HERDSA 1996: Taylor and Drury - teaching writing skills in the science curriculum

Teaching writing skills in the science curriculum

Charlotte Taylor
School of Biological Sciences
The University of Sydney
Helen Drury
The Learning Assistance Centre
The University of Sydney

This paper reports on the integration of the teaching of writing skills into the first year curriculum in biological sciences at Sydney University. Written genres appropriate for a first year program were identified and teaching/learning materials and methodologies were developed to prepare students for these writing tasks. These tasks and the accompanying materials and methodologies formed a structured and systematic process for learning about writing in the context of the subject matter being taught at the time. This process together with standardised feedback and assessment procedures encouraged independent learning approaches and the progressive development of writing skills. Student and staff evaluations have shown that the writing program is valued and that student learning of writing skills has been enhanced. However, they have also highlighted the importance of changes in student and teacher perception and attitudes to scientific writing and its place in the course, as well as the key role of communication in the program as a whole.

Background

There is currently much discussion on the perceived need for the teaching of a range of transferable or generic skills, in addition to more subject specific skills, during the course of undergraduate studies. Much debate has centred on the requirements and preferences of employers for graduates with a wide range of transferable skills (Kemp and Seagraves 1995). Such skills are also seen as an integral component of life-long learning or self-directed learning (Candy 1993, Candy et al 1994). Some explicit teaching of such skills as part of university courses has been carried out as a direct intervention in the curriculum so that student acquisition or progress in developing these skills could be followed. Both Ramsden et al (1986) and Norton and Crowley (1995) found that the introduction of learning skills programs, targeting the adoption of 'deep' learning approaches, into a first year course did not necessarily result in significant improvements to academic performance. However, Norton and Crowley (1995) point out that most studies of the development of learning skills have shown that it is a slow progressive process which continues throughout an undergraduate career, and evolves into a part of the lifelong learning process. Furthermore a survey of skills teaching by Kemp and Seagraves (1995) has shown that there must be a consistent and dedicated approach, throughout courses or degree program to sustain skills development in graduates.

The teaching innovation

The explicit teaching of writing skills has been conducted mainly within undergraduate courses leading to professional degrees such as engineering and law (Robinson and Blair, 1995; Jennings and Ferguson, 1995). Such innovations have usually required radical changes to the course structure, teaching philosophies as well as teacher and student attitudes.

The current writing program has been trialled, for the last three years, as part of the first year biology course at the University of Sydney. In previous years there was considerable anecdotal evidence from teaching staff of the need for students to be made aware of and/or taught about writing in the context of the course. However, most suggested solutions were dismissed as too expensive or difficult to implement with such a large (850) group of students. While it has always been acknowledged that writing exercises should be set and assessed as part of the course curriculum, problems arose with the minimal time allocated for teaching writing and quantitative and qualitative variation in marking and feedback. Usually one, or at the most two written assignments were set and marked during the course and students thus had little opportunity to practise their writing skills, and to act upon the feedback provided. Written work in the course was not set, discussed or marked with language and English usage in mind, and this gave the impression that writing skills were not as valued or as integral a part of the course as disciplinary knowledge. A successful application for a CAUT teaching development grant provided an opportunity to overcome some of these problems by developing a specific integrated writing program within a science course (Drury and Taylor, 1995).

The aim of this program was to integrate the teaching of writing skills with the teaching of disciplinary knowledge so that the purposes of communicating such knowledge were made explicit. Learning goals for communicating disciplinary knowledge were identified based on descriptions of the written genres appropriate for each level of study in the course, so that students could be guided to master these as they progressed through the year. Once appropriate genres had been identified and described, teaching/ learning materials and methodologies were developed, and integrated into the curriculum, so they could be learnt in a sequential and structured way at different stages of the course. The materials and methodologies were used as the basis for small group discussion (approximately 4/5 students within a larger group of 15 students) within the context of a laboratory class of approximately 60 students. Each group of 15 students was directed and monitored by a member of staff and teaching about writing was juxtaposed with the biological content being taught at the time. Such discussions were supplemented by individual and group writing practice followed by group or paired feedback, and teacher feedback, on student writing. Another important aspect of this approach was in making explicit to students the assessment criteria to be used in giving feedback, so that they were encouraged to monitor their own writing, discuss it with their peers, and thus become more independent learners.

