Learning Design Group Publications

This is an evaluation which examined the Planets and Moons unit of the Seeds of Science/Roots of Reading® curriculum to determine the efficacy of the curriculum on general education students and ELL students.

The National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing (CRESST) at the University of California, Los Angeles conducted a study on the grades 3–4 unit Light Energy. The study compared student learning from the Light Energy unit with that of students who experienced the usual science curriculum for the same topics.

This paper, presented at the National Reading Conference in December 2009, examines the affordances of an integrated science-literacy curriculum on students’ writing development. As part of the efficacy study on the Seeds of Science/Roots of Reading® unit Light Energy, students were given a writing prompt that was scored on several dimensions, including science content, vocabulary, and clarity. Students in Seeds of Science/Roots of Reading classrooms outperformed students in control classrooms on all but two dimensions of science writing.

In this chapter, the authors review the research base that informs the Seeds of Science/Roots of Reading® curriculum, and trace the development of the Seeds of Science/Roots of Reading® model. Each guiding principle of the curriculum is discussed, along with preliminary assessment results that point to the advantage of integrating science and literacy. The chapter closes with questions around the science-literacy interface that merit further research.

This paper presents a working model of the science-literacy interface. The authors include insights gained from developing theSeeds of Seeds of Science/Roots of Reading® program, and guidance for educators in shaping an appropriate and supportive role for text and for literacy practices in inquiry-based science.