Rethinking science literacy : enhancing communication and participation in school science through affirmational dialogue journal writing

For many students the study of Science can be very disaffirming. This may lead to passivity in class, and a lifelong disaffection with science, outcomes which defeat the long-term purposes of trying to achieve scientific literacy for all students. This article represents a new way of framing scientific literacy with a "science for all" goal, based on a nexus of psychological, sociological and critical literacy theory. A science education researcher and a science teacher collaborated in trialing the use of affirmational dialogue journal writing with early adolescents in a high school situated in a low socio economic status area. The intervention was found to be successful on a number of fronts. I conclude that an approach which affirms students' experience can lead to a deeper approach to learning for adolescent science students. ©1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J.Res Sci Teach 36: 699-717, 199