
second class of sophomores was a lot less focused than the freshmen class and another tutor told
me that a few students he talked to said they were not planning on going to college because they
do not have good enough grades, it is too expensive, or both. This was pretty surprising to me
given the goals of the AVID program. After doing some research about the program on the
AVID website, I learned that the program tracks mostly students who are traditionally
underrepresented in higher education. A large percentage of the students did not choose to be in
this type of class so it is understandable that many of these students are not be overly motivated.

Science Writing in Education and the Impact of the AVID Program

During my time in these classes, I helped a lot of students with math and science subjects
and observed a lot of writing, but no writing instruction. As a result, conducting interviews with
students was important for me to get an idea of what they are learning and how that relates to
what I see them producing. Given what I have seen and heard from the students, I have chosen to
contrast what research says about writing in science and what teachers are actually doing at
Santa Clara High School, as well as discussing the results in research with what I have observed
over the past six weeks.
Overview of Research on Writing in Science Education
The research on science writing in education agrees that writing is an effective way for
students to gain understanding in science because it requires them to go beyond the surface of the
material. Researchers argue that writing allows students to develop specific skills that are
necessary for success in science such as critical thinking, scientific literacy and explanation, and
metacognition (Kohnen, 2013; Yang & Wang, 2014). This idea of writing to learn is also key
idea in The Pedagogy of Writing in the Disciplines and Across the Curriculum by Thaiss and
Mcleod that was discussed during the course. In addition, collaboration and specific feedback
from the teacher are often means that researchers suggest for effectively using writing in science
classes (Shelley et al., 2012; Santos & Semana, 2015). Santos and Semana (2015) also mention
how teachers to evaluate students writing and adjust their curriculum according to where
students are having trouble, which is also argued by Thaiss and McLeod.
Critical Thinking and Problem Solving Skills
Colton and Surasinghe (2014) taught a class together that focused equally on writing and
biology based on the claim that writing in sciences increases critical thinking skills and that this
cannot be achieved by a traditional lecture format. They also employ psychological ideas

Science Writing in Education and the Impact of the AVID Program

suggesting that science instruction should have real-world applications or context as the
Framework for Success in Postsecondary Writing by the NCTE would call it, so that students
can contextualize information beyond the classroom and see how it affects their daily lives
(Colton & Surasinghe, 2014). Moreover, science students often have chunks from different
fields and the application for their work can help relate ideas and aid memory (Colton &
Surasinghe, 2014; Yang & Wang 2014).
The writing that these researchers suggest require students to apply, analyze, synthesize,
and evaluate what they have learned in their science classes in contrast to using writing just for
recalling facts or knowledge, which does not require students to reach higher-order thinking.
Santos and Semana (2015) argue that writing can promote this higher-order thinking among
students, but there is still the question of whether learning is determined by writing or the
thinking that the writing demands. The research supports the claim that writing in science can
help with critical thinking and problem solving, which are skills real-life scientists and
researchers say are crucial for the jobs they do every day (Glen & Dotger, 2013). The AVID
program strives to develop critical thinking skills for students so students can be successful in
college and beyond, but writing is not a central part of their methodology and perhaps it could be
an effective addition to the program.
Scientific Literacy and Explanation
According to Yang and Wang (2015), the goal of science education is for students to
achieve scientific literacy and scientific explanation, and writing is a good way for students to
learn more effectively. Science education is moving from memorization of textbooks to
understanding the process of how actual scientists think by developing explanations and
predictions about our world (Shelley et al., 2012, Glen & Dotger, 2013). Specifically for Yang

