Transcript Writing in Science

Writing in Science
Catharine Driver
EAL consultant
[email protected]
Workshop Objective
Review exam writing requirements
 Introduce a teaching sequence for writing
 Try out ‘Dictogloss’ teaching strategy
 Consider implications for departments

The Cummins Framework
Cognitively demanding
C
Describing a
science experiment
while watching
Writing an exam
question
CALP
D
Context
reduced
Context
embedded
Having a chat with
friends
Copying notes from
board
B
BICS
A
Cognitively undemanding
Register continuum
What is it about ?
everyday
specialised
technical
Who is the audience ?
informal
known
familiar
formal
unknown
unfamiliar
How shall I communicate ?
spoken
‘here and now’
shared context
written
distant
unseen context

Foregrounding activity
Respiration
Respiration is the process by which human beings and other living things
obtain and use oxygen. Except for certain micro-organisms, all living things
require oxygen to live. Respiration may be divided into three phases:
external respiration, internal respiration, and cellular respiration.
In external respiration, or breathing, a plant or animal takes in oxygen
from its environment and releases carbon dioxide. For animals, external
respiration occurs through the nose and mouth. Air is drawn into the lungs,
passing through the mouth or nose and throat.
In internal respiration, oxygen is carried to the cells of the organism and
carbon dioxide is carried away from them. Internal respiration is based on
"gaseous exchange”. Carbon dioxide (CO2) is removed from the blood and
replaced with oxygen (O2).
In cellular respiration, oxygen is used in chemical reactions within the cells.
These reactions release energy and produce carbon dioxide and water as
waste products. The chemical energy of "food" molecules is released during
cellular respiration.
To conclude, respiration is an essential process to sustain life, and all the
different types of respiration – internal, external and cellular – consist
of several stages.
Relationships between sentences
(Cohesion)
Reference back
 Using pronouns:
This, these, its, one…. the other.
Using Connectives:
Sequencing: in addition…, furthermore…
Exemplifying: such as…, like…, for example…
Cause and effect: therefore…,as a result…,so…

Cohesion - using pronouns
Digestion
mainly takes place in the stomach and small
intestine. But it begins in the mouth. As you chew an
enzyme called amylase in your saliva starts to break down
any starch into liquid glucose.
Digested food is absorbed into the blood. Once the food
is liquid, it can pass into the blood. This mainly happens in
the small intestine. Its walls are lined with tiny blood
vessels, which carry the food away.
Undigested matter passes into the large intestine. Here
most of its water is reabsorbed by the body. This leaves a
semi-solid waste (faeces), which comes out of the anus
when you go to the toilet.
Verbs to Nouns - Nominalisation
wear away (acid wears away metal)
 corrode
(acid corrodes metal)
 corrosion (corrosion is caused by…)
 corrosive (the corrosive power of acid is...)

The Heart and Circulation –
Cloze prepositions missing
The structures which blood flows through as it goes
around the body make up the circulatory system.
The main organ in the circulatory system is the heart
which is situated between the lungs in the chest.
The heart’s job is to pump blood around the body.
The rest of the circulatory system consists of tubes
called blood vessels. These are of two types:
arteries carry blood away from the heart to the
various organs and veins carry blood back from the
organs to the heart. Within each organ the arteries
and veins are connected by numerous very narrow
blood vessels called capillaries. As blood flows
through the capillaries, oxygen and other useful
substances diffuse into the surrounding cells and
unwanted substances diffuse in the other direction.
Types of Key Words
Concrete Nouns
Names of things.
Bone, skull, tendon, ligament

Abstract Nouns
Concepts and processes.
May be invisible, need to be learnt in context
Evaporation, condensation, pressure.

Exam Writing requirements
Continuous prose
 Use good English
 Organise information coherently
 Use specialist vocabulary accurately

Handout sample question and mark scheme
Which text types?
Describe
 Explain
 Analyse
 Argue
 Evaluate

Teaching Sequence for Writing
Establish clear aims-what is the purpose?
 Provide examples of text type
 Explore the features of text
 Demonstrate how it is written
 Compose together
 Scaffold first attempts [writing frames]
 Develop independent writing

GAPS
Genre – Text in context
 Audience – who for?
 Purpose – what for?
 Structure – what patterns of language?

a.
b.
c.
Cause and effect
Connectives
Specialist vocabulary
Explanation Text
See also, technical terms
Impersonal language
Key Visual
http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/watercycle.html

Writing Explanation activity
The water cycle has no starting point. But this explanation begins in
the oceans, since that is where most of Earth's water exists. The
sun, which drives the water cycle, heats water in the oceans. Some
of it evaporates as vapour into the air. Ice and snow
can sublimate directly into water vapour. Rising air currents take
the vapour up into the atmosphere, along with water
from evapotranspiration, which is water transpired from plants and
evaporated from the soil. The vapour rises into the air where cooler
temperatures cause it to condense into clouds. Air currents move
clouds around the globe, cloud particles collide, grow, and fall out
of the sky as precipitation. Some precipitation falls as snow and
can accumulate as ice caps and glaciers, which can store frozen
water for thousands of years. When spring arrives, the snow and
ice thaw and the melted water flows overland as snowmelt.
Most precipitation falls back into the oceans or onto land, where,
due to gravity, the precipitation flows over the ground as surface
runoff. A portion of runoff enters rivers in valleys in the landscape,
with streamflow moving water towards the oceans. Runoff, and
ground-water seepage, accumulate and are stored as freshwater in
lakes.
Dictogloss

Lesson plan handout
Dodo
Which species survives?
Where did they go?
Iguanodon
Triceratops
Why did they disappear?
What do humans do?
Extinction Dictogloss



A species becomes extinct when there are no more
animals of that species left. An extinct animal has gone
forever.
There are several causes of species extinction. They
may be affected by new diseases or new predators.
Changes in the physical environment, such as
temperature or rainfall can also lead to extinction. In
addition, competition from another species that is better
adapted, can cause extinction.
Dinosaurs became extinct millions of years ago. This
was probably due to changes in the environment. But
more recently many other species have become extinct
because of competition from humans.
Implications for my department

Discussion