Table 1, below, shows the progression of teaching about writing, writing practice, and assessment and feedback for the first semester of the course. (The development of oral communication is also included in the table but will not be discussed in this paper). All teaching materials use examples which are directly relevant to the content at that stage of the course. Thus students combine practice in writing with testing of their understanding of the concept areas currently being covered in lectures and laboratory classes. The sequencing and complexity of the writing tasks also parallels the students' increasing understanding of more complex biological concepts. The second semester of the course has a similar sequence of quizzes and lab reports, but there are fewer discussions and group writing activities. Feedback is still given in the same format for all assignments and an increasing weighting of marks is given to reports as the course progresses.

Table 1: Integration of the teaching of writing skills into a first year biology course

Week Content of laboratory class Teaching
writing Writing
practice Learning about assessment Assessment and feedback Developing independent learning skills

1 Introduction to course. Discussion and notes on writing a description, keeping lab records. Describing a seedling. Introduction to the assessment of writing tasks for the year. Discussing group written work. Group and teacher formative feedback on written work. Discussion of student and course expectations.

2 Microscopy.
Written answer for diagnostic purposes.
Teacher formative feedback given, remedial workshop if required.

3 Enzyme experiment. Notes on how to write a lab report. Keeping lab records.

Completing self-help writing exercises.

4 Chromatography. Notes on how to write a lab report. Keeping lab records and writing a practice lab report.

Writing a practice lab report.

5 Transport in plants.

6 Discussions Explanation of assessment criteria to be used throughout the course. Model 'good' and 'problem' lab reports discussed. Teacher review of practice lab reports.
Student discussion of appropriate assessment criteria for writing. Application of criteria to sample texts. Group and teacher formative feedback on practice reports. Comparison of practice report with 'good' and 'problem' texts.

7 Gas exchange in plants
Lab report written on class experiment
Teacher summative assessment using standard criteria, general formative feedback given. Application of notes, discussion material and feedback to preparing practice lab report.

8 Animal digestion.
Quiz: short written answer to compare and contrast question.
Teacher summative assessment using standard criteria, general formative feedback given.

9 Gas exchange in animals.

10 Microbiology.

11 Transport in animals.

12 Skeletons. Discussion of poster preparation, integration of visual, oral and written presentation. Preparing a group poster on skeleton theme to include written information. Discussion of how to give formative feedback on presentations, criteria to be used for assessment.
Organisation of group poster preparation, preparation of individual contributions.

13 Poster presentations.

Group and teacher assessment of posters and talks. Group discussion of feedback on lab reports. Presenting talks.

Reflections on the program

The successful implementation of the program depended upon changes in student and teacher perception and attitudes to scientific writing and its place in the course. Maintaining positive attitudes to writing, and creating an atmosphere of awareness of its importance, are a function of the successful integration of content and skills within the course materials. Such close integration of the two components is fundamental to the development of an environment in which positive learning of biological knowledge and development of skills can be effected. The fact that writing is to be an integral part of the course, and valued as such, needs to be established at the beginning of the course, communicated clearly to students, and its importance acknowledged by both students and teachers. These initial changes then create a cycle of reinforcement of the central message through the interaction of students and teachers throughout the program. Within the cycling process there is a gradual decline in teacher influence and intervention, except for feedback, and an encouragement of students to take more responsibility for their learning by practising writing and using the feedback provided. Thus students can develop a self-appraisal approach to their writing. Teachers have a responsibility to initiate the communication process, provide explicit teaching and feedback, particularly early in the course, and withdraw from the learning activities to an appropriate degree as the course progresses. Once communication is established, the ground rules discussed and acknowledged, and initial teaching completed, students take on the responsibility for their progress and practice of writing within the course framework.