Science Writing in Education and the Impact of the AVID Program

and Wang (2015), their teaching model involved descriptive explanation, concept mapping, and
interpretive explanation. Descriptive explanation requires deeper thinking from students and can
aid in learning the material they are discussing their writing (Hulleman & Harackiewicz, 2009).
The researchers explained that students needed to consider processes and structures of the
phenomena they were observing and these types of observations were needed to answer deeper
questions that the students would have to complete (Yang & Wang, 2015). Concept mapping was
implemented by the researchers so that students could make connections and see relationships
between different scientific ideas and concepts, which is a great aid for memory and learning.
Reflection and Metacognition
When students reflect on what they are learning and how it is relevant to the world, it is
extremely useful for memory and engagement because they are required to consider context and
the deeper meaning of the material (Hulleman & Harackiewicz, 2009). This is a reason why
discussing the applications of the curriculum students are learning is important because students
can see how it is relevant and critically reflect on the material. Yang and Wang (2015) included
interpretive explanation into their model which had students explain the reasons for how they
answered their questions and this proved to be an effective part of their process; this combines
the ideas of critical reflection and metacognition.
Metacognition is one the habits of mind for postsecondary success in writing according
to the NCTE and they define it as the ability to reflect on ones own thinking as well as on the
individual and cultural processes and systems used to structure knowledge. Yang and Wang
(2015) required students to reflect on the way they answered questions and this not only makes
them think about concepts they are working on, but also how they are using writing to clearly
convey their ideas and explain what they have learned or observed. Furthermore, Santos and

Science Writing in Education and the Impact of the AVID Program

Semana (2015) claim that written communication contributes to the learning of mathematical
concepts and to the development of problem solving skills and metacognitive abilities. One of
the writing tasks in their study had students reflect on the meaning and implications of specific
concepts they had learned (Santos & Semana, 2015). This not only required them to demonstrate
basic knowledge of key ideas, but also had them analyze the importance and relevance of certain
concepts.
Collaborative Writing
Collaboration is a key part of the AVID program and is encouraged by many researchers
including Kennedy and Howard in Collaborative Writing, Print to Digital. Kennedy and Howard
claim that collaborative learning is a way of engaging students more deeply with the text, and
collaborative pedagogy provides a social context in which students can experience and practice
the kinds of conversation valued by college teachers. This is a central idea in AVID because
their main goal is to get students to go to college and provide them with the skills that will allow
them to be successful once they get there, and collaboration is central in their program. Kennedy
and Howard argue that collaboration can often lead to discovery and that students learn more
when they work together. Colton and Surasinghe (2014) explain that this type of interaction is
much more effective in comparison to typical lectures because students constantly apply
concepts that they have learned and communicate it to each other when they learn cooperatively.
I have seen this collaboration among students in action over the past six weeks and I would
mostly agree with the claims from the researchers.
Shelley et al. (2012) integrates collaborative group work into their Science Writing
Heuristic so that students can actively discuss meaning and to gain conceptual knowledge. This
model not only implements collaboration among students, but suggests expert mentoring from

Science Writing in Education and the Impact of the AVID Program

the teacher; that combination produced the best results in the study. In addition, similar findings
were presented by Santos and Semana (2015) where teacher collaboration and feedback on
science writing with students proved to be very effective. This is part of a collaborative
experience between the student and teacherthe expert mentorthat helps students improve
their skills.
Practices for Research
Methods for Collecting Data
I was placed in two AVID classes as a tutor at Santa Clara High school and over the
course of six weeks I would go once per week to tutor in two AVID classes that were each an
hour long. This placement was set up by the Ignatian Center at Santa Clara University as part of
the Arrupe Program for the community-based learning (CBL) component of my course. The goal
of this program is reciprocity in which students serve underprivileged members of the
community, while also using the placement as a learning experience to enrich their coursework.
Ethnographic notes. I was always active by helping students with their collaborative
work, but I would also carefully observe and take notes on what was happening with my group
and with other students around the classroom. The groups would work together on a problem
written on a portable white board while also writing notes on their own sheets of paper that
would get turned in at the end of class for a grade. The goal was for my observational notes to be
ethnographic field notes that aimed to capture events in the room without making any
judgements, inferences, or cultural interpretations (see Appendix A for a copy of the notes).
Interviews. Additionally, I conducted interviews with three students to get a better idea
of what type of writing was taking place in their classrooms because I was not observing a
traditional classroom. The AVID classes are meant to guide students with any academic

