Concepts

Citations:

Carson, R., Darling, L., & Darling, L. (1962). 10. Indiscriminately from the Skies Silent spring (pp. x, 368 p.). Boston, Cambridge, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin; Riverside Press.

Carson, R., Darling, L., & Darling, L. (1962). 12. The Human price Silent spring (pp. 187-198). Boston, Cambridge, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin; Riverside Press.

Colinvaux, P. A. (1978). Chapter 9: The ocean system Why big fierce animals are rare : an ecologist's perspective (pp. 89-96). Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.

Rationale for choosing texts:

            The rationale for using these texts is that they are foundational readings in the environmental science discipline. My partner uses them in his environmental sciences class, and they have been great tools to expose students to reading in the science disciplines as well as environmental science content. They are also a varied reading experience. The Silent Spring chapters are very easy to read, even though there is complex content, as things are explained well. The Why big fierce animals are rare, chapter is a more difficult reading, due to content and style in my. This gives students a variety of challenges to work on the skill of discipline specific reading.

Text Frame:

Silent Spring: problem/solution, proposition/support

Why big fierce animals are rare: concept/definition, proposition/support

Strategies used and resource:

Semantic map (Johnson & Pearson, 1984; McLaughlin, 2015)

Using semantic maps:

            Semantic maps are a graphic method to activate prior knowledge, introduce content related vocabulary and organize information. Students are given a topic to which they brainstorm information related to that topic (McLaughlin, 2015). In practice, all of this information can then be grouped together into subheadings under each topic. Students then fill in details under the subheadings, which can include concepts, and vocabulary under the subheadings to describe them. Any of these steps can be done as a whole group or in a small group that reports back to the class (McLaughlin, 2015).

For this assignment, I would have students respond to the focus concept of “Human place in nature”. Students would be asked to brainstorm all the things that they can think of that relate to this focus topic to create subheadings. Students would then be asked to find supporting evidence, concepts, and vocabulary from the readings to illustrate the subheadings. Below is an example of this that I created.

Impression of the text and strategy:

            My feelings on the texts have not changed with this assignment: the Silent Spring chapters are easy to read and connect me to other issues that are going on in the world. The Why big fierce animals are rare, reading is difficult and awkward. Given my feelings, I think that it is important to create a mix of readings, both good and bad to expose students to. It is important for students to recognize what good writing is like, and writing that is challenging due to structure.

            I found the strategy to be a great exercise in a constructivist classroom. It is a great exercise for what has been termed the student regulated classroom (Buehl, 2014). This would be something that a class takes part in after the teacher has modeled some brainstorming exercises, such as pre-reading plan (Langer, 1981), and some small group exercises such as a think-pare-share. A semantic map can be done at many points of a lesson as well: it can be a way to introduce a topic before a reading and then review the results, it could be done at a mid-point to generate some questions to answer in the future, and as a review exercise.

            I had the chance to teach a class recently where I had no idea what the student knew about the topic. I used the semantic map as a pre-assessment to have the students demonstrate to me what they knew so I knew where to start their lesson. It was also a great review exercise for the students.

Challenges to student & teachers:

            Semantic maps rely on students to take charge of the exercise and take part in discussion, thinking, and research. If they are relying on the teacher to show them, this exercise will be painful. This is a type of activity that classes, students, and teachers should work up to as student become responsible for their own learning. However, in my experience, when they do, it is actually a lot of fun to take part in.

Connection to broader themes:

            As I said, this is a social constructivist exercise (Vygotsky, 1986) that relies on using the zone of proximal development to push students to being in charge of their learning. As an activity, semantic maps, can be part of a larger metacognitive framework by having students go back and review the semantic map and evaluate it as a strategy (Van Keer & Vanderlinder, 2010).

Overall impression:

            I recommend this type of activity, as either something for classes to do, or for classes to work towards so that students are in charge of their learning.

References:

Buehl, D. (2014). Classroom strategies for interactive learning (4th ed.). Newark, Del.: International Reading Association,.

Johnson, D. D., & Pearson, P. D. (1984). Teaching reading vocabulary (2nd ed.). New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.

Langer, J. A. (1981). From Theory to Practice: A Prereading Plan. Journal of Reading, 25(2), 152-156.

McLaughlin, M. (2015). Content area reading: teaching and learning for college and career readiness. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.

Vygotsky, L. S. (1986). Thought and language (A. Kozulin, Trans.). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Van Keer, H., & Vanderlinde, R. (2010). The impact of cross-age peer tutoring on third and sixth graders' reading strategy awareness, reading strategy use, and reading comprehension. Middle Grades Research Journal, 5(1), 33–45.