IDIS 390.2: Writing in Science Education

Syllabus

The students who are enrolled in this course are majoring in General Science education at either the elementary or the secondary level. The course is intended to give these students experience writing for the different audiences they may encounter in their future employment. This half-course fulfills the Writing Intensive requirement of the LinC curriculum.

1. A letter to the school principal requesting a short period of science curriculum change.

2. A note to colleagues explaining how and why the standard curriculum will be suspended for the inclusion of the special science unit.

3. A letter explaining the curriculum change to the parents of the students.

4. A unit plan for the curriculum change.

5. Two (2) lesson plans for individual lessons from the unit.

6. A homework assignment which presents material and requires responses from the students.

7. A unit test, lasting for a period, using a variety of question formats.

8. A report to the principal on the success of the unit.

9. An article to the appropriate National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) journal, using NSTA publication standards, describing the success of the curriculum change.

10. A proposal to the principal to seek funds to cover anticipated expenses at a NSTA conference at which athe short curriculum change will be presented.

11. A pair of abstracts (100 words and 20 words) which would accompany a presentation to a professional audience at a NSTA meeting.

12. A PowerPoint accompaniment for the presentation at the NSTA meeting.

13. A grant proposal to a funding agency to seek funding for equipment for the science program (example: a proposal to IRIS for the indefinite use of an AS-1 seismometer in the classroom).

Each student will share his/her writing with all others and will critique the assignments of all others. Classes meet once per week. Each subsequent assignment is due in the following class period.