The importance of clear and unambiguous communication with students about the whole writing program cannot be stressed enough, and many perceived problems, from a teacher or student perspective, were associated with inconsistencies in explanations and interpretations. Thus, planning and teaching strategy must be carefully formulated, since any application of good practice, however well communicated, is open to being misunderstood or ignored by students. Student perception of what is expected, particularly in the area of assessment also strongly influences their overall knowledge of the topic and subsequent performance (Biggs, 1989). Therefore, instructions, or explicit teaching, about writing must be communicated clearly from the beginning of the course, so that students can develop a systematic and structured approach to using the information to improve their writing. This applies also to student use of the feedback given throughout the program. Encouraging its progressive use as a formative aid when practising writing must become part of the self directed learning process for students, (Robinson and Blair, 1995). In this way, the influence of formal teaching may decrease as student independence and responsibility is developing.

Reflections on student learning

An awareness of the range of learning approaches employed by students must also be acknowledged when presenting content and skills-based material. In this way students can also be encouraged, both explicitly and subliminally, to develop good learning practices in terms of increased independence and self direction. In the learning skills programs discussed earlier (Ramsden et al., 1986, Norton and Crowley, 1995) there were significant advantages for student learning in that students developed more mature learning strategies, and changed their conceptions of material; both important developments in producing active and productive learners. (Biggs, 1989). This conclusion can be applied within the present program in that it appears that students with poor writing skills at the end of the program have a parallel lack of development of complex understanding of course content, thus reflecting the relationship between more successful learning approaches and success in a range of areas.

A number of student evaluations of the program have shown that the range of teaching methodologies and materials generally meet the needs of different student learning approaches. Although students respond to different areas of the writing program the following teaching approaches may be particularly significant: models of 'good' and 'problem' writing, the self-help materials and the range of feedback materials. We are currently running a series of interviews, with students who have completed the program, to determine their perceptions of our teaching and teaching materials, and their influence on improvements in their writing skills. Quantitative analysis of student marks, using standardised performance indicators for language and presentation, is being carried out to determine any consistent changes in overall writing proficiency during the course. Detailed analysis of student writing within this program has already been documented by Murison (1996), who focussed on whether students have used the input in the teaching/learning materials in writing their laboratory reports. The initial results of her linguistic analysis of a sample of student laboratory reports show that students have used these materials in their writing, thus providing objective evidence that student learning has taken place as a result of this project intervention.

Reflections on the curriculum and teaching

There are two key areas in which change is necessary to successfully teach writing skills. Time and/or space is required in the curriculum to teach, discuss, practise and assess writing skills. Students must also be shown that such curriculum design has apportioned appropriate weighting or value to the development of these skills. Such changes may be very difficult to implement within an existing course since there always appears to be a conflict between content and skills based components. A solution to such problems requires a change in philosophy on the part of departments. In the case of the present course, a new curriculum is being developed which has taken into account this dilemma and suitable compromises have resulted. The other key area is teacher training. Major changes in philosophy in the curriculum and teaching materials cannot be implemented without adequate training and discussion with teachers. The success of the course will hinge upon their positive attitude and active involvement, especially when large student numbers are involved, and there is little direct contact between course developers, teachers and students. Training is necessarily time consuming and therefore expensive, but may be aided to some extent by the provision of teaching manuals specifically focussing on writing and skills development. Such a manual is being prepared in the present program, but will never completely replace direct discussion within the teaching group.

Reflections on the future of writing in the curriculum

The course in which the current program was trialled is undergoing a major revision for 1997, and a number of different teaching philosophies and methodologies have been incorporated into the new curriculum. These include an increased focus on transferable skills through the provision of appropriate time and teaching materials, and an acknowledgment of the value of such skills in the assessment weightings for the course. The current writing program has been incorporated into this new structure, and will be revised to integrate with the changed content areas. This will allow us to make some changes in key areas, such as providing more opportunities for students to engage in peer and group review of their writing. At the same time we would like to further encourage students' use of cumulative feedback when preparing new pieces of written work. We are also exploring ways of presenting personal feedback comments which are sufficiently detailed to be of constructive use but are not perceived, by the students, to be 'negative marking'. We aim to shift the responsibility for improvement in areas such as grammar and spelling to the students, which will allow us to focus our teaching on the more difficult concepts of structure and cohesion in writing (Taylor and Nightingale, 1990). The development of these high level writing skills may in turn lead to improved student learning strategies and deeper understanding of the disciplinary content.

