Each year, the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) releases its Outstanding Science Trade Books for Students K–12 list to give educators a set of vetted resources they can use to teach science practices, concepts and vocabulary.
To gain a better understanding of these expert-recommended texts and how they may support science learning, a team of College of Education & Human Development faculty and students studied 400 books from the NSTA’s 2010-2017 book lists.
Faculty members Laura May, Thomas Crisp, Gary Bingham and Reneé Schwartz worked with alumnus Mario Pickens and doctoral student Kate Woodbridge on this study, which was published in the International Literacy Association’s Reading Research Quarterly.
The research team categorized the 400 books and analyzed the language and imagery used in each, and they found that the majority either offered previously-established scientific knowledge – often written in a direct, expository way – or informed readers about how scientific understanding takes place – often written as narratives about specific scientists.
This finding conflicts with the advice elementary teachers typically receive to both spend more time with texts detailing how science is created, but also use more books with expository language. As a result, their study reminds teachers to use a broad range of science resources when planning their lessons – an approach that will not only give students the foundational concepts they need to know but also encourage them to consider pursuing a career in the sciences.
“Because texts are trying to accomplish different goals and use scientific discourses in various ways, we hope that educators will find the typology presented here a useful tool toward leveraging science trade book genres to support the different components of science education,” they wrote.
About the Researchers
Laura May
Department of Early Childhood and Elementary Education
Laura May is chair of the Department of Early Childhood and Elementary Education. A former elementary teacher and literacy specialist, she studies how teachers use talk and texts in ways that increase students’ educational opportunities and how pre-service teachers develop more equitable ways with words and texts.
Thomas Crisp
Department of Early Childhood and Elementary Education
Thomas Crisp is an associate professor of literacy and children’s literature in the Department of Early Childhood and Elementary Education. His professional work focuses on issues of justice and representation in children’s and young adult literature, media and culture. His research and scholarship centers primarily on youth literature by and/or about people who self-identify as LGBTQ+. His professional writing can be found in academic books and professional journals, such as Reading Research Quarterly, Children’s Literature in Education, English Journal, Language Arts, Taboo: The Journal of Education and Culture, The Journal of LGBT Youth, Children’s Literature Association Quarterly, Lion and the Unicorn, Journal of Children’s Literature, International Research in Children’s Literature, Voice of Youth Advocates and the Horn Book Magazine. He is currently president of the Children’s Literature Association, co-editor of the Journal of Children’s Literature and is an Internationale Jugendbibliothek/International Youth Library Fellow.
Gary Bingham
Department of Early Childhood and Elementary Education
Gary Bingham is a professor in the Department of Early Childhood and Elementary Education and the director of the Urban Child Study Center in the College of Education & Human Development. He is a governing board member of the Institute of Education Sciences Southeast Regional Education Laboratory (REL-Southeast) and a steering committee member of the Board of Regents Research on the Challenges of Acquiring Language and Literacy (RCALL) Initiative. Bingham’s scholarship examines the home and school experiences of linguistically- and ethnically-diverse students and factors that support their success. His expertise is situated within quantitative methodologies and he has experience running large scale, multi-state research projects. A core component of his scholarship is the importance of leveraging research in ways that informs policy and practice, particularly for populations that have been historically marginalized.
Renee Schwartz
Department of Middle and Secondary Education
Reneé Schwartz is a professor of science education in the Department of Middle and Secondary Education. She serves as the coordinator of the Ph.D. program in teaching and learning – science education. Her research focuses on the study of epistemological views of science, specifically views of the nature of science (NOS) and the nature of scientific inquiry (NOSI). Current research explores intersections of epistemological views and science identity development, with a focus on learners of color who are marginalized in science fields. Her scholarship is published in several international journals, including the Journal of Research in Science Teaching, International Journal of Science Education, Science Education and Cultural Studies in Science Education. Schwartz has served as PI or Co-PI on funded projects totaling nearly $7 million. She currently serves as president-elect of NARST, a global organization for improving science education through research.
Mario T. Pickens (Ph.D. ’20)
Alumnus, Department of Early Childhood and Elementary Education
Mario T. Pickens is a College of Education & Human Development alumnus and an assistant professor in the University of North Florida’s College of Education & Human Services. He previously served as project coordinator for the CEHD's Urban Child Study Center and has taught Pre-K, 2nd and 3rd grade in metro Atlanta. His research interests focus on early childhood and elementary science education with an emphasis on the role of teachers’ instructional and pedagogical practices in fostering equity in science teaching and learning, particularly in urban contexts.
Kate Woodbridge
Doctoral Student, Department of Early Childhood and Elementary Education
Kate Woodbridge is an early childhood and elementary education doctoral student. Her research interests include elementary science education, science teacher education and school-university partnerships. Woodbridge serves upper elementary students as a gifted specialist. She is a Red Clay Writing Project teacher consultant and a member of the Association for Science Teacher Education’s Graduate Student Forum.
Citation
May, L., Crisp, T., Bingham, G.E., Schwartz, R.S., Pickens, M.T., and Woodbridge, K. (2020). “The Durable, Dynamic Nature of Genre and Science: A Purpose‐Driven Typology of Science Trade Books.” Reading Research Quarterly, 55(0), 399-418. https://doi.org/10.1002/rrq.274.