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Garden bird survey - Participants' stories

This resource for level 5 students can participate in a citizen science project to strengthen their capability to make sense of representations in the context of science.

Tūī sitting in a tree.

Tags

  • AudienceKaiako
  • Curriculum Level5
  • Resource LanguageEnglish

About this resource

This resource illustrates how text from personal accounts of participation in a citizen science project can provide opportunities for students to strengthen their capability to make sense of representations in the context of science.

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Garden bird survey: Participants’ stories

Learning focus

Students analyse lay accounts of a data-gathering episode to find contrasts between everyday and scientific prose.

Learning activity

Two stories written by participants in this citizen science project provide an accessible opportunity for students to contrast everyday writing styles with those employed by scientists when they formally report on their work.

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Print copies of the two participants’ stories or display them in large text on a screen so that everyone can read the words.

As students read a story ask them to highlight words or ideas that they would not expect to see in a formal scientific report. (Use highlighter pens for paper copies or text highlighter if doing this as a screen-based whole-class activity.)

Discuss the highlighted features and why these have been chosen. Examples might be:

  • inclusion of detail irrelevant to the data focus (but that makes for a good story)
  • use of descriptive language that is open to different interpretations by different readers
  • assigning a motive and/or feelings to birds, based on their actions
  • use of emotional language.

Discuss why these features are not usually used in scientific reports. What does the scientific style of writing tell us about what is valued in science? (Objectivity, open-mindedness, letting the natural world speak for itself via transparent inquiry processes, etc.)

The ways of thinking that are valued in science are embodied in the literacy practices of science. (Understanding and using the literacy practices of science supports students to think in new ways.) 

The language used in science usually focuses on things and processes (the empirical nature of science) rather than on people’s feelings and opinions. When people write about taking part in science-related experiences they often focus on feelings and rich contextual detail because they have been an important part of their overall experience. It is important that students think about how ideas "in and "about" science are communicated and ask questions such as:

  • What does this representation tell us?
  • What is the purpose for which this representation was made?
  • What sorts of things are included and what is deliberately left out?
  • How does this representation get the message across?

What are we looking for?

Can students identify text features that are typical/ not typical of science writing?

Can they match features of written text to the purposes for which it was written?

Do they show awareness of the effect intended by the communication? (Can they critique the style with the intended genre in mind?)

The Assessment Resource Banks support material includes a concise summary of the features of science text:

Language of science (specialised language)

This is applied in the assessment tasks The moa and Variable oystercatchers, which both support students to investigate features of written science texts.

The Bioaccumulation resource looks at nominalisation as one specific feature of science text.