References

Biggs, J. B. (1989). Approaches to the enhancement of tertiary teaching. Higher Education Research and Development, 8(1).

Candy, P. C. (1993). Learning theories in higher education: Reflections on the keynote day. Higher Education Research and Development, 12(1).

Candy, P. C., Crebert, G. and O'Leary, J. (1994). Developing lifelong learners through undergraduate education. Commissioned report No. 28 National Board of Employment, Education and Training, AGPS

Drury, H. and Taylor, C. (1995). Final report for a 1994 national teaching development grant. Committee for the Advancement of University Teaching, Canberra. Jennings, A. and Ferguson, J. D. (1995). Focusing on Communication skills in Engineering Education. Studies in Higher Education, 20(3), 305-314.

Kemp, I. J. and Seagraves, L. (1995). Transferable skills - can higher education deliver? Studies in Higher Education, 20(3), 315-328.

Murison, E. (1996). Development of report writing skills in the early undergraduate years. Unpublished report, University of Sydney.

Norton, L. S. and Crowley, C. M. (1995). Can students be helped to learn how to learn? An evaluation of an approaches to learning program for first year degree students. Higher Education, 29.

Ramsden, P., Beswick, D. G. and Bowden, J. A. (1986). Effects of learning skills interventions on first year university students' learning. Human Learning, 5, 151-164.

Robinson, C. M. and Blair, G. M. (1995). Writing skills for engineering students in large classes. Higher Education, 30, 99-114.

Taylor, G. and Nightingale, P. (1990). Not mechanics but meaning: Error in tertiary students' writing Higher Education Research and Development, 9(2), 161-175.

Authors: Charlotte Taylor, School of Biological Sciences, The University of Sydney, NSW 2006. Email: cetaylor@bio.usyd.edu.au
Helen Drury, The Learning Assistance Centre, The University of Sydney, NSW 2006. Email: hdrury@extro.ucc.su.oz.au
Please cite as: Taylor, C. and Drury, H. (1996). Teaching writing skills in the science curriculum. Different Approaches: Theory and Practice in Higher Education. Proceedings HERDSA Conference 1996. Perth, Western Australia, 8-12 July. http://www.herdsa.org.au/confs/1996/taylorch.html

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Created 5 June 2002. Last revision: 2 Dec 2002.
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Week	Content of laboratory class	Teaching writing	Writing practice	Learning about assessment	Assessment and feedback	Developing independent learning skills
1	Introduction to course.	Discussion and notes on writing a description, keeping lab records.	Describing a seedling.	Introduction to the assessment of writing tasks for the year. Discussing group written work.	Group and teacher formative feedback on written work.	Discussion of student and course expectations.
2	Microscopy.		Written answer for diagnostic purposes.		Teacher formative feedback given, remedial workshop if required.
3	Enzyme experiment.	Notes on how to write a lab report.	Keeping lab records.			Completing self-help writing exercises.
4	Chromatography.	Notes on how to write a lab report.	Keeping lab records and writing a practice lab report.			Writing a practice lab report.
5	Transport in plants.
6	Discussions	Explanation of assessment criteria to be used throughout the course. Model 'good' and 'problem' lab reports discussed. Teacher review of practice lab reports.		Student discussion of appropriate assessment criteria for writing. Application of criteria to sample texts.	Group and teacher formative feedback on practice reports.	Comparison of practice report with 'good' and 'problem' texts.
7	Gas exchange in plants		Lab report written on class experiment		Teacher summative assessment using standard criteria, general formative feedback given.	Application of notes, discussion material and feedback to preparing practice lab report.
8	Animal digestion.		Quiz: short written answer to compare and contrast question.		Teacher summative assessment using standard criteria, general formative feedback given.
9	Gas exchange in animals.
10	Microbiology.
11	Transport in animals.
12	Skeletons.	Discussion of poster preparation, integration of visual, oral and written presentation.	Preparing a group poster on skeleton theme to include written information.	Discussion of how to give formative feedback on presentations, criteria to be used for assessment.		Organisation of group poster preparation, preparation of individual contributions.
13	Poster presentations.				Group and teacher assessment of posters and talks. Group discussion of feedback on lab reports.	Presenting talks.