THE WRITE STUFF: USING SCAFFOLDED WRITING ASSIGNMENTS TO MEET GEN-ED GOALS IN INTRO-LEVEL SCIENCE COURSES AT A TWO-YEAR COLLEGE

Writing is an essential part of general education courses, but it is always challenging to integrate it into science courses. The traditional avenues of approach, laboratory reports and essay questions on exams, can often end unsatisfactorily. In addition, they do not necessarily allow students to address other gen-ed objectives in critical thinking and information literacy. With this in mind, several years ago, one of us (FM) eliminated essay questions on exams and, in their place, instituted a multi-week, scaffolded writing assignment in his introductory geology and conceptual physical courses. For the students, the idea is for them to explore a particular scientist’s life and major contributions to geology or physics (some of the better-known scientists are off-limits, e.g., Wegener, Einstein) in a 3-5 page paper and to get feedback on early drafts that they use to improve future ones. Currently, there are four steps in the assignment, with increasing point totals: an outline and at least two legitimate sources (10 points), first draft (15 points), second draft (20 points), and final paper (55 points). Students must clear their topics prior to submitting their outlines and each deadline is three weeks apart. All submissions are made through Turnitin and students are encouraged to look at their similarity scores and make appropriate adjustments, if necessary.

Students are exposed to various resources at a research orientation conducted by the reference librarian liaison for physics (LS) which coincides with the introduction of the assignment. Discussion about search strategies and appropriate use of information at the onset of the project prepares students as they embark on their research. Students are encouraged to be curious, to explore, to evaluate, to use, and to attribute, thus building their information literacy skills and preparing them for their own futures in scholarly information consumption and production.