Year 3 Science Literacy Assessment and Teaching Sequence

Student Profile and Work Sample Overview

The student assessed is in Year 3. Compared with other students at this year level, this student's handwriting is clear and neat. The student exhibits a basic to intermediate understanding of the assignment and the information required to complete the task. The student is likely not at the top of his or her class, due to spelling issues and problems with sentence formation. It is additionally unclear to what degree science interests this student.

The work sample analyzed is a worksheet completed by a Year 3 student, and it demonstrates the literacy demands of science at the Year 3 level. On the left half of the sheet are squares intended for illustration. To the right of each square are blank lines for student descriptions, observations, and captions.

Analysis of the Student's Writing and Scientific Understanding

In the first square, the child drew a natural landscape featuring grass, the sun, hills, and a tree. The tree casts a shadow because of its position relative to the sun, as illustrated in the drawing. Next to this square, the student wrote: "At Mid afternoon, the shadow is a liltte bigger." This shows that the child understands that the sun appears to move across the sky over the course of a day. The sentence also demonstrates that the child understands that factors such as the Earth's rotation and the relative position of the sun affect the shape and position of shadows cast by objects on the Earth's surface. There are some minor spelling and punctuation errors in this sentence, but they are not so severe as to interfere with comprehension, nor do they reveal significant gaps in the student's understanding.

The second square provides strong evidence of the student's understanding of linear time. The drawing also demonstrates an understanding of the movement of celestial bodies and some of the effects of those movements as perceived from the Earth's surface. The student retained and applied the information learned from the lesson reasonably well. The caption reads: "In the Evenng the shadow are long again." There are some mechanical errors in the writing, including a subject-verb agreement problem. Regardless of these errors, the handwriting remains very clear and, despite the mechanical issues, the student's meaning is still discernible.

The mode of the text is appropriate for the task at hand. The student writes general yet descriptive statements for each square. In the paragraph section, however, the mode changes, and this affects the quality of the student's writing while also revealing more complex literacy issues that need attention.

Below the squares is a paragraph with the instruction to "Explain the results." In this space, the child recapitulates the visual and written information from above and elaborates further for additional context. The child explains his or her understanding of the Earth's rotation relative to the Sun's position. The student demonstrates an understanding that planet Earth rotates on an axis. It is unclear whether the child also understands that the Earth orbits the sun. The child does understand that the side of the Earth facing the sun during rotation is the side where it is daytime, and conversely, that as the Earth rotates away from the sun it becomes darker and the opposite side experiences night.

Overall, the child demonstrates an understanding that these facts are directly related to how we perceive and experience shadows on Earth as a result of rotation. The student writes that the sun stays still and that the Earth is the object that moves. It is unclear whether the child does not understand that the sun also rotates on its own axis and orbits the center of the galaxy, or whether this material has simply not yet been covered in instruction. Finally, the child writes that it is the movement of the sun and the positioning of the Earth relative to the sun that produces shadows and causes them to shift. The sentences in the paragraph are either very short and choppy, or they are run-ons. There are few spelling errors, though there are minor grammatical issues. The child makes a sincere effort to reproduce appropriate surface features but does not consistently succeed.

Identified Literacy Learning Needs

This student appears to have clear thinking and a strong grasp of the concepts covered in science class, yet the student's writing and literacy skills are not on par with his or her conceptual understanding. There is a clear gap between what the student understands and how effectively the student communicates it in writing. The student made an effort to demonstrate and apply technical terms from the lesson, such as rotation and shadow. The work sample suggests that either a limited understanding of the scientific concept is affecting the student's writing about it, or that underdeveloped writing and literacy skills are limiting how well the student can articulate the knowledge he or she possesses.

The student shows that he or she is capable of writing a complete sentence of moderate length that expresses one complete thought — as demonstrated by the descriptions written next to the illustrated squares. These are the best-structured sentences in the work sample.

When prompted to write a paragraph or a longer explanation, however, this is where the student shows the greatest deficiency. The student shows signs of needing assistance in structuring longer ideas and arguments, as well as in developing and organizing more complex thoughts. The student would benefit from reviewing text types such as the scientific report, and perhaps from reading examples of properly formed captions, to develop a clearer understanding of what a caption is and what it should accomplish.

In the paragraph explanation, the student's sentences were either too long or too short. The longest sentence reads like a stream of consciousness, resembling how one might verbalize an answer if asked orally rather than in writing. This suggests that the student may be stronger at oral communication than written communication. These are signs that the student's literacy skills require targeted improvement. The student does not yet effectively replicate the language features of descriptive and well-organized text types. There is some use — and misuse — of the universal present tense. The bulk of the paragraph text lacks cohesion and a clear separation of individual ideas.

Conclusion

This literacy sequence in science is well-conceived in theory and is likely to be effective in practice. It is dynamic and incorporates various modes of learning. The sequence adheres to national curriculum standards while retaining flexibility for local contexts and cultures. The proposed literacy activities work well for students at a range of literacy levels, giving students who need to catch up the opportunity to do so, while also engaging and challenging students who are at or above the expected level.

The sequence honors traditional methods for information retention while also being progressive in its service to students with diverse abilities and learning styles. The topic is appropriate in terms of age and year level for Year 3 science students. Crucially, the literacy sequence contextualizes the information being learned. Students are far more likely to retain facts when they have experienced those facts within a meaningful context, rather than encountering them only in the abstract.