Science Writing in Education and the Impact of the AVID Program

questions they have and as a result, I did not observe any writing instruction. By asking the
students what writing assignments they received and how they felt it affected their learning, I got
a general idea of the writing taking place in their classes and this allowed me to make some
comparisons to research I have found on writing in science education (see Appendix B for the
interview transcript).
Data Collection Flaws
An issue with my observations was that I had a responsibility to help students with their
work and was not in a true observational role in the classroom. Consequently, I had to compose
most of my notes at the end of the class and recall what I had witnessed. I believe this resulted in
notes that were less descriptive and not truly ethnographic.
Classroom Observations
Given that I am in a course titled Writing For Teachers, I was expecting to be placed in
an English class or some other environment where I would observe writing instruction for
students, but an AVID classroom is not any of those things. Most of the time I was helping
groups working on math problems in algebra or geometry and occasionally I would help groups
working on biology or chemistry; I was struggling to see how this was related to writing
education and how I would connect it to my coursework. However, careful observation allowed
me to see aspects of the students science work that were very relevant to ideas about writing
pedagogy that I had been studying over the last nine weeks in the course.
Mathematical Problems
I initially focused on the writing that students do when working on math problems and I
often noticed issues with their notation, but when I began researching writing in science
education I found a lot of information about writing that discusses applications and meaning of

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10

what students learn in science and mathematics; I found this very interesting and immediately
saw how this could be useful for learning in science based on some psychological concepts that
were familiar to me.
Science Questions
When I observed the writing that biology students did when collaborating, it was closest
to what I think of as traditional writing compared to students working on other subjects in the
AVID classes. The questions they were answering often required a few well structured sentences
to explain their ideas and sometimes required students to apply the concepts. However, it usually
did not require any analysis, evaluation, or inferences that researchers often suggest as effective
methods for learning science through writing. Researchers argue that fact-telling writing
assignments that are often assigned do not provide much benefit beyond the basic knowledge of
concepts (Glen & Dotger, 2013).
Scientific Lab Reports
Lab reports that discuss experiments done in class can be helpful for learning because
they will often require application, analysis, and critical thinking in regards to scientific concepts
learned in class and tested during the experiment. Unfortunately, the students I interviewed said
that the types of lab reports assigned vary depending on the teacher (see Appendix B). Whereas
some teachers assign reports that require an in-depth discussion, other teachers only require basic
questioned to be answered after completing an experiment. One student said that her teacher
assigned summaries almost every week and that was the main writing assignments they had to
complete. Researchers suggest writing that requires higher-order thinking in comparison to
writing that only requires the recounting of knowledge, which does not resemble scientific
writing in the real-world (Glen & Dotger, 2013).

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Discussion of Data
My observations of students in the AVID program did not lead me to believe that
teachers are assigning writing assignments in math and science classes, at least not the types of
writing assignments that researchers usually recommend. The groups of students that I helped
with math hardly ever worked on word problems that made students apply mathematical
concepts to the real-world. Not all professional mathematicians do applied mathematics
problemssome only focus on theories and proofsbut the applications could help students
with the material and keep them more engaged (Hulleman & Harackiewicz, 2009).
I witnessed more applied questions when I helped students with biology and chemistry.
The students seemed to be more engaged and they were actually writing sentences to answer
questions they had been given, but there was not a lot of analysis or critical thinking required;
most of the time they could just copy information from their book to answer the question. This is
concerning to me because AVID is a program that tries to prepare students for college and
beyond, but professional scientists are required to use their critical thinking, problem solving,
and inference skills daily. Researchers find that there is often a disconnect between what teachers
think scientific writing is: teachers envision writing in science as a presentation of facts without
much creativity, but scientists frequently have to use critical thinking skills when analyzing
observations and make imaginative inferences (Glen & Dotger, 2013).
Different types of writing assignments develop different kinds of skills and perspectives
according to Amy J. Devitt in Genre Pedagogies, but students often get assigned a lot of fiveparagraph essays in their English classes and not much of any other kind of writing in their nonEnglish classes. The idea of incorporating science journalism in the classroom is a great idea that
Kohnen (2013) discusses because it is different from assignments students usually get and it has

