Teaching Writing in the STEM Classroom
Writing is a Process
Learning to write well takes years. Accept the fact that students in your classroom are at wildly varying places along the path to being a good writer. Rather than teaching them to master grammar and spelling, your goal should be to help your students improve their ability to write well in the context represented by your course.
Consider the Following
- What are the writing situations that regularly occur for you as a professional in the field? Which situations are challenging and which ones are easy?
- What does it mean to “interpret the data” in your field? Who needs the intperpretation? What are the ramifications of poor interpretation?
- What are the most common problem areas that your students demonstrate? Do your students know when to elaborate and when to condense? Do they know when to replace text with images?
Google Doc Template for STEM Writing Assignments
Click here to download a copy to your Google Drive.
Best Practices (?)
- Choose authentic occasions for writing.
- Use a rubric that is tailored to your expectations.
- Assign relevant reading; good readers make good writers.
- Know your resources: where is your Writing Center? What exactly can they do for your students?
- Use the peer evaluation process to encourage “audience testing.”
- When in doubt, bring in outside help. Ask a writing professional to be a guest speaker.
Use the commenting feature below to add other best practices that have been omitted.
