Science Perspective on “Teachers and content area reading: Attitudes, beliefs and change”
This journal presents information as to why reading should be taught in content area classes, current attitudes of in-service and pre-service teachers, what is currently being done to form attitudes on teaching reading, and finally what can be done to improve attitudes on teaching reading. To examine the beliefs that pre-service and in-service teachers hold, the author established three guiding questions and searched the ERIC database and found 19 peer-reviewed journals from the last 33 years (1970-2003) that fit the criteria. The author then created a database from the information found in the journals and began to identify patterns to determine if there were specific beliefs held only by pre-service or in-service teachers. The author also identified the methods that the researchers used to address the issue of teaching reading to pre and in-service teachers and their effectiveness. Overall, the results showed that both groups of teachers have some sort of positive view of teaching reading, but neither group would like to, is currently teaching, or knew how to teach reading in their classroom. There was, however, a split when it came to wanting to learn to teach reading. Pre-service teacher thought that it wasn’t their responsibility while in-service teaches wanted to learn how to do it.
I am going to make connections, critique, and explain why this article is important from a science teacher’s perspective. The article mentions several times that pre-service teachers take one course on teaching reading in content area classes and how these classes aren’t very effective because they don’t give the students an opportunity to practice teaching reading. I can agree with the author because I am in this class now and since I am not doing my student teaching placement yet, it is hard for me to apply what I am learning in the classroom. I was given one opportunity to teach a reding strategy lesson and it was very beneficial because I learned how not to teach reading. But I would have liked more opportunities to actively teach reading to my peers.
The only critique I have of the article is how it doesn’t put more of an emphasis on teaching reading for math teachers. Yes, I am a science teacher, but I think for teaching reading to be most successful, it needs to be successfully implemented in every single classroom. So, for little to be talked about in teaching reading to math students, the author fails to persuade math teachers to get on board.
Ultimately, the author makes a great point as to why reading should be taught in science class,
“…in science students may read texts in order to learn about specific scientific facts, laws, and principles. However, not everything written in a science text is intended to be taken as a fact or absolute.”
Teaching reading in science is crucial for students to be able to distinguish what is good information and what is bad. It helps them to see what research could have been done appropriately and what research may have been done to achieve a pre-determined answer. Reading skills also help students learn science subject matter better overall. As an in-service teacher, I want my views on teaching reading to be from pedagogical knowledge rather than what I believed from going through school.
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