Science Writing in Education and the Impact of the AVID Program

12

the possibility to get students more engaged, while also being very beneficial for their learning.
The NCTE poses a similar argument by saying students can become better writers when they
have multiple opportunities to write in classes across the curriculum throughout their education.
It can be said that solving problems in math is a type of writing genre, but there is much more to
writing in mathematics than just doing problems from a book and students usually are not
required to do any type of reflection on the concepts they learn in their math classes. Research
supports the claim that writing in the sciences helps with critical thinking and problem solving,
which are important skills that can transfer from the classroom to the real-world when someone
becomes a professional scientist. The NCTE has a few habits of mind for success in
postsecondary writing that resemble skills of scientists such as: curiosity, openness, engagement
and creativity.
Collaboration is where I observed the AVID program, research, and course concepts all
come together in agreement. The AVID program is based heavily on the idea that students can
work out their problems together in a group and developing critical thinking and problem solving
skills as a result. The research supports these goals across the curriculum; much of my research
recommended collaboration, both among students and teachers, and it was also mentioned
heavily in regards to writing in collaboration by Kennedy and Howard in Collaborative Writing,
Print to Digital.
Conclusions and Implications
There is a lot of interesting research regarding writing for science classes and it often
related to theories discussed in the course, but it was not always being practice during my
observation in the AVID classes. However, it is hard to argue against the success of the AVID
program and the students at Santa Clara High School. The AVID program targets students that

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13

are typically from groups that are underrepresented in higher education and most students do not
voluntarily take the class, yet they send around ninety percent of these students to college.
As a college student, it is difficult for me to make suggestions based on what I observed
over six weeks. I have yet to become a teacher and do not have the experience that the teachers
and administrators at Santa Clara High School have. Nevertheless, it is still valuable to contrast
the styles being practiced with those presented in research.

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References
Colton, J.s., & Surasinghe, T. d. (2014). Using Collaboration between English and Biology to
Teach Scientific Writing and Communication. Journal of College Science Teaching,
44(2), 31-39.
Glen, N. n., & Dotger, S. s. (2013). Writing Like a Scientist: Exploring Elementary Teachers'
Understandings and Practices of Writing in Science. Journal Of Science Teacher
Education, 24(6), 957-976.
Hulleman, C.s., & Harackiewicz, J.m. (2009). Promoting Interest and Performance in High
School Science Classes. Science, 326, 1410-1412.
Kohnen, A. a. (2013). Informational Writing in High School Science. Journal Of Adolescent &
Adult Literacy, 57(3), 233-242.
Santos, L., & Semana, S. (2015). Developing Mathematics Written Communication through
Expository Writing Supported by Assessment Strategies. Educational Studies in
Mathematics, 88(1), 65-87.
Shelley, M., Fostvedt, L., Gonwa-Reeves, C., Baenziger, J., McGill, M., & Seefeld, A. (2012).
Balancing Self-Directed Learning with Expert Mentoring: The Science Writing Heuristic
Approach. Society For Research On Educational Effectiveness, 1-16.
Yang, H., & Wang, K. (2014). A Teaching Model for Scaffolding 4th Grade Students Scientific
Explanation Writing. Research in Science Education, 44(4), 531-548.

