Exploring Elementary Students’ Content Ideas and Cohesiveness of Multimodal Representation in Science Writing Tasks

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Abstract

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of language-rich learning approach guided by the Science Writing Heuristic (SWH) on young children’s use of multimodal representations in their science writing including the number of content ideas across both written text and pictures and the degree of cohesiveness between these text- and picture-based representations. Across first through third grade four elementary public schools located within a Midwestern school district, there were 369 students and 19 teachers who took part in this study. A quasi-experimental design was used, and data analysis indicated that while there were no significant differences in the number or type of representations used, as predicted, students in SWH classrooms were significantly better able to cohesively integrate text with picture content. In addition to the overall benefits conferred by using the SWH approach, the results also highlighted the importance of experience in implementing it. Specifically, as teachers’ experience using SWH increased beyond one year, students’ odds of creating cohesive and connected representations between text and picture content increased significantly. One important implication of this research is that using an SWH approach in early elementary grades is not only feasible but also quite promising in promoting scientific literacy.

Authors

• Claudia Patricia Aguirre-Mendez, The University of Iowa

• SaeYeol Yoon, Delaware State University

• Nurcan Keles, University of Iowa

• Deborah L. Linebarger, University of Pennsylvania

• Brian Hand, University of Iowa