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Opportunities to develop scientific literacy is rich throughout the curriculum and is highly supported in the Science Inquiry Skills strand of the Australian Curriculum. It outlines the following outcomes as:
(ACARA, n.d)
These outcomes are consistent throughout foundation to level six of the science curriculum as it develops these literacy skills to support students to be scientifically literate. Communicating is an important outcome for the development of science inquiry skills where students engage in a “learning community to construct, articulate and share meaning” (Fitzgerald, 2013, p.9). Skamp (2012, p57) also highlights that “communication is central to scientific literacy”. The sequence of communication skills to develop inquiry skills is as follows:
(ACARA, n.d)
These outcomes support oral, written, visual and multi-modal literacies that are present in science and are responsive to the literacy development of students. In foundation students are prompted to share their observations and ideas which supports the “social construction of knowledge” discussed by Fitzgerald (2013, p.8). This area of oral literacy is extended to include written and visual literacies as students in level one and two begin to engage and use a wider range of literacies to communicate and share their ideas. By level three and four students begin to engage with “diagrams, physical representations and simple reports” (ACARA, n.d) as they engage and use scientific representations to “interpret and construct science texts” (Dawson & Venville, 2007, p.142).
These literacy skills are extended in level five and six as students “communicate ideas, explanations and processes” (ACARA, n.d) of science using a wide range of literacies. An important literacy that emerges is the use of multi-modal texts which is reflective of the many literacies that are present in our local and global communities (Seely Flint et al, 2014, p.16, 19). Communication and inquiry are discussed by Fitzgerald (2013, p.12 as being a “student-driven process of exploration, discussion and open questioning”. A teaching strategy that would support meaningful construction of communication and inquiry skills to develop science literacy is the Writing to Learn model (WTL). This model discussed by Balgopal and Wallace (2013, p.170-171) provides students the opportunity to engage in reflection of their scientific representations and ideas with the support of “teacher guidance, written guidance” and peer discussions, which is reflective of how a “scientific community” (Skamp, 2012, p.87) engages with scientific literacy.
- “Questioning and predicting
- Planning and conducting
- Processing and analysing data and information
- Evaluating
- Communicating”
(ACARA, n.d)
These outcomes are consistent throughout foundation to level six of the science curriculum as it develops these literacy skills to support students to be scientifically literate. Communicating is an important outcome for the development of science inquiry skills where students engage in a “learning community to construct, articulate and share meaning” (Fitzgerald, 2013, p.9). Skamp (2012, p57) also highlights that “communication is central to scientific literacy”. The sequence of communication skills to develop inquiry skills is as follows:
- “Share observations and ideas (ACSIS012)
- Represent and communicate observations and ideas in a variety of ways such as oral and written language, drawing and role play (ACSIS029) (ACSIS042)
- Represent and communicate ideas and findings in a variety of ways such as diagrams, physical representations and simple reports (ACSIS060) (ACSIS071)
- Communicate ideas, explanations and processes in a variety of ways, including multi-modal texts (ACSIS093) (ACSIS110)”
(ACARA, n.d)
These outcomes support oral, written, visual and multi-modal literacies that are present in science and are responsive to the literacy development of students. In foundation students are prompted to share their observations and ideas which supports the “social construction of knowledge” discussed by Fitzgerald (2013, p.8). This area of oral literacy is extended to include written and visual literacies as students in level one and two begin to engage and use a wider range of literacies to communicate and share their ideas. By level three and four students begin to engage with “diagrams, physical representations and simple reports” (ACARA, n.d) as they engage and use scientific representations to “interpret and construct science texts” (Dawson & Venville, 2007, p.142).
These literacy skills are extended in level five and six as students “communicate ideas, explanations and processes” (ACARA, n.d) of science using a wide range of literacies. An important literacy that emerges is the use of multi-modal texts which is reflective of the many literacies that are present in our local and global communities (Seely Flint et al, 2014, p.16, 19). Communication and inquiry are discussed by Fitzgerald (2013, p.12 as being a “student-driven process of exploration, discussion and open questioning”. A teaching strategy that would support meaningful construction of communication and inquiry skills to develop science literacy is the Writing to Learn model (WTL). This model discussed by Balgopal and Wallace (2013, p.170-171) provides students the opportunity to engage in reflection of their scientific representations and ideas with the support of “teacher guidance, written guidance” and peer discussions, which is reflective of how a “scientific community” (Skamp, 2012, p.87) engages with scientific literacy.