1) Science textbooks can be difficult for students to read due to the large number of new vocabulary terms and concepts introduced. They also may become outdated more quickly than other subject area textbooks. 2) Hands-on science activities engage students more than reading textbooks by involving them in collaboration, exploration, and problem-solving. However, reading science also requires critical thinking skills. 3) Effective science teachers create a positive classroom environment where students feel their efforts will improve their achievement. They also connect reading assignments to students' real-world experiences.

2.
Reading Science is like reading a
foreign language. A high school
chemistry text can contain 3000
new vocabulary terms- far more
than are taught in the most foreign
language classes. (Holliday, 1991)
Science teachers, themselves
appear to feel somewhat
ambivalent about textbook usage.
(Tolman, Hardy & Sudweeks,

3. WHY DO TEACHERS FEEL SO AMBIVALENT
ABOUT TEXTBOOKS?
•One possible reason is students inability to read
these texts.
•Is that content of science textbooks can
become outdated more quickly than say , an
American literature textbook. Reading less
useful as years go by.
•A third reason cited by critics of science
textbook emphasize product rather than
process.(Donahue,2000)

5. Many educators contented that
when students do science, they are
more engaged in learning than
when the read science text. When
student actively participates in
science they are involved in
collaboration, exploration and
problem solving.

6. HANDS-ON SCIENCE ACTIVITIES
GIVE STUDENT OPPORTUNITIES TO
•Wrestle with science problems
•Work together to generate and
test hypotheses
•Analyze data, draw conclusion
and write about their findings.

7. Fact about reading science
text and textbooks requires
the same critical thinking,
analysis and active
engagement as performing
hands-on science activities.

8. Science and Reading have many process skills in
common. As Armbruster (1993) contends, “ The
same skills that make good scientists also make
good readers: engaging prior knowledge,
forming hypotheses, establishing plans,
evaluating understanding, determining the
relative importance of information, describing
patterns, comparing and contrasting, making
interferences, drawing conclusions,
generalizing, evaluating source and so on.”

9. Three Interactive Elements of
Reading

10.
Santa, Havens and Harrison
(1996) state it well: “ Most
students arrive at the science
teacher’s classroom knowing
how to read, but few
understand how to use
reading for learning science
content.”

11. One explanation for this
disparity is that students most
often learn the reading process
using narrative text. They
haven’t taught that reading
science requires different
reading and thinking skill than
reading fiction.

12. General reading Skills
• Understand specialized vocabulary terms and phrases that
are unique to science.
• Understand vocabulary terms and phrases that have different
meaning when use in science.
• Interpret scientific symbols and diagrams.
• Recognize and understand organizational patterns common
to science texts.
• Make sense of text using text structure and page layout that
may not be user friendly
• Infer implied sequences and recognize cause-and effect
relationship.
• Infer main ideas and draw conclusion that may not be
explicitly stated.
• Use inductive and deductive reasoning skills.

13. TEACHERS CAN SHOW STUDENTS HOW
TO ACTIVATE PRIOR KNOWLEDGE BY
DEMONSTRATING BASIC PRE- READING
TECHNIQUES SUCH AS
Brainstorming ideas that a topic
brings to mind;
Previewing a passage, noting
heading and bold print
Constructing a graphic organizer,
web, or outline from passage
headings for use in note taking.

14. Mental Disposition
Connecting reading assignment
to student’s real-world
experiences, teachers need to
show students that becoming
effective consumer of science
text has value.

15. Some of the students also have a poor
attitude towards reading and often don’t
see the connection between the effort
they put forth to read and complete their
assignment and the grades they earn in
class. Marzano, Pickering and Pollock
(2001) cite a set of studies demonstrating
that simply showing students that added
effort improves their achievement actually
increase students achievement.

16. THE ROLE OF THE CLIMATE
Thing to think about
•How does climate effect students’
attitude towards learning science?
•What do effective science teacher
do to create a classroom climate
that is conducive to learning?

17. (Rurtherford and Ahlgren,
1990) note “ they see
science only as academic
activity, not as a way of
understanding the world
in which they live.”

18. It is essential that the science teacher
create a positive classroom climate.
The terms climate refers not only to
the affective dimension, rather we
must give students access to
appropriate and sufficient resources,
including quality teachers, time,
materials and equipment, adequate
and safe space and the community.

19. Four Dimension that
constitutes an
effective learning
environment

20. LERNER CENTERED:
Respecting and
understanding students’
prior experience and
understanding and using
them to build new
understanding.

21. KNOWLEDGE CENTERED:
helping students focus on the
big ideas and “ develop well
organized bodies of knowledge
and organized bodies of
knowledge and organize that
knowledge so that its supports
planning and strategic thinking.”

22. ASSESSMENT CENTERED :
Helping students learn to
monitor and regulate their
own learning, to think
critically and to receive
instruction that is informed
and supported.

23. COMMUNITY CENTERED:
Requiring student to “
articulate their ideas,
challenge the ideas of
others and negotiate
deeper meaning along
with other learners.”