Science Writing in Education and the Impact of the AVID Program

Appendix A
Observational Notes
April 21
Period One (Ninth grade)
First day for AVID tutoring.
This is a bio classroom.
Teacher introduces us, we then formally introduce ourselves.
He assigns groups based on note sheets (TRFs) handed in to him.
Note: TRF means Tutorial Request Form.
Students disperse to five groups at lab tables with white boards; a few are still at their desks.
Student has his head on his desk with earbuds in his ears; no work being done.
A few students using phones.
We have geometry, algebra, biology, and English groups.
Geometry is working on a problem they say is really hard. They finally solve it.
Other students are working on Romeo and Juliet.
They work together to figure out themes and find quotes.
Not all students are working, a few non academic conversations.
Tutors try to keep them on task.
All students do work on a whiteboard so that everyone can see.
Very little interaction from teacher; just tutors and one AVID supervisor.

Period Two (Tenth grade)

This is a Spanish classroom.

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This class is talking more than the previous class.

Teacher assigns groups, students disperse: have pre calc, physics, geometry, chemistry, algebra.
The pre calc group only has two girls.
They work on a problem on whiteboard that takes the entire period.
It is a long problem that involves eliminating xy term from hyperbola by rotating axes.
They realize they made a mistake by working in degrees instead of radians.
This group was on task, other groups talked a lot about non-academic things.
This teacher has the tutors give grades for the day based on focus and participation.

April 28
Period One
Students turn in HW and teacher assigns groups; students disperse to lab tables w/ whiteboards.
Some students using phones.
Student who appeared to be sleeping last time is awake, but still has earbuds in at his desk.
Geometry group is working on a problem, same girl solves it that did last week.
English group is still working on Romeo and Juliet.
There are some math groups and a biology group.
AVID supervisor is usually with biology group.
Tutors try to guide students through problems without giving them too much help.
I am with an algebra group; they are factoring.
One girl is having trouble with most of the steps, another student tries to help her.
They eventually solve the problem on the whiteboard.
I try to correct her notation along the way; she gets the right answer, but may not be 100% for a
test or conveyable to someone else.

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17

Other students also notice notion mistakes and try to help her.
Next student proposes a problem with the quadratic formula.
He and the students collaborate to get through the problem without much trouble.
Still a few concerns with notations, but better than before.
Class is almost over and tutors leave to go to next class.

Period Two
Teacher tells students to hand in HW quickly and wait silently.
Students are less talkative.
Teacher assigns groups based on subject; students disperse to groups with whiteboards.
I help two pre calc students again.
Students in class are talking loud now that they are in groups.
Not many students on their phones, but a lot of non-academic conversations.
They are doing the same type of problem as last week.
They finish the problem in half of the class period and get it correct.
They moved more quickly and did not get stuck this week.
They have time and decide to do another problem.
They do not get stuck and almost finish before class ends.
May 5
Period One
Teacher collects HW and assigns groups based on subject.
There is a sub and most of the class is gone on a field trip.
We are told (before going to the class) that these students grades were too low to go on the trip.
Students disperse to lab tables with whiteboards.

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Student who had not been working the last few weeks is doing math homework.
He is getting a lot done and is doing it correctly without help.
There are only two groups: algebra and biology.
I am with the algebra group.
Student is struggling with factoring a degree 3 polynomial.
Another student does a good job with helping her.
The sub also helps.
She is struggling with some of the factoring concepts and notation.
She finishes and another student proposes a question. He gets through it pretty quickly with only
a little bit of help from me.
They are done and go sit down.
I then go to the biology group; the AVID supervisor is talking with them about fossil records.
They do not need any more help, but I listen and observe.
He guides her towards the solution to her proposed problem and finish the worksheet.

Period Two
Class is only about half full.
I work with a group on Algebra 2.
Working on probability.
Students are collaborating well.
Students are completing a lot of problems without much help from me.
They finish and I work with a chemistry group.
They collaborate on a problem and finish just before the bell rings.

