03/15/2022
By Lizzie Casanave

The School of Education invites you to attend an Ed.D. Dissertation Defense by Michelle Greenberg on “The Effects of a Disciplinary Literacy Framework on Scientific Literacy and Student Engagement in The Middle School Science Classroom.”

Date: Thursday, March 31, 2022
Time: 3:30 p.m.
Location: This will be a virtual dissertation defense via Zoom. Those interested in attending should contact Michelle_ScribnerMaclean@uml.edu to request access to the Zoom link.

Dissertation Chair: Michelle Scribner-Maclean, Ed.D., Clinical Professor, School of Education, University of Massachusetts, Lowell

Dissertation Committee:

  • Anita Greenwood, Ed.D., Dean Emerita, School of Education, University of Massachusetts Lowell
  • Kathleen McLaughlin, Ed.D. Scholar in Practice, School of Education, Principal, Lowell Public Schools

Abstract:

Research supports the finding that middle school students prefer hands-on activities to reading and writing to learn new information. However, disciplinary literacy, the reading and writing in science class, is an integral part of inquiry-based science instruction and a necessary complement to hands-on instruction to build student understanding. There are several barriers to student comprehension of scientific text, such as text complexity, vocabulary, and difficult reading levels, that cause students to become disengaged when completing science content reading activities. Content area literacy instruction is often missing from middle school science classrooms, exacerbating these effects, especially for struggling readers. When students are disengaged during science content reading activities, they fail to develop science content knowledge.

This dissertation study explored whether middle school student engagement in science content reading and science content knowledge can be increased by explicitly teaching reading strategies to support students’ comprehension of scientific expository text. Strategy instruction which accompanies the 4E Disciplinary Literacy Framework was used before, during, and after science content reading activities in the seventh grade science classroom. Student engagement in science content reading activities was measured in multiple ways, including student and teacher interviews and surveys asking about students’ perception of their own engagement in science content reading. Science content knowledge was measured using classroom assessments.