Mr. Smith talks to our students about reading techniques on a regular basis.  We have only a classroom set of textbooks for Chemistry I, so we don’t request required reading of them very often.  However, we do ask them to preview a chapter after an exam, or when there is time after laboratories.    When we ask students to read the textbook, we give them specific techniques with which to preview the text:

1) Look at the pictures and figures first.

2) Read any boldface vocabulary words.

3) Skim for key phrases/vocabulary.

4) Read for content.

We give them a specific reading technique, because reading a science text is not as straightforward or easy, as reading for leisure is.

A problem that we encounter in our classroom is that students don’t translate the reading techniques that we offer them from our text into our laboratories, even when we request that they pre-read the labs. I asked them honestly, and without penalty, how many actually read the labs when assigned.   The results were eye opening.  In one class, only two students had read the lab!  Perhaps vocabulary was a barrier that some students need to overcome?  Maybe visualizing the procedures was a barrier for others?  My goal was to address these barriers and utilize reading fix ups strategies to better aid in student comprehension of laboratory procedures.  In turn, I generated a reading checklist for students to use to better aid in their assigned reading for our class:

Student Reading Strategies Checklist

With subsequent polling I found that reading participation increased to about half of the class.  This activity involved InTASC standards 1-2-7 by taking learner development and differences into account and using them to drive instruction.  HLP 12 served as a basis for addressing student thoughts in regards to how to tackle a science reading assignment, as well as present them with techniques to utilize while reading for our class.

I hope that students gain a better understanding of both expectations and procedures in a lab, while reducing my own personal frustration of having to answer questions, other than clarifications, that were addressed in the lab itself.