Elementary Students' Strategies for Writing-to-Learn in Science

Abstract

Previous research has shown that writing can contribute to learning, but few studies have examined the cognitive processes through which this occurs, particularly among elementary students. A total of 70 children in Grades 4, 6, and 8 carried out science experiments concerning buoyancy or the balance beam, stated their explanations of the phenomena, and then wrote journal-style notes while thinking aloud. Fifteen of the students constructed more complex explanations during writing. Four aspects of the data were analyzed: writing operations, transitional sequences among writing operations, text features, and strategies for generating content. An analysis of these data yielded 7 factors: Text Production, Searching From Experiment, Brainstorming, Elaborative Genre, Goal Setting, Searching From Text, and Reviewing Beliefs. In a logistic regression analysis, Brainstorming, Searching From Text, and Searching From Experiment contributed significantly to the likelihood of explanatory gains; Text Production contributed marginally. It was concluded that for elementary students, writing-to-learn depends on strategies that are diverse, local in scope, independent of one another, and moderate in sophistication. Instructional implications are discussed.