Science Writing in Education and the Impact of the AVID Program

May 12
Period One
Students turn in HW and teacher assigns groups; students disperse.
I work with a geometry group and they are looking at inscribed angles in circles.
The students have a tough time with this and the Supervisor and I try to guide them.
We eventually lead them to the right theorem and they solve it.
I then went to another geometry group working on a similar, but tougher problem.
They struggle at first, but they are able to work together to solve it.
Groups finished early and then returned to their desks to study for tests coming up soon.

Period Two
Students come into class very noisy.
Students turn in HW and teacher assigns groups; they disperse into groups.
I work with a geometry group.
A student is working on a problem at the whiteboard and struggling. The other students are
taking notes but having non-academic conversations and not helping her. I have to bring them
back to the group.
Students eventually work through the problem and solve it.
I also worked with a group on probability and trigonometry.
Good engagement and participation from the group; also having fun.
They do not have too much trouble getting through a few problems by the end of class.

May 19

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Science Writing in Education and the Impact of the AVID Program

Period One
Teacher is talking to students when we walk in about notes.
Splits them into groups; students disperse.
I work alongside the AVID supervisor on geometry with students.
The students are having trouble, some say its too hard and are not focused.
We help the student at the board, some other students help us.
We talk through it and eventually get it after some good help from a student.
No one else had questions so I worked with an algebra student.

Period Two
Students come in and teacher breaks them into groups.
I work on pre calc; they are doing power rule derivatives, tangent line problems, and limits.
They did not need much help and I observed as one girl did work on the board.
Just pointed out a few simple errors.
Good syntax and notation.

May 26
Period One
Teacher is talking to class when our group of tutors walks in.
He is telling them to write summaries in preparation for their finals.
He says he did this in college and it helped him.
Also tells them a lot of the summaries given to him were incomplete.
He breaks them into groups based on subject.
I work with two students on Biology work.

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Science Writing in Education and the Impact of the AVID Program

Working on ecology and animals in competition.
Also mutualism.
They look through the book together to find answers to questions they have.
They are working and are not asking for much help.
Another group is not working together anymore and is loud in the middle of the class.

Period Two
Class is noisy when we walk in.
Teacher explains some end of the year information.
She breaks them into groups.
She says that a lot of geometry people must not have done their TRF because the group is very
big and she splits them up based on their teacher.
I work with an algebra 2 group.
They start working right away.
Some students in the group are helping a lot.
The next student goes to the board and I helped her mostly.
She thanked me for the help and said she understood how to do the problem after.
Group stayed on task until the end of class.

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Appendix B
Student Interviews

Note: Students names have been changed to ensure confidentiality.

Interview 1
I talked to two ninth grade students from an AVID class at Santa Clara High School where I had
been volunteering for the past six weeks and asked them a few questions about their science
writing assignments.

Question One: What writing assignments do your science teachers assign for your class?
Jennifer: We usually have lab reports to do after our experiments and they are like essays. That
is pretty much the only formal writing we do.
Amanda: We do short labs sometimes, but my teacher usually has the class do summaries on
stuff that we have learned in class. I use my class notes or the book to do them and it doesnt take
that long.

Question Two: What is your opinion of the writing assignments?.

Jennifer: They are really long and require a lot of thinking.
Amanda: They dont take very long, but they seem pointless.

Question Three: How well do you think you are understanding the material in your science
class?
Jennifer: I am doing pretty well in the class.

Science Writing in Education and the Impact of the AVID Program

23

Amanda: Im pretty good with some stuff. I usually get Bs on the tests.

Interview 2
I interviewed a tenth grade student from an AVID class at Santa Clara High School and asked
him a few questions about writing in his math (pre-calculus) class.

Question One: What types of writing assignments do you get from your math teacher?
Joseph: Well we do problems in class and for homework and sometimes we get math problems.
I guess that is sort of like writing.

Question Two: Do you ever have to write any type of reflections or journals?
Joseph: I dont think so. I dont remember doing anything like that this year.

Question Three: How well do you think you understand the material in your math class?
Joseph: Im doing pretty good overall.