Features & Screenshots

Three major types of tools are being employed to support learners' literacy in science inquiry: annotation, double-entry journals and summary writing.

Annotation
Annotated texts are readings that have been subjected to content analysis. The analysis coding highlights main ideas, supporting ideas, difficult content and vocabulary, transitions, conclusions, evidence, and inferences implicit in the text. Teachers use the annotations to scaffold readings.

With the annotation tool, students do their own annotation using the computer and see where they have missed elements of annotation, such as main and supporting ideas. As students learn to annotate text, they become more active readers.

Double-Entry Journals
Double-entry journals are reader-response documents that provide a graphic structure for students to monitor and document their understanding of science texts. Students highlight text that they find problematic. Students then engage in a variety of text- and thought-organizing tasks, such as coupling main and supporting ideas or supporting their arguments with evidence from the reading. DEJs provide an opportunity for students to read actively and reflect on their reading and allow teachers to focus student reading on specific ideas or text structures, such as vocabulary, main ideas with supporting ideas, etc.

Summary Writing/Summary Street
Effective summarization is an important reading skill that supports science inquiry. In summarizing, students must comprehend the text, identify main ideas, differentiate secondary ideas, and condense the information while integrating essential elements in a written text that is a succinct, logical, and coherent representation of the original source.

Teachers can set up any text to be summarized; the tool analyzes the text and allows teachers to adjust many settings, such as difficulty thresholds, desired summary lengths, and sensitivity to plagiarism. The program allows students to get instant and private feedback on their work and provides teachers with the opportunity for one-on-one interaction with students.

Screenshots

Annotation: Prototype of the electronic annotation tool