Writing and Science Learning

Writing has been used in every classroom in every country since the time schooling began. Students have been asked to copy notes from the board, record their experiments, and complete assignments for eons. The major role of all of this writing was for the students to have a record of what was being said and what they understood. The function of writing was to produce a product – there was only a limited focus on the process. It was not until the mid-1970s that the idea that writing was both a process and a product began to emerge. The idea that writing was more than just a record of work or talk written down, something that could help students learn, focused research on understanding how this was possible.

The shift in thinking about writing occurred around the time that there was beginning to be a shift in how science was taught. Much of what had been the focus of the 1960s and 1970s in science was based on behavioral learning, that is, students were provided with information and...