Science Writing Heuristic: A Writing-to-Learn Strategy and Its Effect on Student Science Achievement, Science Self-Efficacy and Scientific Epistemological View

• In Event: Poster Session 20
  In Poster Session: Exploring Science Education

Abstract

The purpose of this mixed-methods study was to determine if employing the writing-to-learn strategy known as “Science Writing Heuristic” would positively effect secondary Honors Chemistry students’ science achievement, self-efficacy, and scientific epistemological view. Science Writing Heuristic (SWH), designed by Hand and Prain (1996), is a tool for designing science experiences that move students away from “cookbook” experiences and allows them to design labs based on their own ideas and questions. This non-traditional instructional strategy focuses on claims that students make based on their evidence. Their claims are compared with their peers and then compared with those within the established science community. Students engage in reflection, meaning making based on their experiences, and demonstrate those understandings in multiple ways.

Authors

• Nancy S. Caukin, Eagleville High School

• John Mark Mark Hunter, Tennessee State University