Courses

Reading Across the Curriculum: Science

Delivered by Nikki Gamble, Jo Castro

Overview

Would you like to

• improve general literacy, and reading comprehension?
• increase reading in science?
• further your understanding of the reading and language demands of science materials?
• develop pupils’ critical literacy skills and strategies?
• select the best books and materials to support the science curriculum and to encourage your pupils to read science for pleasure?

This research-informed course focuses on the specific demands of literacy in science with particular emphasis on high-quality dialogic teaching and reading. It does however have a wide application to all literacy teaching. The course has been developed with partner schools and video material of classroom practice is used extensively throughout.

Audience

This course has been designed for whole school development with opportunities for teachers to discuss and share insights from the training material and with the benefits of coaching from Just Imagine’s consultants.

Individual teachers may apply for the self-study route without coaching. The course will be of interest to class teachers, SLT, literacy and science leaders.

Relevant phase

• Primary (KS1 and KS2)
• KS3 literacy leaders may also find this useful as a starting point for leading literacy development in subject disciplines

Outcomes

Participants will:

• develop a deep understanding of the demands of subject disciplinary reading
• secure practical strategies for improving reading of nonfiction and fiction in curriculum areas
• gain knowledge of the range of up-to-date texts and skills to select those that will best support learning
• identify next steps to inform school policy

Areas of focus

This course comprises nine modules, each with an optional gap task.

• Module 1 Science and Literacy: connections and challenges
• Module 2 Before reading:assessment and orientation
• Module 3 Learning scientific language and vocabulary
• Module 4 Reading and interpreting scientific diagrams, infographics and tables
• Module 5 Understanding scientific processes from written text
• Module 6 Using illustration to support and expand understanding
• Module 7 Can we trust this information? Lessons in reliability
• Module 8 Explaining abstract scientific concepts through analogy, metaphor and simile
• Module 9 Reading Science Beyond the Curriculum

What you get

School:

• A year’s access to the training course to allow you to plan how you want to spread your sessions across the year and to allow time for you to revisit modules
• Up to 40 logins for individual teachers, learning support, senior leaders
• Three hours of bespoke online coaching is included per school. We will discuss how best to organise this for your school. Additional coaching time, onsite coaching and consultancy can be arranged if required at our usual rates.. Please email wil@justimagine.co.uk to discuss your requirements
• Submission of gap task summaries to inform the coaching element of the course. Certification for teachers completing summaries for all gap tasks.
• Group sets (7 books) of five nonfiction books total 35 books (RRP 349.37)

Individual:

• A term’s access to the training course
• Individual login for one teacher
• A set of 5 nonfiction books RRP 49.91
• Certificate of completion on submission of all gap tasks

Special offer until 1st July
To celebrate the launch of this new platform we are offering:
25% off the regular price of a whole school training package. Offer price 937.50 plus VAT. Price after the 1st July £1250,00 plus VAT (discount applied to prices below)
Book an individual teacher for the course and we will give a free place to an additional teacher at the same school

To receive the special price, courses must be booked and paid for by the 1st of July. You can defer the course start to the beginning of the autumn term if you prefer.

Modules

• Module 1 25 minutes with Nikki Gamble

  Literacy and Science: connections and challenges

  In this introductory module, we look at the connections between literacy and science. How does learning in one subject support learning in the other? We also outline some of the challenges that reading science materials presents for young readers.

• Module 2 24 minutes with Nikki Gamble, Jo Castro

  Before reading: assessment for learning and orientation

  In this module, we build on ideas from the introductory session. What assessments can we make of children’s existing scientific understanding so that we can support their reading most effectively? How will reading enable them to take their scientific learning to the next level? When is the optimum time to read a book relating to a science topic that the children or studying, or have studied?

• Module 3 52 minutes with Nikki Gamble, Jo Castro

  Learning scientific language and vocabulary

  Children learn more new words in science than they do when learning a new modern foreign language, so it’s important to analyse which words we want to spend time teaching. These are not always the words that are listed as key science terms as we demonstrate in this important module that gets to the nub of the complex relationship between language, literacy and science.

• Module 4 40 minutes with Nikki Gamble, Jo Castro

  Reading and interpreting diagrams, infographics and tables

  Experienced readers may take for granted the challenges of reading abstract diagrams, infographics and tables. This module explores some of the difficulties that children might experience, as well as some practical strategies for developing children’s reading skills for this type of material.

• Module 5 27 minutes with Nikki Gamble, Jo Castro

  Understanding scientific processes from written text

  Processes are key to many scientific ideas and while some processes can be observed, others are more abstract and can only be explained through written text, illustration or film. In this module, we look at practical approaches to help children understand texts that explain processes.

• Module 6 12 minutes with Nikki Gamble, Jo Castro

  Using illustration to support and expand understanding

  Illustration can be a very useful and engaging way to support children’s scientific understanding. Children can be explicitly taught to read images and to articulate the way images and text work together to develop comprehension. However, illustrations can sometimes confound understanding. Helping children recognise sources of confusion and misconception helps them develop greater independence when reading.

• Module 7 26 minutes with Nikki Gamble, Jo Castro

  Can we trust this information? Lessons in reliability

  All knowledge is provisional. In this module, we look at introducing the notion of validity to reading different types of material, using fact-checking, authority and reliability.

• Module 8 27 minutes with Nikki Gamble, Jo Castro

  Explaining abstract scientific concepts through analogy, metaphor and simile

  How do scientists explain abstract concepts? We look at the different ways in which they make material relatable. We then examine ways of helping children make the connections that take their understanding deeper than the surface level.

• Module 9 with Nikki Gamble, Jo Castro

  Reading science beyond the curriculum

  In this final module, we consider ways of encouraging children to read science beyond the requirements of the curriculum. We look at recently published fiction, biography, nonfiction and poetry as well as strategies to encourage engagement.