Preservice Science and Mathematics Teachers and Discursive Met knowledge of Text
Literacy even narrowly construed as reading and writing—is central to learning science and mathematics, and teachers of science and mathematics can better teach their students if they understand literacy’s role in learning (Moje, 2007; Yore, Bisanz, & Hand, 2003). Recent scholarship has emphasized the need to build more powerful connections between literacy approaches and disciplinary content instruction (Conley, 2008; Moje, 2006, 2007; Shanahan & Shanahan, 2008) in order to improve the learning opportunities for adolescent learners (Ippolito, Steele, & Samson, 2008). But despite the consensus about literacy’s importance to teaching and Replica Tag Heuer learning in the content areas, secondary preservice teachers are often dismissive of efforts to incorporate practices that focus explicitly on literacy (Moje, 2006; O’Brien & Stewart, 1990; O’Brien, Stewart, & Moje, 1995). The question is, What would science and mathematics preservice teachers need to understand about literacy to better appreciate its role in teaching and learning content
This article explores that question and takes an approach uncommon in the research on teacher education in content area literacy. As science and mathematics teacher educators, we start with a focus on content knowledge rather than on literacy strategies. We know that many preservice teachers believe that the most effective way to learn content is by directly engaging with subject matter. In science, this might be through hands-on inquiry investigations, and in mathematics, by solving real-world applied problems. Further, preservice teachers often perceive content area literacy strategies to be a burdensome collection of technical terms and protocols rather than a vehicle for supporting learning (O’Brien et al., 1995). Consequently, texts are often seen as supplementary resources for—or even barriers to—the applied learning to which preservice teachers are most committed.
Perspectives that disconnect content learning from literacy practices are rapidly becoming untenable (Norris & Phillips, 2003). With the Internet commanding an increasing part of our daily lives, the classic science or Omega Speedmaster Replica Watches mathematics classroom consisting of a teacher, students, and a printed textbook is fast becoming obsolete (Walker & Bean, 2003). Information is no longer easily vetted by teachers, librarians, or publishers, and new skills are required to capitalize on the information potential of the World Wide Web. Researchers have begun to examine student practices related to digital literacies (Brem, Russell, & Weems, 2001; Coiro, 2005; Damico & Baildon, 2007; Leu, Kinzer, Coiro, & Cammack, 2004; McNabb, 2006; Wilder & Dressman, 2006), but little work has examined what teachers know about these new literacy practices or how such knowledge builds on established understandings of the role of literacy in mathematics or science learning (Shanahan & Shanahan, 2008).
With the infusion of new information sources, we see expanded opportunities to help preservice teachers develop more sophisticated understandings of content area literacy. This article describes and analyzes one such opportunity—an assignment given within the context of a preservice secondary science and mathematics content-methods course. First, we briefly examine how scholars have accounted for the resistance of preservice teachers to content area literacy approaches. Second, we build upon Gee’s (1989) notions of met knowledge and powerful literacy to explain how these constructs illuminate preservice teachers’ perspectives on content area literacy and content learning. Third, we show how an assignment problematized school science and mathematics literacy practices and provided the preservice teachers with opportunities to develop valuable discursive met knowledge. Finally, we discuss implications of this work for teacher educators.
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