Middle School Writing: Science Projects walks students through a science-based writing project of their choice. Students follow the practice of scientists to use the scientific method as the basis of their inquiry—from formation of a hypothesis or guiding question, to experiment or research-based informational writing, to conclusion. Students choose from the following formats for their project:
- Science fair presentation
- Article for a newspaper or journal
- Fact book (photo album or lapbook)
- Interview
Students use Brave Writer® tools including topic funneling, freewriting, and Snip and Pin to move from idea generation to research, note-taking, and drafting to a revised and edited final project in four weeks.
Syllabus
Week One
Ask Like a Scientist. Students take on the scientist’s work as they craft a hypothesis to test or a science-based inquiry to pursue.
Week Two
Think Like a Scientist. Students research to investigate a myriad of sources. Freewriting activities help to get the raw writing on the page. Once initial writing is in place, students expand their research to fill in gaps in their knowledge.
Week Three
Explore Like a Scientist. It's time to design and carry out a formal experiment on the topic of choice or compile data to complete the inquiry.
Week Four
Share Like a Scientist. The week when all the hard work pays off: Students put a final polish on the writing and talk about different ways to publish and find readers.
Common Core and Academic Standards Support
What follows is a word bank and set of skills associated with this class. Use them to craft your own learning narrative for use in year-end evaluations, charter school reports, or any other accountability source.
Word Bank
- Conclusions
- Editing
- Experimentation
- Formats
- Freewriting
- Hypothesis
- Informational writing
- Nonfiction
- Note-taking
- Precision
- Research
- Revision
- Vocabulary development
- Writing mechanics
Core Skills
- Cite expert sources
- Craft a hypothesis to test or inquiry to pursue
- Edit writing for standard English usage
- Execute an experiment or scientific inquiry
- Instruct others on a topic using informational writing
- Research and absorb material for writing
- Revise writing for clarity, flow, order, interest, and economy of language
- Sequence writing in logical steps
- Utilize photos or illustrations to support text
- Utilize scientific method
- Write detailed, organized, structured original narratives
- Write in acceptable structure for given format
- Write for a particular audience
