Assign end-of-unit letter-writing tasks summarizing science concepts for a chosen audience¶

Strategy · All strategies
Evidence · 5 claims (4 for, 1 mixed) · 1 study (1 causal), q3 · 1 of 1 report an effect size · 5 claims rest on one study

Description¶

A concrete implementable activity: after completing a science unit, students summarize the major concepts in the form of a letter addressed to a specified audience (younger students, peers, or teacher), written at home and submitted within a set period. The study gave students a handout informing them how to write a letter and asked them to summarize major mixture concepts such as types of mixtures and separation of mixtures. Teachers can assess the letters with a structured writing scale covering language, content, and audience appropriateness.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• A handout informing students how to write a letter
• A specified audience for each letter
• Adequate submission time (the study allowed one week)

Constraints¶

• Students unfamiliar with letter writing may find the format boring, as 12% of interviewed students did; teacher-audience letters risk becoming evaluation-oriented reproductions of taught content

Target Learners¶

• 9th grade chemistry students
• secondary science students

Target Learning Goals¶

• reviewing and consolidating unit concepts
• audience-appropriate communication of science
• conceptual understanding of mixtures

Affordances¶

• Prain Hand Five Element Writing Framework

Claims¶

• Non-traditional letter writing improved 9th graders' conceptual understanding of a chemistry mixture unit more than traditional writing, with a small effect [+W]
• Students perceived non-traditional letter writing as helpful for learning, enjoyable, and superior to traditional writing [+W]
• Writing to the teacher led students to treat writing as evaluation and reproduce transmitted content rather than construct their own knowledge [~W]
• Writing scores differed significantly by audience, with younger-student letters rated highest and teacher-directed letters lowest [+W]
• Writing to younger students produced better mixture understanding than writing to the teacher, while younger-student and peer audiences did not differ [+W]

Related Strategies¶

Examples¶

• Mixture Achievement Test (MAT): the 17-item test on mixtures used to measure the task's effect

Key Sources¶

• Kingir, S. (2013). Using Non-traditional Writing as a Tool in Learning Chemistry. Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science & Technology Education, 9(2), 101-114. https://doi.org/10.12973/eurasia.2013.922a