NSS Chemistry Learning & Teaching Strategies

1. NSS ChemistryLearning & Teaching Strategies Active Reading and Writing Tasks

2. Objectives of the Workshops • To promote the use of active reading and writing tasks in the learning and teaching of chemistry • To share experiences in conducting reading and writing tasks in the chemistry lessons • To discuss on how to develop activities from different resource materials • To discuss on how to assess students' reading and writing tasks

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4. 1. Why promoting reading and writing in chemistry? IMPORTANT?

5. Reading and Writing #1 • Suggested Learning and Teaching Activities in NSS: • Topic II: Reading articles or writing essays on the applications of materials such as graphite and aluminium in relation to their structures. • Topic V: Searching for information or reading articles about the discovery of polyethene and the development of addition polymers. • Topic VI: Reading articles on how Valence Shell Electron Pair Repulsion (VSEPR) theory can be used to predict the shapes of molecules.

6. Reading and Writing #2 • Where in the curriculum? • Topic VII: • Introduction: “Through searching for information and critically reading materials about electrochemical technology, students should appreciate the contribution of chemical knowledge to technological innovations, which in turn improve our quality of life” • Reading articles about the industrial processes involved in the production of aluminium from aluminium ore. • Reading articles about new developments in fuel cell technology and lithium cells.

7. Students do not like reading? • Students’ problems? • Lack of interest • Lack of skills • Textbooks’ problems? • Not fun / Not attractive • Hard to read • Lots of digressions • Lots of irrelevant information

8. Some opinions • Reading for information and enjoyment • Promotion of science learning alongside the development of language ability • Copying notes from the board or from worksheets does little to encourage language skills (OFSTED, 1995, par. 26) • Dominance of “doing” over “reading and thinking”? (Turner & Dimarco)

9. Nature of Science • More than practical skills • More than information processing skills • Chemists do need reading and writing skills

10. Nature of Science科學科的性質 • Doing science • 進行科學實驗 • Organizing scientific information • 建構科學知識 • Explaining events scientifically • 科學地解釋現象 • Challenging science • 科學論辯探究 Veel, 1997

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12. Some Learning Targets of NSS Chemistry Curricula • Practical skills • Information handling skills • Communication skills: oral, reading and writing • Do we have good support from language subjects? • Can students transfer their skills learnt in language subjects to chemistry?

13. Themes for Reading • Curriculum bound? • Curriculum linked? • For enhancing scientific literacy – values and attitudes, STSE connection • For enhancing interest in chemistry

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15. Helping students to read • How to distinguish • trivial details from important generalizations? • interesting information from important information? • How to facilitate students have not master the reading skills to read?

16. Student 1: • I read through a section quickly. I try to figure out why it was put there and then I’ll go back and underline as few words as possible.

17. Student 2: • I underlined with the highlighters. I used two colors. I wanted to give one color more importance than the other. It would mean more to me later.

18. 略讀 – 對內容得出概略的認識 • 細讀 – 找尋某一方面的資料 • 精讀 – 集中注意力以完成一預定的閱讀目標 • 批判式閱讀 – 分析、評價及評估資料

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20. Resources for Reading and Writing

21. Chem4Kids

22. Science News for Kids

23. Science Magazine • Catalyst http://www.philipallan.co.uk • Chemistry Review • ChemMatters • Chem 13 News, U of Waterloo, Canadahttp://sciborg.uwaterloo.ca/chem13news/index.html • Education in Chemistry

24. AL Chemistry Exam Papers

25. 如何運用報紙教學系列 • 化學科專科語體 • 中學會考化學科試題及考生答卷表現 • http://www.cmi.hku.hk/index.htm

26. 中國內地化學教育資源網

27. 本地化學科教師網站 • 李SIR好化學網 • URL: http://i.am/chemsir • 例 1：滅火器變飛彈工人斷臂事件 • 例 2：致癌毒粉絲流入本港 • 致癌毒***流入本港

28. Reference Book: Wellington and Osborne. (2001). Language and Literacy in Science Education. Buckingham ; Phildelphia, Pa. : Open University Press.

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30. Reading and writing tasks as NSS Chemistry SBA tasks?

31. Examples of SBA Tasks • critical reading, analysis and reporting on the contribution of chemistry to the understanding of the material world • designing a poster or pamphlet aimed at persuading people to follow the principles of green chemistry • writing a report to present the scientific knowledge and concepts acquired after a visit to an industrial plant, and • developing a multimedia artefact to illustrate the synthesis of polymers.

32. Thank You!