KnowledgeBases > The Adolescent Literacy KnowledgeBase > Element 4 > Activity 2 > Task 5: Integrate with Science
Literacy plays an important part in science instruction. Middle and high school teachers can improve adolescent literacy through integrating literacy instructional concepts in science. Possessing an awareness of literacy instruction within science enables middle and high school teachers to enhance instructional strategies.
This link to the Council of Chief State School Officers' Adolescent Literacy Toolkit provides resources for states and high school content area teachers.
This page at AdLit.org contains a library of comprehension strategies teachers can use in the classroom before, during, and after reading a text.
This link provides a listing of science trade books for students. As noted at the National Science Teachers Association website, "The books that appear in these lists were selected as outstanding children's science trade books. They were selected by a book review panel appointed by the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) and assembled in cooperation with the Children's Book Council (CBC)."
This link is the Ohio Resource Center website. As noted at its website, "the Science Bookshelf provides information about using science trade books for science instruction in K-5 classrooms. We have selected outstanding science trade books that align with Ohio's Science Standards and have the potential to enrich science teaching and learning." While this resource is specific to Ohio, it may be useful to teachers in other states.
This short article on AdLit.org discusses three specific issues related to adolescent literacy in the science classroom.
This link to the Ohio Resource Center for Mathematics, Science and Reading offers a compilation of reading strategies aimed at the adolescent student. Though focused on the Ohio Academic Content Standards, the basic strategies may be useful to all middle and high school teachers.
As noted in its introduction, this Center on Instruction document "provides research-based guidance on academic literacy instruction in the content areas." The vignettes offered provide examples of how literacy instruction can be integrated into content area instruction.
This National Association of State Boards of Education (NASBE) document addresses moving state-level literacy instruction policy to classroom practice.
These resources from Beacon Learning Center's Just Read Now! project provide guidance on reading in the science classroom.
This link is to the Alliance for Excellent Education's report Literacy Instruction in the Content Areas: Getting to the Core of Middle and High School Improvement. It discusses multiple aspects of adolescent literacy development from achieving basic reading fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension skills to more advanced literacy skills that will enable middle and high school students succeed in academic content areas.
This link is to the Carnegie Corporation of New York's report addressing adolescent literacy in the content areas. The report discusses the following content areas: science, mathematics, literature, and history.
This e-newsletter from the National Science Teacher Association provides guidance for linking science fiction to science concepts taught in the classroom.



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